#implementing crm

[itssolved10]

[centriumcrm]

Strategies for Implementing a CRM

You've probably decided that implementing a CRM is a great idea for your company. Now you need to craft a plan on how to make a CRM system part of your business.

Some of the details of the implementation process will vary depending on the CRM system you choose. However, regardless of the system, there are some essential strategies you should pay special attention to.

Decide on a system

If you're running a small business there are really only two things you need to consider in choosing a CRM.

The first is to consider ease of use and ease of implementation. The second thing to consider is the feature set.

There are a lot of CRM options out there that will overwhelm you with the amount of advertised features. If you're running a small business, you do not need nor want all of these features. You want to apply an occam's razor and decide what is crucial, and what isn't.

At Centrium we've worked really hard to discover what the absolute-must features for a CRM are: contacts management, tasks management and sales pipeline management. And then we worked really hard to polish these features into a well-integrated simple to use, yet powerful solution.

Managing implementation

Essentially, mastering a complex CRM system is a time-consuming process that comes with many challenges. For instance, you have to make sure that all system elements run simultaneously, which can be difficult to achieve at first.

Our suggestion is to go for a streamlined small-business CRM that offers no such challenges. But if you choose to go for an overly-complex self-hosted CRM, it's essential to use efficient management skills and a detailed communication strategy.

Inform all your employees about their responsibilities during the implementation process. As their leader, you should know everything about the CRM system beforehand.

Being a project manager, you have to monitor every aspect of the implementation process, including:

The calendar - important to keep track of all the meeting dates regarding the implementation process and project milestone dates.

The work plan – this is how you'll know what will be done during the process, understanding the timeline for achieving the set goals.

The budget – keep a list of all the costs related to the implementation process.

The task list – information on the tasks of all employees included in the implementation process.

Contract and License

This part can be either simple or complex. If you've chosen a cloud-based CRM, you just subscribe, and that's that. "It just works". You don't have to worry about licencing, maintenance or any of that stuff.

If you choose a self-hosted complex CRM system, you've got some hefty work ahead of you. After choosing said system, the first step is contracting and licensing the system to provide support during the process and evaluate the costs involved.

Mainly, having a contract is important because of the CRM setup procedure. Hence, the contract vendor is responsible for setting up the CRM, alongside support and routine maintenance. Therefore, be careful when signing a contract; it's very important for each part of the strategy that you implement.

Licensing sets the rules of the vendor in terms of intellectual property, fair use, and costs of the system. Basically, a license is important when determining what the organization can, and cannot do with the CRM system. Some CRM vendors keep all rights over the system, and protect their code from modifications. Others are working as open source and allow users to modify the code at will.

System Customization

This will only apply to you if you operate in a large corporate environment, and need to customize a self-hosted CRM to meet your unique needs. If you run a small business, feel free to skip over this part and consider using a cloud-based small business CRM.

So you've decided you might need customization of the CRM based on your organization. Some systems require basic setup to be easily implemented in a company. Others have to be substantially customized to be suitable for each employee. Essentially, the development work is of vital importance for the final CRM product.

Talk to the developers and tell them everything they should know before customizing the CRM. You need to focus on the features since they are essential for the progress of your business. Small businesses need to avoid costly overruns and incorrect assumptions about their working process. Also, try to get involved in all aspects of the development. That's how you will avoid making costly mistakes in the future.

Track down the accomplishments of the vendor by asking for documentation of the features in each case. Doing this, you will understand the costs of each step along the way, but also stay up-to-date with the schedule of the vendor and their next actions.

Data Migration

Naturally, almost every organization that is trying to implement a CRM system will need to transfer data from older systems sooner or later. The problem is, said data is oftentimes organized differently than in the new system, so the migration process is not as easy as it may initially seem.

First, you will need to gather all data that is important for the company. It might be scattered among the staff and other systems, so you’ll have to identify it and collect it in one place.

First, transfer only the most important data to the new system. Many companies transfer inaccurate data, which can cause problems for users, so do your best to not follow in their footsteps.

Lastly, don’t start the transfer without performing a test migration process first. The process will ensure that the information will be transferred correctly.

Training and Support

The more complex the CRM, the more training will be necessary to put it to use. If you go for an intuitive and straightforward CRM like Centrium, your employees will pick it up instantly.

If you're in a corporate setting and need a very complex CRM with obscure features, brace yourself for some research. When you're comparing the different CRM solutions don't just look at features. Be sure to also look into how their training works. Do they have free training, do they charge you extra to train your employees to use it?

Look at what the reviewers say about their support and how often they had to ask the developer for help. With a more complex CRM, many users require training to even understand the documentation. Ultimately, your employees should also master the CRM to a level when they won't require help anymore.

We're here to make the process easy

At Centrium, our job is to provide a simple-to-use and implement quality CRM system for small businesses. Our vision was to create the CRM for small businesses that want to grow quickly.