User Friendliness/Support Requirements for Your CRM System
A third result of your CRM software selection and implementation roadmap will be an initial list of user friendliness/support requirements. These requirements come directly from your brainstorming session, your field/corporate visits, your questionnaires, as well as any business matrices that you may have employed.
User support requirements are critical since many potential users of your CRM system may not be familiar with the CRM software you select, with using CRM software in general, or even with using other computer systems. To complicate the process of determining user support requirements, CRM software is being developed for hardware platforms other than desktop or laptop computers, such as handheld devices (e.g., Palm) and wireless devices (e.g., WAP phones). Nonetheless, too many good CRM systems have failed because user support requirements were overlooked; so pay attention to these requirements.
Who decides on the user support criteria? In actuality, it is a collaborative process, but the users should have a large voice. This decision must not be left up to technical or managerial personnel. Moreover, only via trial and error will your company learn what is the correct level of user support, as this level differs from company to company and from system to system.
With these thoughts in mind, here are some of the key user support requirements that you should take into consideration when specifying and designing your CRM system:
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
For thick and thin client CRM interfaces, MS Windows GUIs and browser GUIs predominate. Some vendors have developed GUIs that mimic those of MS Outlook. Most recently, vendors have been taking cues from the Web world and designing interfaces that in many ways mimic the interface of a Web browser. This makes sense, because most new CRM software is being developed based on Internet/Web platforms and technologies. Handheld devices such as PDAs use a different GUI due to the smaller screen size. Regardless of the interface, there are key questions that you should consider. Does the screen layout appear to be cluttered, or does the screen layout appear to be nicely designed in terms of ergonomics and flow? Have the screen fields been laid out in a logical manner? Is it easy to get to a secondary or a support screen from the main screen?
System Navigation
This is the ease with which users can move from field to field within a screen, from screen to screen, as well as from function to function within the system. Several studies confirm that system navigation is a key success factor for user acceptance of the system. While system navigation may be a subjective issue, let the users inform you whether system navigation is sufficiently easy to implement. Navigation schemes for CRM software primarily use MS Windows or Web browser metaphors, which should have familiarity to the majority of computer users. Increasingly, different functions of the software are being ported down to handheld and wireless devices, which have their own navigation schemes.
Intuitiveness of the System
This is a hard requirement to define since each user will have a perspective on what constitutes intuitiveness. Moreover, intuitiveness of the system is impacted by screen design, graphical user interface, as well as system navigation. Based on ISM's findings, users feel that an intuitive system reflects the developer's knowledge of the customer-facing processes behind the interface. In a nonintuitive system, users feel as if the system has been designed by technical personnel who are out-of-touch with the way customer-facing functions (e.g., sales, marketing, and customer service) work within organizations.
Effectiveness of the System
Increased competition between software vendors has led to divergent philosophies within the industry as to what constitutes effective functionality. The business principle driving this split is defined on the basis of how a company can best take advantage of its information resources to increase sales. Some software vendors have answered this question by incorporating a sales methodology, which requires the user to input a substantial amount of data to provide a more extensive profile of the contact, account, or opportunity. Other vendors have chosen to simplify the user's responsibilities by requiring less data input and offering a more appealing screen design, with colors, shading, and easy-to-read text, to increase user support and the use of the program. This is where the software buyer must decide whether acquiring more information or offering a simpler data entry environment defines effectiveness.
Customer Self-Service via the Web
The influence of the Internet/Web is affecting automation efforts in countless ways. The vendors that are more advanced in Web interaction technology are offering online Web pages that provide customers with a “window” into some customer service portions of the corporate knowledgebase (subject to security restrictions). Using the customer service Web pages, a user can perform operations without the assistance of a customer service representative. Users might input service request information, check on the status of a problem resolution, request technical documentation, search FAQs, or request follow-up from a customer service representative. What Web self-service support capabilities are provided by your short-list of vendors?
The Help Function
Most users prefer a field-sensitive Help Function rather than a screen-sensitive Help Function, since less work is required by the user to find specific answers to questions that the user may have. Another important Help Function requirement is the ability for the systems administrator, either internal or external to your company, to modify (add, enhance, delete) or to customize the verbiage within the Help Function. The ability to customize the Help Function is particularly important if your system contains specific business processes which are unique to your company and which your users may need to refer to regularly. Lastly, does the Help Function contain the User Documentation online so that users can leave their often heavy User Documentation books at home?
Online Chat
What interaction channels are available to customers as an alternative to making a phone call, sending an e-mail, or searching a knowledgebase of information to get answers to support questions? Increasingly, vendors are offering an online chat feature that allows customers to interact with customer service representatives via a company Web page. Typically, this interaction entails typing in questions and receiving feedback via a dialog box, which shows the questions and answers. This capability augments the other customer self-service features that a vendor may provide.
Online Training
Does the vendor offer modes of training in addition to the standard training options for classroom training provided on-site or at a company location? With the increase in Web-based CRM applications, there has been an increase in availability of Web-based, online training. So, users can participate in training exercises via the Internet/Web without the limitation of geographic location (e.g., travel). Trainees log into a scheduled session, which is held using Web-based collaboration services such as Centra or WebEx. Some CRM vendors offer Web-based CRM applications training via OEM agreements with companies like Knowledge Impact. Online training is particularly suited to periodic training, because there is typically less material to present. This online training capability allows users to increase their skills and not consume additional time away from work, while the vendor can provide the same quality of learning as the on-site training at a lower cost of delivery.
User Documentation
Is the documentation comprehensive and up-to-date? Are there plenty of practical examples shown in the documentation, including screenshots of software functionality? How do system users receive documentation updates? Can updates be delivered electronically? Can the User Documentation be accessed online while the user is on the system?
Internationalization
Does the vendor offer multilanguage and multicurrency versions of the software? What types of translation capabilities are provided for local versions of the CRM solution? What international support office locations are available to customers that have global CRM system implementations?
Data Synchronization
Is the process of sending and receiving data to/from the field with headquarters a “one-button” operation, or do you need extensive training to perform this critical function? Also, how simple is it for the user to determine what went wrong and what to do to correct the problem if in the middle of data synchronization the telephone line or wireless modem disconnects?
System Support
Given the importance of this topic (e.g., training, help desk, system administration), and the impact that system support can have not only on user support but also on the overall success of the system, ISM has devoted a separate chapter to this topic (see Chapter 17, “The Necessity of Training, a Good Help Desk, and Effective Systems Administration”).
Here is an example of how one company addressed the user support issue. A large international pharmaceutical company implemented a comprehensive CRM system for its sales and marketing personnel a few years ago. To ensure that the system was user friendly, this company invited sales and marketing personnel participation from the inception of the project. Specifically, as this in-company system was built module by module, the sales and marketing personnel were given the right to veto any screen as well as to reject the navigation, the Help Function, etc., as “unfriendly.”
While this approach led to a longer than expected development period, and a few battles between users and developers, the users ultimately owned the system which they had created based on their own needs and their own user support criteria. We can confirm that to this day, sales and marketing personnel belonging to this company connect to this system on a daily basis.
This example shows that by letting the users define and approve user support, you will greatly enhance the likelihood of overall system success.