CRM Challenges - Understanding CRM Maturity
Across the web there are plenty of details of the challenges associated with implementing a CRM solution. Similarily, there are also case studies that talk of the phenomenal benefits associated with successful CRM implementations. But how can you address the challenges and achieve these benefits?
Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a series of blogs on navigating the path to CRM success. Within this series I intend to focus on one of the key tools we at Collier Pickard use to ensure CRM success. Much of our work focuses on recognising where organisations are at any moment in time, and creating maps to guide them on their journey to CRM success. This assessment and mapping has become known as the CRM Maturity Assessment. Some other sites across the web utilise similar tools to help you understand your current situation, but many may fall short in proposing practical steps to move your business forward.
CRM Maturity Assessment
The CRM Maturity assessment focuses on 4 areas:-
- Making Contact and Keeping Track
- Working Together Better
- Best Practices in Action
- Performance Guidance
Within this post I will concentrate on the first level Making Contact and Keeping Track, however it is worth providing an overview CRM Maturity.
At the core of any business is the need to profitably identify and satisfy customer need. Modern CRM systems exist to assist in the recording and analysis of the required data. By sharing accurate data in a timely fashion companies can better target their offers, and in turn delight customers. This is not an automatic consequence of data recording and usage, but requires the implementation of new working practices and changes in attitude. How you develop and implement these changes should be informed by data more than instinct. Each change you make in the way you acquire, retain and develop customer relationships, should drive the data you collect and share.
Written in a single paragraph it all sounds quite straightforward, however there are some major pitfalls that our CRM maturity model is designed to avoid. In particular it looks to identify the effort required to bridge the gap between the current state and your goal situation. When used across all of the stakeholders it also begins the long process of building the correct level of “buy in” required for success. When combined with our STEP (Strategy, Tactics, Execution, Platform) project methodology it ensures that every area of the project has a measurable impact on the business plan.
Essential Data Collection: Making Contact and Keeping Track
When companies recognise the need to collect and store data to support all their customer interactions they are beginning the journey to CRM. Often the recognition of the need to record customer and prospect data occurs to different individuals within an organisation at different times. The sales team may need to know who the existing customers are, whilst marketing may want to know more about prospective customers. The finance team may have data relating to the issuing and payment of invoices, and despatch may have details of delivery addresses. With so many different points of reference it is not surprising that this phase is often thought of as developing a “Single Version of the Truth”.
Bringing together all of the current data sources and de duplicating them is only a part of the story. There are a number of 3rd party organisations who have over time developed complicated algorithms to assist in this task. Within Collier Pickard we have utilised the associative logic capabilities of modern BI software to assist in bringing together data from multiple sources. Where our experience has proved invaluable is in identifying not only the overlapping data, but also the missing data. The definition of missing data at this stage is informed by what data is available. And what data is required to meet the requirements of the STEP analysis.
Having identified the gaps it is then essential to put in place plans to address them. Typical examples are that data from accounts systems lacks direct contact email addresses, whilst data sourced from Outlook lacks proper postal addressing and company financial data. Bringing these 2 sources together without developing a plan to infill the data is missing a prime opportunity. Migrating old data that is no longer relevant or required to support the business plan simple increases costs without delivering a benefit.
Accurate, timely and relevant
In both cases a plan is needed to ensure that this phase delivers accurate timely and relevant information to the CRM users. Building in additional data at this stage is often less expensive than retrospectively adding data to a live system. It is also an opportunity to build in some “wow” data that will keep the users coming back to the CRM system in the future.
During this phase we also look at the CRM platform as well. Driven by the need to ensure accurate timely and relevant information for the CRM users we would investigate the applicability of various access methods. Do mobile devices, make sense? If so what data is required on a mobile device and how much needs only to be accessible through a CRM client application?
The level of investment made to successfully implement a single version of the truth is disproportionate to the immediate benefits. When taken as a single area of focus within a complete CRM project, effort in excess of 50% of the total is not uncommon. We would always recommend that the following ratios are used in allocating resources to the project.
Making Contact and Keeping Track 40%
Working Together Better 30%
Best Practices in Action 20%
Performance Guidance 10%
I'll post the next part of this series, Working Together Better, next friday. If you have any questions or comments on this first stage in the CRM maturity process then post a comment below!
Paul Pitman is a Solutions Architect at Collier Pickard.
