Back in April I wrote a handful of blogs about CRM Selection and things to consider when going through the process. On top of all those things you need to sit down and think about/analyze, you need to look at several different CRM solutions to determine which one meets all of your needs. Likely there will be some that you can immediately toss out and a handful that will make it to your final round. 

Sometimes the most challenging part is where to start. How do you know which solutions will potentially fit your business best? A team of consultants and business analysts at Technology Advisors created a tool called the "CRM Comparison Tool" to assist with this stage of the search. The team did an in-depth analysis of several CRM solutions, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. You can answer as few as 6 questions, or as many as 50+, to get a very detailed analysis of your business' needs and how they fit with specific CRM solutions.

For the first set of questions, you are able to see, in real-time, how each CRM solution handles your needs. If you click-through to the detailed question set, one of our CRM experts will analyze your responses and a 2-page document will be created, and emailed, to you within 2 business days. 

If you need help with the tool, just let me know!

Our CRM selection quest has come down to the final factor, using a partner. Like everything else, there are both challenges and benefits to both.

Gartner reports that "businesses that use some type of external CRM services are six times more likely to state they got a Return on Investment (ROI) than those that implemented CRM alone." 

This makes sense because CRM partners, as experts in the CRM field, can usually implement quicker, apply standard methodologies and show you processes that you may not have thought of.

Your challenges stem from money and availability. In the short term, hiring a CRM partner will probably cost you more than implementing internally, but in the long term, it has been known to save money, as well as time and effort.

What do I mean by availability? Well, there are a handful of large CRM partners that have a nationwide reach but many smaller CRM partners that simply don't have the reach and are primarily regional. If you can't find a good CRM partner in your region, make sure you find a reputable CRM partner with coverage to your region. This is one thing you do not want to settle on, as it will have a huge effect on your CRM initiative. 

If you happen to find a couple different CRM partners that meet your needs, look beyond CRM implementation services and aim to find someone with additional offerings in their wheelhouse.

• CRM Strategy Development
• Business Process Engineering
• Business Scope Analysis
• Project Management
• Testing and Tuning
• Production Auditing
• CRM Application Training
• CRM Business Training
• Support and Help Desk

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now.

I hope our CRM selection quest has assisted you in your CRM selection! Please let me know what else you run into on your journey to finding the best CRM for your business.

It is the last week of our CRM selection quest! Data integration is our 8th consideration and is crucial. Whether you are currently using a CRM solution or not, you have data, in some form, that needs to get into whatever CRM solution you select. Many organizations that aren't using a contact management system are generally using Excel or Outlook to store data so it must easily get out of where it currently resides and into your new CRM solution. 

It is vital that you ask every vendor you meet with, what the capabilities of importing data and integrating with other systems is. If it isn't flexible, I'd recommend moving on. You need to make your data work for you, not against you. 

If you have an accounting system that needs to talk to your CRM system, find out how that will work at the beginning so you're not surprised later on. 

Another thing a CRM solution should have is some kind of data quality tool. If you're going to be dumping a ton of data into a new system, you want to make sure it is as clean as possible. Duplicate checker!

Stayed tuned for Feature #9 next week! Hint: It is Using a Partner :)

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Ease of implementation is the 7th factor to consider in your CRM selection. You'll need to rely on a CRM partner for this information, as they are experts in the field. Whether or not you use a partner to implement is ultimately your decision but you should ask one for 2 estimates: time and manpower needed. 

It is most likely the data you gain from a CRM expert will be as if they are doing the implementation so you'll want to add additional time for an internal implementation. I would recommend getting those numbers from both a CRM expert, as well as doing some research using Gartner, Forrester or AMR research, who should all have documentation on ease of implementation for the major CRM players. Keep in mind these will be more general and lacking of your specific customizations.

Stayed tuned for Feature #8 next week! Hint: It is Data Integration

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

As we continue on the CRM selection quest, our 6th consideration is deployment method. There are a couple things to consider, first being whether you want to deploy your CRM solution on premise or have it hosted. Feel free to check out a blog I posted in February entitled "How should I deploy my CRM solution?" for a pros and cons list, but let us talk basics here.

Two considerations I will point out here are storage and cost, which go hand in hand. If you have your data hosted, you will not need to purchase internal storage space, but you will be paying a monthly fee for hosting. If you keep your data in house, you will surely pay more money up front but you gain other advantages (ex. security). 

Aside from your CRM solution being hosted or on premise, you will need to determine whether or not you will (at some point) want to have it on a mobile device. Just a few years ago this could eliminate a lot of CRM solutions but in today's world, most have mobile capabilities. Your decision will likely come down to how much you need to have available to you on your mobile device. 

If you do decide that you need your CRM solution deployed on a mobile device, you'll want to inquire about the cost of this application, as it is often an additional fee.

