The Challenge

“IT must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things” - Niccolo Machiavelli 1469

Three of the most common pitfalls when implementing CRM software are:

1. No vision of the potential gains.

Put the question to Orville and Wilbur Wright:  How would an on-board GPS system benefit your new flying machine?  Lacking knowledge of new technology features and capabilities, planning its use and assessing value is impossible.  How would workflow triggers save your team time and money?

One of the most common wrong turns we see is this:  “We have charted our business processes and now we want to find the best software to automate them”.   This is an example of past facing system design and it will chain the organization to map & compass level performance.   The key to productivity gain is future facing design that leverages technology to create new, faster and smarter processes.

2. No understanding of the business needs and opportunities.

Let’s be honest:  Few IT professionals could sell a bucket of water to guy on fire.  Software programmers are smart, but how many understand what’s required to find, win and nurture business relationships?

We’ve seen many CRM systems designed by IT managers who were certain they knew what salespeople need.  We’re still waiting to see one of these systems that salespeople will actually use.   Lacking strong user adoption, software is just shelf-ware.  To add value, a CRM system needs to benefit the entire organization, especially the people who will use it every day.

3.  No plan to make it happen.

The boss decides to get the edge on the competition by improving customer acquisition and retention.  Good idea!  A CRM project team is assembled,  meetings conducted, software reviewed, proposals obtained and then – analysis paralysis sets in and everyone goes back to work.  Maybe next year…

Why does this happen?  Usually, it’s the chicken and egg problem:  We don’t know:

• What software we need,
• To empower the improvements,
• That better software can make possible…

Trapped in a loop, going nowhere…

These roadblocks are serious – improving business performance with better technology requires more than better technology.  Getting it wrong is expensive and can do more harm than good.  First Plan’s CRM development process avoids the pitfalls and provides a straight path to improved business results.

Solution:  Focus on Business Empowerment, not Software

The first step is to uncover the opportunities for productivity gains, related to your specific circumstances, that better software can make possible.  We seek two kinds of gains:

1. Known:  Solutions to understood problems and goals

2. Discovered:  New and smarter processes that can deliver high impact improvement.

“Wow, we didn’t know we could do that!”

Next, we blueprint the gain opportunities discovered so your team can understand their day-to-day application, assess their value and plan their adoption.  The blueprint worksheets describe:

• Problem solutions, new capabilities and business impacts
• System components & configuration
• Required development work and costs

Upon approval, we will prepare a plan of work to implement.  What sets First Plan’s development process apart is that we help our clients implement business improvement, not just software.

Your comments and suggestions always welcome.

Cordially – Mike Johnson