CRM Implementation Steps - Best Practices

CRM Implementation Steps - SuiteCRM Best Practices

Since each and every CRM implementation confronts a different set of challenges, different set of people, and different set of processes, it would be accurate to say that “there is nothing called small or big CRM implementation”.

Referring to my previous Article on CRM Selection Process, our very next CRM step is implementation which requires considering best practices to ensure a smooth and well-functioning CRM system. The unique challenges businesses face can be resolved with excellent planning. 

Planning involves both knowing the problems in current situation and long-term resolution. CRM implementation is all about taking into account the long-term aspirations of businesses to grow beyond boundaries and win new clients.

Best Practices in CRM implementation guides everyone towards a common platform that aligns with goals and objectives of the company. The first step in CRM implementation for any organization is to list out the following areas:

• People management
• Long-term milestones of the company or long-term aspirations of the company
• Areas that are hampering the growth of the organization (business pain points)

People Management:

People are the crucial link in CRM implementation that can make it success or failure. The involvement of people is crucial, especially in bringing together key users from different departments, discussing management plans and help them understand how CRM benefits everybody in an organization.

If there is any change in the CRM process, the management has to be involved in making crucial decisions and to communicate these guidelines to people in a way that trickles down to the lowest rung of the employee hierarchy. People management will ensure that power users from every department are informed about changes and their feedback is solicited regularly.

Long-term milestones or long-term aspirations of the company:

CRM implementation can help company achieve any milestones or aspirations that have charted out for themselves. Adopting industry standard processes ensures that aspirations can be met, but CRM implementation is a long-term process. The management must understand that CRM involves constant “change management” because changes keep happening and these have to be analyzed and implemented in ways that match the objectives of the company. For this, the organization has to be in constant touch with the implementation partner in order to update on the latest industry trends and implement changes on a regular basis. An example of change management is social media networking which was unheard of a couple of years ago. This is one of the key arms of the sales and marketing teams for any businesses. CRM is changed on how the data is received and processed in a way that benefits optimal growth of the organization.

Business Pain Areas:

Areas that hamper the growth of the organization are the core reason that CRM is implemented. There are various reasons that causes these pain, from the way processes are followed to the way people manage the processes. The first step in eliminating pain areas is by reducing the gap between the way that processes are followed internally and the industry standards. Bringing in best practices can make CRM implementation more fruitful, so it is not necessary that the entire process is changed.

Whether you are looking to implement SuiteCRM into your own data centre or fully hosted solution, your CRM implementation partner will be have domain knowledge experts who begin with a thorough understanding of business objectives and challenges to be addressed. Project managers then work with solution architects to design best solution unique to each needs with emphasis on simplicity, productivity and success.

It is important here to note that you “do not attempt to change CRM product too much to suit your process, but make changes in organization process to suit the CRM product as much as possible”. The reason for this rationale is that most CRM products have well tested industry standard processes that are accepted across industry domains.

CRM Integration with other business applications

Considering the CRM implementation there are other system integrations needs to be considered to get the best ROI from your CRM investment. SuiteCRM Integration with your key business application to automate and streamline your business operations. SuiteCRM integration with various business applications such as SuiteCRM PayPal payment gateway integration, SuiteCRM Chat Tool integration, Asterisk integration, SuiteCRM LOB.com integration and SuiteCRM OpenCart integration can be downloaded from SuiteCRM integration plug-in main page. These connectors are ready to use, easy to deploy and most favoured Enterprise application integration

Conclusion:

CRM implementation is not just about software implementation, as is widely perceived. It is a combination of two key factors; change management and people management. Planning and addressing these factors at the right moment is what makes CRM a stunning success!

Read our next article on SuiteCRM Data Migration which is important step in the CRM implementation process