Stayed tuned for Feature #7 later this week! Hint: It is Ease of Implementation

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

The 5th factor to consider during CRM selection is industry. This is actually a 2-part consideration. First, you'll want to do some research to see if others within your industry are already using CRM solutions. If not, you can take a bit more time with your CRM selection process because you are not behind the curve. If your competition is already taking advantage of CRM solutions, you'll want to not delay your CRM selection any more than you need to.

The benefit to CRM solutions being widely used in your industry already is experience. Being the first one to do something is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes if others have already tested the waters and begun to perfect/enhance solutions, that can be helpful, and taken advantage of. 

In industries that are rapidly adopting CRM, specific industry CRM solutions may already exist. This benefits you from implementing a standard system and doing many customizations. This has the potential to save you a lot of time and money.

Stayed tuned for Feature #6 next week! Hint: It is Deployment Method

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Flexibility is the 4th factor to consider during CRM selection. Although flexibility is not the most crucial of the factors, it still needs to be addressed. Straight out of the box, most CRM systems have very basic functionality, which may work for some businesses, but more often than not, you will require customized fields. This is where CRM system flexibility comes into play. 

Some CRM systems are a lot more flexible than others. Keep in mind that systems that are less flexible will likely cost more to customize, if that capability is indeed available to you. During your initial goals and planning phases, make sure you know what changes besides basic field level changes you will want to be making. When you are looking at different systems, be sure to find out the time and monetary efforts it will take to accomplish your specific customization needs.

Stayed tuned for Feature #5 later this week! Hint: It is Industry

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Factor 3 in our CRM selection quest is ease of use. I touched on this in our first CRM selection blog, but what this really comes down to is getting your people to use the system. The easier the system is to use, the more likely people are to use it. If people are not using the system, you've likely wasted a lot of time and money.

This is why, during the CRM selection process, it is important to interview people in every department and gather their CRM system needs. The system must also be as simple as possible. If you have to keep showing someone how to do something, they are not likely to actively do it on their own. You should, of course, train them on it initially and provide a user manual, but after that they should be able to run with it.

In general, make sure you are communicating a clear and consistent message to your users. They need to know how the CRM solution will impact their lives and what is in it for them. It is very important to listen to what they need/want, implement as much of that as possible and then reward them when they use the system as it is designed to be used.

Stayed tuned for Feature #4 next week! Hint: It is Flexibility

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Our CRM selection quest continues with factor 2, cost. For most businesses, cost can make or break a buying decision. The most important thing here is to carefully recognize all the costs involved in a CRM implementation. Your CRM project is likely a combination of software, hardware and services, so before you go signing anything, make sure you have a firm grasp on what everything is going to cost.

Software, and hardware, if necessary, are the more straightforward costs to determine because you are paying per user for software. Services are the trickier cost to determine. You'll first need to consider whether you'll use a partner to do the services, or if you'll handle the implementation internally. Keep in mind that your internal resources are not free and using them for your CRM implementation will take them away from their other responsibilities. 

There are other service costs to think about besides your standard implementation costs. Are you moving from another CRM solution? That data will need to be migrated over into your new system. Will you need to integrate your CRM solution with other databases? Those databases will need to be taught to talk to one another. Do you have complex customizations? Anything outside of standard features will likely cost an additional fee. These are all things you will want to price out before making any final decisions.

The other cost factor to consider is your original investment vs. your total cost of ownership (TCO). With some CRM packages, you may pay more upfront, but less per year over the next 3-5 years. With others, you'll have a smaller original investment but will pay more over the long term. Vendors and partners can provide you a TCO to help you determine which route is best for your business. Often times a current financial situation will make the decision for you.

Stayed tuned for Feature #3 later this week! Hint: It is East of Use

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

On our CRM Selection quest, the first factor to consider is the features component. There are tons of CRM systems and tons of features to go along with them. Your CRM return on investment is not calculated by bells and whistles, but instead by the features that are used to improve your business. Just because a feature is 'state of the art' does not mean your particular business needs it.

In the previous post we talked about setting a goal for your CRM implementation before getting into the CRM selection process; go back and look at your CRM goal. Is your goal Sales related? Marketing? Customer Service? 

Some CRM systems feature certain modules more than others. For example, one CRM system may have a very complex customer service module. This is great if your business (and your CRM goal) is mainly based on customer service, but if it is not, you'll want to weed out this specific CRM system. Do you need heavy marketing and campaign management? If so, make sure the CRM solutions you are considering can accommodate that. 

At the end of the day, less is more. You'll want to obviously keep solutions that highlight your predominant business areas and get rid of ones that have more than you need. This will help you much later down the road as you work towards gaining CRM user adoption.

Speaking of CRM user adoption, another great thing to do during the features factor consideration is to interview potential CRM users in every department. This will ensure your users will be getting features they need and in turn, making them more likely to use the system.

Stayed tuned for Feature #2 next week! Hint: It is Cost

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!