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360 Degree Customer View?

Nov 25

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM, CRM Software, Customer Relations | Keine Kommentare

In theory all sales, marketing and support functions can be found in one gigantic application. This does have the advantage that customer relevant data can be gathered in one place, but think of what happened to programms like Open Access or Lotus 1-2-3: they were replaced by single programms such as those making up Microsoft Office.

There is much to be said for using separate applications for these three functions, just as Front and Back Office are separated. True, many ERP-Vendors offer a CRM component, but in most cases this only demonstrates that no-one can do everything. SAP may appear to combine these functions, but looking carefully one sees two products with a single marketing blanket.

The market seems to be moving away from fully integrated solutions. Companies today are looking for tools to improve sales efficiency without involving support and help desk groups – the more complex the support operation, the more is this apparent.

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CRM SaaS with Zoho

Nov 18

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM, CRM Software | Keine Kommentare

OK, this blog is to do with CRM processes and not with specific products, but still, take a look at www.zoho.com. You will be surprised to find how much functionality is available in a not-expensive SaaS solution – ideal for small companies and start ups. Anyone looking for consulting support could even turn to the author …..

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Facts and KPI for sales organisations

Sep 9

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM, CRM Projects, CRM Software | Keine Kommentare

Sales DashboardSales people need data when visiting existing customers (see “ERP meets CRM”), the level of detail depending on the products concerned. A sales person selling for example to retailers or wholesalers will be more interested in purchase patterns than a person selling CRM software. All sales people will be interested in certain factors such as share of budget and order frequency and size.

In well organized companies there will be a sales plan per customer, so what the sales person really needs to know, is whether or not the sales are above or below plan. In this case it is only necessary to know if sales are on plan or not. Detailed information is only required when there are deviation from plan or when new requirements arise. A display as shown above will tell the sales person at a glance if all is OK or if there is need to examine things in more detail.

During the planning phase of a new CRM installation, I would strongly recommend an analysis of sales data required and close attention to the presentation of the data. In many cases a simple red-yellow-green indicator could be informative and time saving.

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Mind the gap: ERP meets CRM

Aug 26

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM, CRM Projects, CRM Software | Keine Kommentare

Travelers on the London Underground are used to taking a big step when the train carriage stops at a curved platform. A similar mismatch exists when ERP and CRM systems need to be interfaced, but the solution is not so simple.

Most solutions for CRM Users involve either the import of data to CRM from ERP or direct access to the ERP systems, but this is not what CRM users really want. CRM users need:

• indicators, when things go wrong or not according to plan and

• aggregated figures or KPIs with the ability to drill down when needed.

ERP manufacturers have tried to create their own integrated CRM applications, for example SAP or SAGE, only to find that CRM apps must be considerably more flexible than ERP systems and that a tight integration makes the CRM System inflexible. More on this in a later post. The solutions of these companies now supplied are in fact not tightly integrated at all, they only appear to be.

Of course, this can be done by importing large volumes of ERP data, but this redundancy is not beneficial to performance or flexibility. A better solution is to insert a middle layer of multi-dimensional data so that CRM Users can use simple dashboards for their data access.

Typically products such as SAP Netweaver or BW are in a position to supply suitable data, but BW projects tend to be long and complex and make it difficult to keep up with sales people who change their requirements often dependent on market and sales conditions.

The most economical and practical solution is to introduce a middle layer and to use products such as QlikView or Dundas Dashboard to present and manipulate data. There are more products available, but it happens that I have recently been involved in evaluating these two.

It is surprising that CRM integrators often ignore this middle step. Controllers would never think of going directly to raw data during the financial planning process.

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What is missing in CRM Software?

Aug 20

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM Software | 2 Kommentare

Sometimes giants can learn from dwarfs. Comparing enterprise software is small scale solutions, it is surprising how often the enterprise solutions lack basic functions supplied by their smaller relations. Manipulation of addresses for example is much better in a product such as cobra CRM PLUS or SalesLogix than in solutions von SAP or Oracle. One would think that entrprise solutions supply ergonomic solutions for a simple process such as creating a new task based on a completed task and showing later the chain of events. Try doing this, you will be surprised how little functionality is around.

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Why CRM Software has not developed over the years

Jul 29

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM Projects, CRM Software, Customer Relations | Keine Kommentare

The last two posts have been pointing to the limitations of CRM software. It is true that software functionality has not changed much since the first CRM solutions were offered, but usability and flexibility has shown a massive improvement.

Why do the applications not develop? Basically the tools customer oriented users require are not that complex and are limited in number and type. The tools are available and have been for some time. A tool alone will not help you however, just as little as owning a hammer will drive a nail into a wall. There is nothing wrong with the hammer, but you need to know what to do with it. The same applies to CRM Products. As stated in a previous post, there are solutions available for almost any CRM requirements, but first you must know your requirements.

These are the steps you need:

  1. Define your business aims with regard to your growth plans and planned customer base. Then define your strategy for reaching these aims from the point of view of the customer.
  2. Define your business processes in relation to your business aims. Business processes in sales and support are not in any way complex, but they do need attention to detail and need to interface to back office functions. Sales processes must remain flexible. Back Office processes tend to be more strict.
  3. Translate your processes to software requirements that support your information flow and work processes. Do not let your IT-Department talk you into making a check-list of functions and certainly not into a technology oriented selection process. Your processes are important.
  4. After all this, go ahead with the software selection process. Let suppliers show you how their software can support your process. In the short list stage it may be worthwhile investing in the development of a module from all short listed companies.

