The Full Monty
this is what a full CRM implementation should involve.
CRM is about the vision and direction of your organization.
A mind-set that enables you to constantly stand in your prospect or customers shoes and view all aspects of your business entirely from his viewpoint, usually a very uncomfortable experience.
Armed with that sobering and often unpalatable knowledge you must design a collection of related business processes that will enshrine your new CRM vision.Once those processes have been bottomed out - designed and tested - then and only then will you have the answers to questions like these:-
- What data needs to be collected?
- How and where should it be stored?
- Who will need access to it?
- How, when and where will it be needed?
- What information needs to be reported?
- Who needs reports; when, where and how?
- Who will act on the information?
- How will they act on it and when?
...And a heck of a lot more.
Process analysis
The answer to these questions will come emerge during the initial Consultancy phase, often refered to as "Workflow or Process analysis".
This period will be spent with you and your staff and maybe some of your customers too. Your consultant, armed with the answers to these and many more questions, will use her detailed and expert knowledge of CRM and GoldMine, design a suitable framework of customisations that will best answer the needs of your processes and gain the maximum benefit and value for your business.
You may decide at this point that this will be a multi-phase rollout - and that full CRM will be implemented later. stage 1 will be simple- KISS - in fact.
System Design
She will then prepare a system design document complete with milestones and a time line for the implementation. It will be a very detailed report that lists the objectives and requirements to satisfy the identified needs of the business. All the changes and customisations that will be made are listed. This document will become the system technical manual for the finished project.
This document will then be submitted for your feedback and further modification. Once we have agreed the final design and signed it off, the implementation can begin.
Installation
Now comes the easy bit. Installing and customizing Goldmine onto your network. The design document will have specified the required hardware which will by now be in place.
Data Import
You may well have Data to be imported into the system. It must first be cleansed and validated. Import profiles will be designed and tested and the import will commence. You are now ready to go live.
Training
Your users will have been receiving classroom training during the installation phase and will be able to take the system live as soon as the installation is complete and signed off.
Nursing
During the first few days of live operation your consultant will be on hand to assist and advise until the users are confident and comfortable with the new tools and proceedures.
This concludes the first phase of your project. Your staff will have taken ownership and will have received training to maintain and develop the system almost unaided.
System Development
Regular system development days will take place when your consultant will audit and health check your system. Advice and assistance with advanced topics will be given on these days.
Support
Ongoing Telephone support is included for peace of mind and to answer the day to day issues of the systems administrator.
The plan above is just a brief overview of the complete Project Management approach that we take with our CRM clients. The time required is usually 5 - 15 days.
You may wish to review our simpler and quicker "Starter Kit" Design and Build approach here.
If you wish to discuss which approach is most suitable for you, call me. You will find my details on the left of this page.