Implementation Strategies for CRM Projects
CRM projects often span the enterprise, requiring widespread acceptance for their success. To develop that acceptance, we can utilize the 80/20 rule to help us understand how to promote the goals of the project. We can assume that 20% of the audience is already eager to embrace a new CRM system. This 20% can be identified as the early adopters of the enterprise. These early adopters are quick to embrace change, will readily see the value of the initiative, and will likely provide their support.
Another 20% will be opposed or indifferent to our CRM project. As slow adopters, they will not be easy to convince, and will remain cautious for the duration of any new initiative. These skeptics can raise valuable questions that help us run a tight ship, but their contribution usually comes later in the project. Initial efforts require more support than criticism.
The remaining 60% is our target audience, because they have yet to decide. We can expect they will have a reasonably open stance, coming around if we provide sound reasons. The following strategies will help build that support in the implementation of your CRM project.
Utilizing “Early Returns” To Promote Your Project
If we work with the 20% already on our side to create early successes, and then see that they are well publicized, we have a means of influencing our target audience, the undecided 60%. For example, on one CRM project, the project's steering committee identified the “low-hanging fruit”—customer data areas that could be sourced (pertinent systems identified and data extracted) with a minimum of effort and brought into the related data warehouse quickly. These early returns were used to help build credibility for the project and secure ongoing funding from stakeholders.
As the project defines the areas of greatest impact for CRM, the recommendations will specify an action plan for near-term and long-term objectives. Early returns will be defined as a part of the near-term deliverables.
Selecting and Developing Component Sponsors
The action plan is broken up into component projects that deliver key CRM objectives. For each component, we identify a sponsor who provides support and resources for those objectives. These sponsors act as cosponsors to the project champion who drives the overall CRM effort. For example, CRM covers the business areas of sales, service, and marketing. Likely sponsors would be the vice presidents in charge of managing each of these business areas. One or two of their areas of control can become the place the CRM team sets up a laboratory for testing and proof of concept on the plan. As the laboratory setting produces results, they are propagated across the remaining business areas.
Launching Prototypes and Pilot Projects
Prototypes are built to demonstrate the look and feel of the application, allowing for rapid validation of project requirements. Checkpoints are established, every 60 to 90 days, to provide for ongoing corrections and prioritization of expenditures. Allowing the greatest flexibility, this approach also provides ongoing validation of requirements, easy incorporation of new requirements, which are surfaced through prototyping, and early delivery of predefined components of CRM functionality.
Defining Success Criteria
Because they are evolving in nature, it is important for CRM projects to acknowledge milestones achieved and project successes along the way. The project manager must help define clear criteria of project success, with measurable milestones and indicators of project achievements that can be used to:
Promote the goals of the project
Predict the course of related future projects
Identify where the project falls short and plan ways to recover
Ability to reference one source of customer information for all needs of a given business initiative, regardless of interdepartmental boundaries. (Define the business initiative, such as marketing's capability to track and predict performance of specific campaigns or promotions.)
All aspects of a given customer transaction can be conducted electronically. (Define the customer transaction, such as a customer requests service online at the company's Web site and receives service request confirmation through email within a specified time frame, whereas a service case is initiated automatically.)
One unified interface to all customer information and business intelligence needed to complete a particular information query. (For example, a telephone service company can calculate the number of customers in all states requesting DSL services without leaving the primary reporting interface. )
Organizing the CRM Project
CRM projects have a higher level of visibility because of their global intent. They can also be hard to predict because of their inherent complexity. It is important to harness the resulting chaos without demanding that it be controlled in standard ways. This implies iterative approaches and facilitating the project as a process of discovery.
Iterative approaches enable the team to test out assumptions through prototyping, and to apply the knowledge gained to the next phase of the project. Continually testing and proceeding allows for a constant balance of theory and proof.
Although CRM projects often deal with existing systems, they are often venturing into uncharted territory. Whether it's undocumented and little understood legacy systems or harnessing new technology for business advantage; they involve making discoveries along the way. The CRM project manager must expect to incorporate discoveries into the project plan, and must prepare project sponsors accordingly.