Why Do I Need to use a CRM Consulting Firm?
Posted by Sid Lejfer on Wed, Jan 13, 2010
I participated in a very interesting sales call earlier in the week. The management of a 100 person organization needs to address a variety of business issues related to their sales, marketing, and customer service departments. They have decided to implement a CRM system.
The chair of the selection committee asked a very good and simple question: "Why do we need to use a CRM consulting firm? We have very smart internal resources."
A good and experienced CRM consulting firm can add significant value to an implementation as follows:
1. The first step is to perform a needs analysis and develop a statement of work. You need specific experience on how to facilitate this process, asking the right questions, and knowing how your CRM system should be designed to addressed the requirements. You need experience to help determine pain points and priorities. Also, an outside party can help avoid internal politics, personality conflicts within an organization, and provide an unbiased viewpoint.
2. I am sure an organization can assign a resource to learn how to configure a CRM system. But to get the a proficient stage, you need to take training and gain some experience before you can configure a system to address the requirements gathered during the needs assessment. This takes time and money. A good CRM consulting firm should have trained and certified resources on their staff and will be significantly more efficient than an internal resource.
3. In most CRM implementations, there is a data migration and integration component to the engagement. This requires another set of skills. You need to have resources with database and integration experience. This can be fairly complicated and tedious.
4. A CRM initiative requires strong project management. All aspect of the engagement including needs assessment, configuration, data migration, integration, prototype review, pilot program, roll-out, training and support all need to be planned and managed. Again, this requires a different skillset than someone who facilitates a needs assessment, configures the software, migrates the data, or integrates into other backoffice systems.
5. One of the most important steps in a CRM project is providing training to the end-users. A trainer needs to understand the CRM software, how an organization is going to be using the software, and the skills to provide training either in-person or over the web.
6. Even if an organization has the right resources, do they have the time to devote to a CRM implementation project? If a firm has made an investment in CRM software or subscription service, you are losing money for every day that you fall behind in rolling out a system. With so many organizations stretched for resources, adding the significant responsibility of implementing a CRM system does not make sense.
As you can see, even a fairly simple CRM implementation requires a diverse skillset. A good, reputable, and exprienced CRM consulting firm can provide significant value to a firm implementing a CRM system.