| There are many reasons why a CRM project may be considered as a failure. These reasons differ from each person involved in the project: from the key stakeholders to the end user - each person has a very different perception of what a CRM system is, what it is there for and what the end result should be. |
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| An end user in a sales team who is trying to make his/her sales quota is not likely going to automatically understand the complex relationship between all of the elements of the CRM or the underlying business reasons for implementing the system in the first place. Indeed, there may even be resistance from end users who even see a CRM as a kind of CCTV camera, allowing managers to see what they get up to during the day! In truth, there are numerous reasons why CRMs fail but these can be mitigated with a certain amount of understanding of these reasons combined with a little sensible forward planning. |
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| Problems can start right at the very beginning perhaps by senior management who want to implement a CRM but who do not fully understand what a CRM application can/cannot do or how much work is involved in implementing a CRM in for example a large organisation, which has its own business units, business managers, each with their own opinions, biases and sets of priorities. |
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| Poor understanding and even mistrust of Software as a Service (SaaS) CRMs can lead to unnecessary implementations of on-site CRMs which can often be fraught with unseen technical challenges and costs. |
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| When a CRM loses momentum, also expect to observe loss of user enthusiasm and buy in. For example, if the sales force is not completely sold on the how the CRM system will benefit them, they will be reluctant to spend time using it. |
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| Other critical factor for user buy in is a quick time to value. This is where SaaS, also known as on demand CRMs really come into their own - you can, with a little no how or minor level of consultancy, set up a CRM for an SMB in a matter of days. |
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Other common reasons might be:
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Key sponsors are not involved in the project |
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Unclear CRM requirements and priorities |
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Lack of focus - no CRM Roadmap |
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Metrics for success were not defined before or after the project |
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Unclear strategy to integrate with existing systems |
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IT control the CRM project |
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| Was that last bullet point a typo? I hear you ask. No. Many organisational leaders assume CRM implementation is all about IT and complex technical challenges and are eager to pass a CRM implementation project to the company IT team or worse, the sole IT person within the company and charge them with the daunting task of implementing a CRM system which will likely involve numerous people across Sales, Marketing and Customer Support teams, all of different backgrounds and with different interests and immediate needs. |
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| In fact, CRM implementation is more about people and processes, analysing and improving business rules, user psychology and even analyzing and improving social interaction; that is, interactions between internal teams and perhaps most importantly between internal teams and their customers. |
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| Of course, a CRM project may well present considerable technical challenges, especially if being done on a large scale in a company or organisation which is well established and which has numerous existing systems which need to be integrated (such as ERP systems, Accounting Packages etc.).However, with a sensible and well thought out rollout plan, these high risk/difficult areas can be kept to minimum and/or phased in later once you have the key, low risk elements of the CRM in place for the people who most need them first:
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