Trust leads to successful CRM applications

By Jay Bauer, President, STI Systems, San Clemente, CA

To have a successful CRM implementation you need a strong CRM system platform and an experienced implementation team. That, however, is just the beginning. Equally important is the ability of consultants and company stakeholders to develop trusting relationships so that they can work through a myriad of important issues. What follows is a perfect example.

In 2002, based on the recommendation of a third party consultant, a software division of a large multi-national company asked STI Systems to bid on the implementation of a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The company had several different CRM Systems installed by various implementation partners in many of its divisions in Europe, the US, Canada, Asia and Australia.

The primary decision makers in this implementation process were the VP of sales and the project manager, who was also a sales team manager. Their previous experience with CRM and sales process management guided them in the selection of the Sage SalexLogix CRM platform along with STI Systems to perform the initial Requirements Analysis (RA) and then implementation of the project.

Phase I

STI worked closely with the two leaders and the project team to build trust and to delve into both the sales process and technical requirements that would insure eventual success. Meticulous work during the early stages made it possible to deliver 80% of the client's total requirements including interfacing to the accounting and quote generation systems.

Strong relationships continued to develop as the rollout continued and STI's senior developer and the technical project manager trained to the customer's in-house support staff in Sage SalesLogix development and report generation using Crystal Reports.

One of the primary requirements for the Phase I was the ability to manage the renewal sales of their product. STI delivered a fully operational solution in time to meet the client's renewal season. At launch, the system supported the automated renewal generation and tracking process. This solution required an extensive interface to the accounting system where the renewal invoices were prepared and sent to customers.

All changes to the renewals were managed in the CRM System and automatically sent back to the accounting system. This provided for accurate renewal reporting for management and allowed the renewal reps and the sales reps to understand who had renewed and who needed to be renewed.

Phase II

The next phase of the project included looking at the overall application to improve its performance for the sales force and include some management reporting capabilities that had not been included earlier. We helped the customer rework its sales process, which was so complex that the sales force avoided using it.

This customer has a very complex sales and commission structure. There are sales reps, customer services reps, training reps, consultants and renewal reps, each of which can be assigned to an account with their own quota and forecast requirements. Over time we sorted through most of the issues so that quota tracking and revenue forecasting worked better.

Phase III

Due to its successes with the initial group, STI was brought in to begin a similar process with two additional divisions. They were using a homegrown Lotus Notes CRM System that was failing because the sales staff didn't like it and were not using it effectively. It had all the problems faced by the first division but with an even larger product base.

Unfortunately, this one did not work out as well. The initial implementation's project manager and technical support manager, and STI were brought into to handle the RA, Detail Design and initial implementation for this division. They were unable to establish a good working relationship with the local division because the designer of the Lotus Notes CRM System, who was also part of the team, insisted on provisions that made implementation technically difficult.

Eventually this person took over management of the project, and STI handed over the on going support to a local SalesLogix Business Partner. Success was mediocre because we had not established a level of trust that would allow us to work through all of the issues.

Phase IV

Over the last three years STI has worked with the customer to enhance their solution, instituting process improvements and taking advantage of new features from SalesLogix.

1. The reporting has become more complex while the user interface has been simplified to a great extent. The management team now has a graphics report writing front end that helps them understand the complex relationship between the various sales efforts made with their customers. Also Quota vs Actual is much easier to view in this graphic format.
2. Success brings its own problems. Databases that reside management team's laptop computers have become overgrown and sluggish. Currently the application is being run in a client server mode with synchronization between laptops and the central database. STI worked with the customer to develop a plan to convert from client server to a WEB-based strategy, which will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2010.
3. This division is up to 257 users and will add an additional 100 when we convert them to the WEB Client.

Phase V

STI Systems won an implementation project for an additional division in open competition against other Sage SalesLogix vendors and other CRM Providers. This work will begin in 2010. The new CRM system will most likely be integrated with this division's unique accounting and proposal generation systems. However it will also take advantage of some of the customizations already developed for other divisions.

The new division will have additional 450 users. Across four division and three implementations of the SalesLogix CRM platform, this company will have about 1000 users.

In Conclusion: CRM technology can substantially automate and rejuvenate dysfunctional sales processes. However, success is contingent on the ability of developers and stakeholders to establish trusting relationships so that they can patiently work through all the inevitable issues.