There are many factors that can influence a CRM solution scope for an organization.\u00a0 Factors may include meeting specific timeline, budget, business requirements, user\/department preferences, available resources and technologies, and others.\u00a0 Thus there\u2019s always going to be some tradeoffs and negotiations in scope\/feature, cost, and\/or timeline in successfully implementing a CRM solution.<\/p>\n
In the previous article, I bundled CRM Solutions into one of the three groups: Basic, Standalone, and Integrated.\u00a0 In this posting, I will talk about\u00a0an approach you can take in\u00a0choosing the \u201cright\u201d CRM Solution for an organization.<\/p>\n
I am going to elaborate on\u00a0Value and Pareto\u2019s Principle (the 80\/20 rule) concepts and how applying these two\u00a0concepts can be beneficial for an organization in getting a handle on their CRM solution scope and approach.<\/p>\n
Value of product\/service is defined by weighing the benefit(s) and the cost associated in obtaining that product\/service.\u00a0 Thus when one assesses the \u201cValue\u201d of one of these CRM Solutions, they need to weigh the benefits these CRM solutions can bring to an organization and the cost associated to acquire them.\u00a0 It should be noted that the value is subjective, since not all benefits are easily quantifiable, and often is based on individuals\u2019 perception; however, using a value criteria can help an organization to focus on what\u2019s important (not all important features may be necessary right away) and assist them in selecting the right set of CRM features for their organization at a point in time.\u00a0 Following are couple of high level questions that should be addressed by an organization pursuing to implement one of the three CRM solutions:<\/p>\n
Secondly, we can apply Pareto\u2019s Principle (80\/20 rule) to application solution usage.\u00a0 Pareto\u2019s Principle states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.\u00a0 In CRM application usage, one can say that 80% of CRM usage will come from 20% of the CRM features\/requirements.\u00a0 In other words, implementing the top 20% of the most frequently used features will make up the 80% of the CRM application usage by the users.\u00a0\u00a0 This is not to say that an organization should only implement the top 20% of the most frequently used features and not the rest.\u00a0 In addition to the most frequently used features, there will be other important specific features\/requirements that will need to be implemented for a given organization based on their business needs.\u00a0 Thus careful analysis and planning of business requirements and CRM features are required to scope out the right CRM solution whether it\u2019s Basic, Standalone, or Integrated CRM solution.\u00a0 The point is that an organization can realize CRM solution benefits even if they do not implement all of their business requirements and features of CRM to realize productivity benefits of the CRM solution.<\/p>\n
When an organization takes the approach of looking at their CRM scope from the value perspective and pick and choose the features\/requirements that are important and\/or will be frequently used by the users of the system (80\/20), they will be able to create a CRM solution that\u2019s useful and cost effective for the organization.<\/p>\n
Basic, Standalone, or Integrated CRM Solution? (Part 1 of 3)<\/a><\/p>\n Which CRM Solution is right for your organization? (Part 2 of 3)<\/a><\/p>\n