NEW TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS are continually redefining the core business processes of sales professionals. It's rare to find a sales organization that is not investigating the merits of moving all of their personnel to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The vision of capturing and making available all the account activities from the first lead, through the successful sale, the vision of structuring of the sales process, and the vision of managing the continuing account support is appealing. There are, however, risks as industry statistics continue to show both high costs and high likelihood of failure of system implementation. Here are some methods to reduce the risk of failure and increase the likelihood of a successful CRM system implementation. These methods can be used by sales, by IT professionals, and by vendors tasked with the implementation of CRM systems.
Short schedules and beneficial results drive the business environment of the sales professional. While many sales activities fit nicely into a project structure, sales departments tend to have a strong operations/function self-image. Because of their focus on the quarterly sales figures, the sponsoring organizations for CRM projects are often unable to readily comprehend the structure and benefit of project management processes. One specific drawback to this operations mindset is the reluctance of senior sales executives to both take on an active sponsorship role and assign necessary resources to support complex system projects. So, while you may have conceptual and financial buy-in from the sponsoring organization, mindshare and timeshare are elusive at best. In fact, the sales department will frequently leave the implementation management entirely to the IT organization or the vendor. Often these groups are willing to manage the system implementation project, but without customer input and active sponsorship, success is extremely unlikely.
The difficulty in implementing new CRM systems can be attributed to two factors. First, the sales environment drives the delegation of responsibility/accountability to a second-party organization. Second, the focus of these implementation organizations is on the product rather than on the overall project. The project focus is on delivering the standard vendor solution rather than reengineering the overall sales process (process focus). While this focus allows achieving measurable results relatively quickly, these projects often die just as quick a death since ownership has not been established and the process reengineering is ignored. Process reengineering must be undertaken on all tasks that will be impacted by implementing a new CRM system, especially those not related to technology.
Ron Brown, PMP, is director of customer service at Information Management Research. He has more than 25 years of hardware, software and service development experience. He is also program chair for the PMI Marketing and Sales Specific Interest Group.
The key to a successful CRM implementation is the initiation phase. The sales sponsor should accept that the current business paradigm focuses on a short-term operations model. Before implementing a new CRM system, the sponsor must ask, “Am I committed to turning my sales model upside down (even if I am successful and my commission is based upon that success)?” and “Am I up to the challenges of the technical learning curve and the task of reengineering processes that do not feel broken?” If the answer is “No” to either of these questions, the sponsor should rethink the move to a CRM solution. Part of the CRM evaluation process should include discussing your sales process in terms of a CRM system rather than deciding on features and functionality. Mapping the process flow from lead to opportunity with the current responsible departments will assist in the evaluation of the impact and practicality of the proposed change.
While studies have modeled the business benefits of CRM, these models are based on the sponsor's commitment to doing whatever-it-takes and the belief that the transformation from the current process to the future process will occur based on a decision being made. Unfortunately, the most significant weaknesses in CRM implementations are the failure to achieve the level of commitment needed from all stakeholders and the failure to estimate the impact of time and dollars on the organization prior to the implementation of the CRM system.
These weaknesses can be addressed proactively by the vendor and IT organizations or by the sales and management staff by applying a sound project initiation process. Start the initiation process with clear goals setting, clear responsibilities setting and preliminary project estimation. This estimation should evaluate the cost of the project's impact on current operations as well as the cost of implementation. Initial estimates should also analyze the user's skills, the training plans, and model the current and future processes at a work-package level. This assists in identifying the impact to the organization and identifying areas of risk. Estimates should also focus on the administrative resources required to maintain the process and the content—this hidden cost can be significant.
If executed properly, the initiation phase will give the project a sound foundation to build upon in future phases. The next phase, planning and scope definition, must accomplish two key goals: establish ownership within the user community and identify those features/functions that will drive acceptance across all CRM users. Often overlooked, these items contribute heavily to project success or failure.
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Ownership transfer is accomplished by demonstrating a consistent commitment to the project by the project sponsor (the initiation process) and the empowerment of the users in the requirements gathering, prioritization, and implementation processes. Empowerment is frequently what's missing when the project is delegated to a third party (IT or vendor). Without ownership transfer, resistance to change will blossom. What will you do when a successful employee shuns all technology and continues to meet his or her short-term sales goals? How will you handle this situation? Is the technology and the new sales processes mandatory; if so, can you communicate why and will you enforce it?
During the planning/scope process, it is key to take the time to understand users and their problems and plan a solution to address these problems. The implementation team must have a commitment to drive features/functions that solve real current problems for the user. Sales professionals, like most users, expect technology to benefit them on the job. Implementing solution relevance represents another area of risk for the project team. Historically, the most problematic area for sales is the lack of current and historic financial account and product information. Access to this information challenges the existing power structure of departments (Management, Finance, Sales, Engineering). The project sponsor must be able to break through these barriers to information flow. The sponsor must be in a position to change organizations’ fundamental core information ownership beliefs. Failing to recognize these needs and the requirements they create greatly decreases the value of the CRM solution to the end-user, which will compound the resistance to acceptance of the system.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROVIDES the process framework to drive a successful CRM implementation. The ultimate success, however, is found not in the technology or its features, but in sound project management process execution, in total project-sponsor commitment, in achieving employee ownership, and in providing real tangible solutions for stakeholders’ problems.