ten questions to ask when...
selecting crm software
For additional copies of this booklet or for more information regarding
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Financial Management, Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence solutions,
contact your local Enabling office.
Australia – 1800 ENABLING (1800 362 254)
New Zealand – 0800 ENABLING (0800 362 254)
or visit our website at www.enabling.net and discover how we enable
better business for you.
PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
The information contained in this document represents the current view of Enabling on the topics
discussed as of the date of publication. This document is for informational purposes only. Without
limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of
Enabling Pty Ltd. Enabling may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other
intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Any product names herein are
acknowledged as the copyright of their copyright owners.
The example companies, organisations, products, people, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No
association with any real company, organisation, product, person, or event is intended or should be
inferred.
© 2012 Enabling Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
Enabling and the Enabling logo are registered trademarks of Enabling. All other marks are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
The assistance of Sage is acknowledged. Their How to Booklet Series is the reference for this Enabling
Booklet.
a ‘ten questions’ series publication from enabling
ten questions to ask when...
selecting crm software
When selecting the right customer relationship management (CRM) system for your
business, it is important to understand the many benefits an integrated CRM system
can offer – more than you may think. What you decide can impact every person within
the business: a true CRM is an enterprise-wide application and tool. These 10 Questions
to Ask when Selecting CRM software have been collected from executives, managers,
customers and consultants with experience in implementing, using and supporting CRM
solutions.
As a CRM Solution Provider with many active CRM sites, Enabling has the experience
and expertise to further assist you with your CRM enquiries or to answer any additional
questions you may have about selecting and implementing a CRM solution.
1
the right reasons for wanting a crm system
2
what are core ‘out of the box’ features of the crm solution?
Deciding to change, and either start using a CRM solution or change systems is an
important step in improving an organisation’s productivity and efficiency. However,
you have to be prepared to adapt and change in order to obtain the most out of CRM.
Implementing CRM to its full potential will require all users to be aware of its features
(and encouraged to use them!) - otherwise CRM can become just a contact management
system rather than the full potential of your relationship management system. Before
proceeding, ensure you are all committed to improving your company’s efficiency and
effectiveness when dealing with customers.
When selecting your CRM solution how do you choose the one that is right for your
company? A vital question. The best solution may not always be the solution with
the flashiest features or highest number of extras, but rather the solution that can be
moulded to suit your business practices and processes. The core functions of CRM
revolve around salesforce automation (including contact management), marketing
(including eMarketing) and customer support. When selecting a CRM, check that its
features, options and enhancements closely match what you aim to achieve from the
application.
3
how much time and money to customise / tailor the solution to your
needs? what are the upfront and annual costs associated with the
solution?
When evaluating your CRM, keep in mind that low initial investment fees do not
translate directly into low overall costs. How long do you wish to use the software, the
next 3, 5 or 10 years? Then judge the CRM on the cost over its full life, not just the first
year. And don’t forget to consider how much customisation is required so it fits your
business processes: each customisation increases your total cost.
4
how easy is the solution to use?
As CRM is most effective when deployed across multiple departments of a company
(sharing information is one of its big benefits), it is important to ensure your CRM is
user friendly. Do not underestimate the importance of this: employees who are less
confident with a computer will become frustrated with a solution that is not intuitive,
potentially undermining the benefits of a CRM. A good system will increase their
confidence, encourage their using it.
a ‘ten questions’ series publication from enabling
PAGE 1
5
is the solution flexibile to grow and meet the changing needs of your
business?
As your organisation changes, the CRM you choose needs to be flexible enough to meet
these changes. As you grow, is the solution scalable to meet these needs, and future
needs? Can it handle extra users without a reduction in response time? Shifting CRM
strategies may include delivering CRM to your sales team, access via new hand held
devices or integration with other business systems. If you plan to expand overseas, you will
want CRM to expand overseas, if you plan to acquire other businesses, you will want CRM
to be able to expand and integrate into those businesses too. The impact of these needs to
be considered before committing to any CRM solution.
6
does the solution support all types of users?
Your users will not only be sitting at desks with PCs. When out and about, do your people
need access with mobile devices? Maybe they require a more limited set of information,
such as appointments and contacts, or more complete information. Do you want
customers to be able to access the system, to check, for example, the status of Help Desk
queries? Does the CRM solution support your varied user types and their requirements?
7
has the solution been successfully implemented in my industry?
8
are there different ways to implement the solution? what are the
positives and negatives of each?
Search and check what your competitors have done with CRM; studying what they did
allows you to both learn and avoid the problems they experienced. This may also help
define what you really want to achieve from CRM. Investigate beyond your immediate
industry - how another company perhaps a similar size and with similar operation - has
implemented CRM. Discussions with different companies that use CRM could also suggest
a CRM provider with a good reputation. When you select a CRM provider, check that they
have a proven success record and verifiable experience with the design, implementation
and ongoing support of CRM – it is unlike other types of business systems and requires
specific skill and knowledge.
Ask any potential provider how they intend to implement your solution. It may be
more effective to roll it out in stages with departments coming on at separate times to
alleviate the issue of training all staff at one time. Alternatively it may be easier to roll it
out company-wide from the start, so its benefits can be felt company wide. Ensure that
the development cycle of the project fits in with your needs and expectations. A fast
development cycle will keep the project in the forefront of the minds of those involved in it.
