If you are considering implementing a new CRM system we can support you throughout the process to ensure that your project delivers against expectations and your CRM is successfully integrated from finance through to your website and social media.
Clarifying the project
We recommend that before any organisation embarks on a CRM project it ensures that the objectives, outcomes and benefits needed from the project, together with the success criteria, are clearly understood and articulated. We can help facilitate this exercise.
Business process mapping and analysis
Sometimes it may be useful to undertake some business analysis to identify better ways of doing things, or a business process mapping exercise to identify key pinch points and opportunities for streamlining, automation and internal skills development.
We will help you manage these activities so that they deliver clear outcomes and recommendations for developments. The results will help you in defining a clearly articulated set of business requirements for the project to inform your planning, budgets and timescales.
Tender documentation and the tender process
We will work with project teams to produce CRM tender documents that clearly describe the objectives, scope, evaluation criteria, project time scales, deliverables, support requirements and project methodology.
We can advise you on which type of CRM solution would be appropriate for your project, help you develop a list of potential suppliers so that your project team will be able to assess which approach and type of software best matches your needs.
If required, we can also support you through tender meetings to ensure that suppliers have fully understood tender requirements, and also provide expert commentary on and assessment of the proposed technical solutions.
Change management
The review of existing processes and implementation of a new CRM system is not just a technical project - it is also a cultural change that will affect the working lives of all the staff within an organisation.
We can work with you to map the likely impacts of the CRM project, identify both related risks and also opportunities to improve the working environment. We will help you plan a communication strategy and training plans that will minimise the negative impacts of change and reduce the amount of time it takes for the new systems and processes to be fully embedded and accepted by staff.
Project management
The introduction of a new CRM system will require integration with all parts of the organisation. The project will also require the involvement of internal staff for substantial periods of time, which could have a counter-productively negative impact on ‘business as usual’ activities and staff morale, if this is not managed effectively.
To ensure that the project remains on schedule, stays within its scope and to enable the management team to control internal resourcing, we recommend that project teams use an established methodology to manage the overall project and does not delegate responsibility for this to its chosen supplier. The choice of methodology should reflect the complexity of the project and the internal capability of each organisation.
We can help the project team select an appropriate project planning structure and also assist with project management generally as and when required.
CRM and IT system auditing
For organisations concerned with meeting governance reporting on systems expenditure and efficiency, i-Publishing is also able to offer an independent review of policies and procedures including the following:
Data management
Change management
Performance management
Operational controls
Business continuity
Currently installed systems
(including the integration of CRM software with other systems)
The focus of a review or audit will be defined by the organisation's strategic objectives and plans.