Many CRM projects start with having an IT-oriented employee research information on existing solutions and the development of a list of requirements based on the functions offered by products favored by that person (or team). This is the wrong track. Start a step 1, not at step 4!

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CRM as it could be

Jul 22

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM Projects, CRM Software, Customer Relations | Keine Kommentare

Contrary to popular practice, CRM consulting is about putting the customer at the center of your business, not about internal efficiency. In most of the cases I have been recently involved in, customers have been primarily concerned with the improvement of existing internal processes. This makes life easy for the consultant or software sales person, but will probably neither lead to reduced costs nor to increased sales.

Finding and retaining customers is becoming increasingly difficult as loyalty is no longer to be expected and competition increases at all levels. To be successful, it is essential to look at your company from the customers point of view. Is your company behaving the way in which your customers expect? Are you supplying sales and support services which your customers expect? Or is your company more concerned with internal efficiency than with customer needs? You do not need a CRM product to increase sales efficiency – most sales people require little more than a good contact management tool, CRM becomes effective when you prospects and customers notice an improvement.

CRM is not software and in fact most available solutions can support your operation. CRM is about knowing your customer’s requirements and putting a strategy in place to find, develop an keep them. Are you looking at your CRM Software with regard to this aim?

Generally, software suppliers will suggest a workshop to define your requirements. That is generally correct, but whether before or after the sale, these workshops will always be conducted with regard to the limitations of the software offered. Sales people know that your budget is limited and will avoid suggesting improvements which, due to software limitations, will be too costly

You must define your aims and requirements without reference to a product. If you are unable to do this with internal resources, find a consultant who is not tied to a product. However, you are still the only person who can define your business aims.

There is no need to fear that you will then not find a suitable CRM product to meet your needs. There are enough excellent solutions on the market.

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Why has CRM not developed in 15 years?

Jul 16

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM Projects, CRM Software | Keine Kommentare

Sales Partners of CRM Software suppliers are by definition more interested in selling you software than in helping you develop a CRM solution. Most of them only work with one or two products, so to them, your problem always look the same.

This characteristic is unfortunately actively encouraged by buyers who look for functions and technical requirements but are not aware of the real business aims involved. There are probably no functions which can be requested which existing CRM solutions do not offer, so using lists of functions will not produce valid results. The quality and the usability of those functions in your environment is another question.

CRM suppliers and resellers can be exptected to have good expertise with regard to their products and good sales people who can show you their solution the way you like to see it. However, even though it is often thought that customer care and sales are the same everywhere, this is definitely not the case. Sales and support processes are always unique. Selecting CRM Software which has the largest number of ticks against your requirements list will not get you the best solution. You will hear talk of best practices from your CRM Rep, but there are no best practices which fit all companies.

If you are looking for more than simple contact management, CRM Software will always need to be modified, so you need to look for suppliers who can understand your business and convince you that the software they are offering can be modified to your requirements.

The sales person who points out these traps will bring you a better solution than the person who tells you the software will do it all for you.

The advice is as old as the hills, but is as true as ever: Don’t let software drive your business, define your requirements and then look for software which fulfills your business needs.

More follows.

Is CRM moving back to SFA?

Jun 28

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM Software, Customer Relations, Marketing | Keine Kommentare

Looking back to the beginnings of software for sales and marketing, we have seen “Computer Aided Selling”, “Sales Force Automation”, “1to1Marketing” and now “Customer Relationship Management”. Although suppliers and experts speak about the need to communicate with customers and offer 360 degree customer views, the majority of the RFPs I see tend to center arount the improvement of sales efficiency.

This can probably be explained by the increasing cost of sales and decreasing sales margins but does ignore the advantages which could be gained by looking at sales processes from the cutomers point of view. Aiming at decreasing costs usually involves simplifying current processes and not on reviewing the processes in total. It also has the side effect that products promising simple and quick implementation tend to be preferred.

Increasing efficiency and reducing costs are certainly valid aims when introducint a new CRM system, but the real advantages of a new system should include processes which would not be possible without the use of software. Sales, Marketing and Service functions can be integrated  to improve the total service level to the customer not only be reducing administrative loads, but also by offering new services.

CRM on your iPhone or Blackberry?

Jun 18

Gepostet von David Duncan in CRM, CRM Software | Keine Kommentare

Once again iPhone-Hype is everywhere and CRM-suppliers are quick to offer interfaces. The approach differs from product to product – some provide online access to the database, others download date to the phone. The most common use is to check or find customer names or contacts when on the road, but most apps go further with a variety of functions. E-Mail and Call are of course to be expected on a phone, but some products provide access and edit functions for activities, opportunities or orders.

While the access to address and contact data is certainly useful, it is worth thinking if further functions are worth what they cost. This will vary from application to application and certainly from industry to industry, but in many cases the small display and limited data entry speed on the iPhone (Blackberry is faster for most users) limit the practical usage.  it is probably better to turn to a notebook witha  larger screen and a real keyboard – it may not be trendy, but it does encourage more careful use.

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