Gaining the most benefit from CRM software depends on a consistent commitment to focus and concentrated effort. So does getting a University Degree, getting into good physical shape, and pretty much every other personal venture worth dedicating yourself to! To attain the ultimate amount of insight from a CRM system, a significant amount of time must be invested to analyze the information and turn it into actionable knowledge.
Similarly, to win a soccer match, baseball tournament or any other event in which teams of people play together to win, TEAM participation is a necessity. The same applies for maximizing the knowledge you will gain from a CRM system, it also depends heavily on your team’s participation!
But first – you need to change how people work. Without a willingness to modify the status-quo working habits, then a CRM system will fail in its primary objective to deliver knowledge to the business. Employees need to be inspired and receptive to change, working toward increasing efficiency and productivity.
To manage the demands of today’s business expectations, structured procedures have been pushed aside – the priority to get information “out the door” to a recipient quickly takes precedence over policies and procedures. This focus on action often comes at the hidden cost to the efficient operation of the business.
In decades past, it was normally accepted that even small tasks took time to complete. Sending a business letter would have taken one to two weeks before arriving on someone’s desk. Today that same business letter must be received and replied to within a matter of hours.
Time after time, when companies begin looking at CRM systems it’s simply a cry for help, and not a true willingness to change. However, when the pain of disorganized and informal Customer Management operations goes beyond the company’s comfort zone, the business will be more apt to embrace the changes a CRM system demands.
If you are considering a Customer Relationship Management system (like SharePoint CRM), first determine whether there is a serious commitment to a change in work behavior or whether this is just another cry for help that will quickly pass over. Once a commitment to change has been made, reaping the benefits of the efforts applied toward the CRM venture will keep giving your business bonuses forever.