CRM Insights Blog

Yet Another CRM System?

Background

As the CRM industry has matured, most companies are using some sort of sales, marketing, or customer service system.  In many cases, organizations are underutilizing their system.  Instead of doing a thorough analysis of what they should be doing and what they are doing with their CRM system, management believes the right approach is to switch systems.

The other trigger is when an organization needs to renew their support and maintenance agreement and/or upgrade to the most recent version of their on-premise CRM solution, organizations evaluate the cost of staying with their existing system compared to moving to a cloud solution.

Underutilization

1. There are many reasons why a CRM system is underutilized.  As you will see, many of the same issues will arise again even if you switch to another CRM solution.There was no buy-in by the end-users. They were not involved in the planning process and do not see the benefit to them.
2. The user interface is too complicated.
3. Lack of training.
4. Lack of senior management support.
5. The system has not been modified to meet the changing business requirements.
6. Poor data quality.  You can have a very well defined and functional CRM system but if the data is of poor quality, the perception is that the entire system is bad.

Things to Consider

In evaluating your choices, serious consideration and a management self-evaluation needs to take place in deciding to enhance an existing system or switching to another system.  If there is a lack of management support and business process, a new CRM system will not resolve or address those issues.

If you determine that your existing CRM system lacks the functionality and flexibility you need, the following steps need to take place to switch systems:

1. Thorough business process review.  You want to make sure you are going to automate a well thought out process.  A CRM system will only exasperate a lousy business process.  Involve all departments, end-users, and managers who will be using the solution in the process.
2. Document your findings and obtain the appropriate management review and approval.
3. Once the prototype is designed, make sure it has addressed all of your requirements documented from your business process review.
4. It is at this point where you may come across some significant resistance from your staff.  “The new system doesn’t work like our old system” or “we need to design the system to replicate our old system”.  You need strong leadership to point out the virtues and benefits of your new system and note that the old system was not necessarily configured to adhere to your business processes.
5. We recommend a pilot program before you roll-out the system to your entire staff.
6. You need to create a data map outlining the migration of data from your old system to your new system.  Depending on your old CRM system, this can be very tricky in respect to attachments, customized fields, history records, and emails. We suggest engaging the appropriate consulting organization to help with this process.  This is also a good time to go through a data cleansing process.  There are a variety of tools available in the marketplace to help with this process.
7. Make sure that your end users are getting the appropriate level of initial and then follow-up training.  A well trained CRM end user is a happy and efficient.

Summary

You would think the easy way to address an underutilized CRM system is to replace it.  But without a thorough analysis, you could end up with the exact same issues with a new CRM system as you did with your previous system.

If you determine that the CRM system does not meet your functional requirements, make sure you follow the steps outlined above to ensure a successful outcome.

For more information, or to request a free, one-hour consultation for your business, contact us at www.harvestsolutions.net/contact-us 

Harvest Solutions

We understand the importance of quality customer relationship management. We can perform a needs assessment for your business, followed by planning, customization, implementation and data integration services of your next CRM system. Our continued training and support ensures your business successfully implements the plan we create together. Request a consultation from Harvest Solutions today. Then, stay up-to-date by finding us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Learn more industry insights by subscribing to our YouTube channel and following our blog. Also, please give us a call now to schedule your free consultation! (877) 683-3313