How to successfully implement a CRM-system.Part two.

 So let's proceed to the second group of factors affecting the payback period of the CRM project - the work on its implementation.You can also order movers software. And the first thing we'll start with is 

Integrate CRM-system with other systems

Undoubtedly, the integration of CRM-systems with related systems is an extremely important factor for effective operation. However, it is important to keep in mind that the deep integration of multiple information systems is a task that is often engineering complex and places significant pressure on the budget and timing of the CRM project, which obviously affects the rate of return on investment in the CRM system. Therefore, when deciding on the need to integrate CRM-system with related systems, it is necessary to analyze the following aspects: 

• Stability of related systems. If the related systems, with which to integrate the CRM-system is unstable and in constant change, it is better to minimize the amount of work on the integration or abandon the integration altogether, as the risk of errors in the integration unit is very high. As a consequence, you risk having an unpredictable budget at the stage of operation and excessive complexity of the processes that ensure the correctness of the data. 
• Multiple data entry. This factor significantly affects the convenience of staff and, consequently, the factor of personnel resistance to using the CRM-system. In order not to escalate this risk, it is necessary in the initial stages of the project to analyze business processes and determine whether there are employees, who by nature of work will have to enter the same information in several systems. If different employees enter data, most likely there will be no degradation of their work, and then you need to compare the cost of the integration work with the risks of entering incorrect information by different users and the possibility of reducing operating costs by reducing the number of employees. 
• Risks from incorrect data. If you risk significant financial losses due to incorrect data entry, the issue of convenience and inconvenience of work takes second place. In this case, it is necessary to assess the cost of integration with possible losses from problems with erroneous data over the life of the system. 

Filling the CRM-system with primary data 

Like any information system, a CRM system is only effective if it has the data users need to do their jobs. Try to use the search, data conversion or report function in a system that does not yet have any data. Naturally, the system will work correctly, but you won't get anything useful and will have to first find and input the data, spending some time on it. Only then will you be able to get a payoff. It is like getting an apartment after renovation, from which the builders did not take out the garbage: it seems that the repair is done, but it is impossible to take advantage of its fruits without considerable effort and a lot of dirty work. 

Naturally, the longer the system will be filled with data, the more time is delayed in getting a return on investment in the system. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the CRM system is filled with the necessary and sufficient set of data from the outset of operation. 

It's not as easy as it sounds. Data migration requires considerable effort and a lot of painstaking work to reconcile and merge data from different sources. The "deeper the history" of the data, the more complex the data structure, and the greater the number of sources that need to be processed, the greater the laboriousness and complexity of this work. In the budget of CRM-projects this item can take from 5% to 15% of the cost of licenses for CRM-system and work on their adaptation for the specific business. And this is a significant item in the project budget. Therefore it is necessary to find a balance between the completeness of data transfer and the pressure of this article on the project budget. 

Knowledge Management

It is quite obvious that if a tool is not used or is used ineptly, then the return on its purchase will either not be at all or it will be inadequate. The analogy with the use of modern industrial equipment is appropriate here. The "smarter" the equipment, the more knowledge is required of the worker who uses it, and if a trained worker leaves, his place must be replaced by exactly the same trained one. 

Modern CRM-systems can be quite complex information systems, which require qualified specialists. And this qualification should not be at the level of using the program (now it is rare to find an office worker who can not work on the computer), but at the level of understanding how to properly apply the capabilities of an information system in their daily work. 

One of the most significant and valuable results for the company project on the implementation of CRM-systems - is the formalization and systematization of a vast amount of knowledge of effective organization of work with clients. Of particular value to this knowledge has the aspect of adaptability to the conditions of a particular company (management style and internal culture). 

The trouble is that this knowledge dissipates very quickly and is lost over time. If your organization has 20 or more people who need to use a CRM system ex officio, over the course of a year you are likely to lose 3-4 people who were trained to use the system during the implementation phase. New people are likely to come without the necessary knowledge and they will need to be trained. 

"Do as I do" training leads to an exponential loss of knowledge, as the "instructor" loses some important knowledge in each generation. This immediately affects the efficiency of using the CRM system as a whole, and as a consequence, the rate of return on investment. 

To avoid falling into such a trap, don't spare money on knowledge documentation and curriculum development either during the implementation or upgrade phases. The larger your organization is, the more attention should be paid to this issue. If you have more than 50 users, take care to create interactive training programs, because every year people become more and more used to receiving knowledge in the form of movies and audio books. 

Closed loop control 

Very often in the implementation of CRM-systems emphasize support and automation of operational processes and often forget about the need to pay attention in the early stages of designing a CRM-system such a question as reporting. But it is well-designed reporting allows you to solve two very important problems: 

1. Determine the necessary and sufficient set of data required to be entered and stored in the system. In addition to enabling the accumulation of necessary data, you'll also minimize the risks of objectively resenting staff for entering useless data. 
2. Close the management cycle, often called the Deming cycle. 

Deming's cycle, which has become a classic of modern management, contains four phases: Plan (Plan) - Do (Do) - Analyze (Study) - Act (Act). Since the term CRM itself contains the word "management" in its composition, it is necessary to take care about the fullness of the management cycle, namely the creation of means of analysis of all aspects of the use of CRM-system. 

The way the reporting is done is another aspect that will affect the payback of a CRM system. One of the common mistakes made when designing reporting is trying to describe everything in the form of static reports. This way, while significantly easier for users, but deprives reporting flexibility and the ability to dynamically change. 

If you want to achieve flexibility and convenience of analysis, you do not need to develop dozens and hundreds of reports, it is enough to ensure that the key data can be quickly and easily downloaded to Excel, and then, as they say, it is only a question of knowing how to use standard tools and how to interpret the analysis results. 

Therefore, it is more effective in terms of return on investment in the CRM system to train users to process data using standard and available analysis tools such as Microsoft Excel. 

Conclusion 

Of course, this article describes general recommendations that are equally acceptable to all companies, regardless of the specifics of the business and management style used. But it is important to keep in mind that every company at a particular time is a unique business entity for which it is necessary to develop an individual roadmap for implementing such a complex tool, as a CRM-system. Some tasks will have a higher priority and must be solved immediately, and some can be implemented a little later, but it is necessary to do if you want to implement a successful project and get the most out of your investment.