However this can increase costs, with more risk of errors and problems that arise, as time
is more critical. A longer development time gives everyone time to test and debug systems,
however you need to ensure that development continues along at a steady rate.
9
how easy is the solution to implement?
How easy any CRM system is to implement will depend on the complexity of the solution
design. If you are happy with the features provided ‘out of the box’ then this process
should be very easy. A good CRM solution will also provide basic customisation or
flexibility out of the box – and should enable an IT savvy user to manage this component
of the system design. With increased complexity of implementation will come an increased
amount of time and money spent checking, fixing and fine tuning. Ask the CRM provider
how you may be able to assist in the implementation. If the system is intuitive in terms of
set up and data import, then this is a good indication of the architecture and long term
support required (or more importantly not required), from your CRM provider.
10 data integration
When selecting a CRM, look to see how good it is at integrating data from other
applications. Your CRM solution should not complicate how you currently do business,
but streamline it. Go for a CRM solution that will integrate into your current software.
Many CRM systems integrate to the Microsoft Office package and synchronise emails
with Outlook, however CRM can also link with accounting financial systems, as well as
becoming an online forum of sorts for your employees. The potential is huge.
a ‘ten questions’ series publication from enabling
PAGE 2
remember, the solution provider is there for you
Ask the hard questions, this is a big decision and identifying a provider and software
solution that works well with your business can mean that the investment will bring
significant added value to your business. Do your research and make sure the Solution
Provider listens to what you want rather than telling you what they do. Some of the more
respected Solution Providers will offer substantial pre implementation services to help you
through the process. Use this to your advantage, they are the experts.
Don’t rush the implementation; make sure you time your implementation of the new
business software as close as possible to your business’s slow time of year. This will
minimise disruptions and also ensure that your staff can give quality time to the process
and training.
summary
In summary, if any part of your business doesn’t support the overall goals, then either
the goals need to be redefined, or that part of your business modified or stopped.
Your business strategy is how you plan to achieve those goals. Underlying the
strategy will be a series of processes and activities that contribute to aspects of the
strategy.
While we have provided some seemingly simple concepts in theory, in practice
achieving a balance can prove difficult. The risk-return trade-off, inherent in all
aspects of life but especially pronounced in the area of productivity (people, process
and technology), tells us that increasing returns in these areas goes hand in hand
with increased risk. However, through strategic planning and management,
businesses do not have to sacrifice profits for immediate results on improved
productivity.
references
Sage How To Choose Booklets
white paper authors
& contributors
Sage Business Solutions
Enabliser Howard
Enabling sponsors this paper, and hope readers gain key insight from our
suggestions and views on improved productivity.
For more information on how Enabling are able to streamline your productivity to
optimise your business - people, process and technology:
Please visit our website at www.enabling.net and discover how we enable better
business for you or contact us;
Australia – 1800 ENABLING (1800 362 254)
New Zealand – 0800 ENABLING (0800 362 254)
Enabliser Kim
a ‘ten questions’ series publication from enabling
PAGE 3
enabling better business
Enabling a better business solution can often mean a desire to achieve higher sales performance, make better decisions with
accurate data, streamline or automate financial and business processes in a way that creates business success.
To achieve this you need the right business software – and a partner who will support you for the long term. With a team of over
100 experienced professionals throughout Australia and New Zealand, Enabling can review your business requirements, and help
you to select the right solution – from the very best software vendors in the market.
We enable better business through our following Business / Industry solutions:
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Financial Management Information Solutions (FMIS)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Construction, Property Management and Engineering Solutions (CPE)
• Professional Services Automation (PSA)
• Business Intelligence (BI)
• Software Development and Integration (SDI)
1
five key reasons to choose enabling
the enabling experience
These form part of our corporate vision and are the benchmarks
from which we are able to determine the success and quality of
the services we offer.
The Enabling Experience focuses on delivering a superior level
of service that creates happy customers (Raving Fans). This
experience provides a complete methodology including project
management discipline and tested best practices.
Passion
Is a key part of our culture. We care about your business and
we want you to succeed. To this end we ensure that absolute
value is what we deliver to your project, and we make sure our
attitude and behaviors support this goal.
2
The Enabling Experience is designed to help drive productivity
through a consistent approach. Utilising standard tools and
templates in this way we are able to achieve successful project
execution – driving business value from the outset, whilst
always aiming to gain a Raving Fan as a result.
Choice
Having more than one offering allows us to focus on matching
the right business solution to your distinctive business
requirements. Enabling is unique in that we have partnered with
several leading software vendors within our industry.
3
Experience
We understand business and technology; and with more than
100 team members, have the skills and resources to deliver
results consistently.
4
Methodologies
With our best practice methodologies we are able to help lead
your team from solution selection, through to delivery and long
term support – taking the guess work out of technology.
5
“Raving Fans”
A Raving Fan is when you would, without hesitation recommend
Enabling to a friend or colleague. For Enabling the true measure
of our success is a Raving Fan.
a ‘ten questions’ series publication from enabling
PAGE 4