UVI chose CRMPlus due to our experience working with unique and diverse organizations, for our understanding of creative business rules and processes, and because of our ability to implement on schedule and budget. “Having been chosen by Sandals Resorts International to provide their CRM solution was a true honor,” stated Charles.  “The implementation of Sage SalesLogix went live in April and we are looking forward to getting their teams utilizing the system to its fullest potential.”

Managing a CRM solution takes a combination of skills, knowledge and time. The mixture of these depends on where you are in the implementation cycle, the level of complexity of your solution and the number of users supported by your solution. There is no simple answer.

CRM Implementation Cycle

A company identifies the need for a CRM solution or the need to replace a CRM solution. The company goes through a selection process, identifies the solution of choice then implements the solution. After implementation is complete, the solution will need on-going support.

The stages of the implementation cycle are described below:

• Selection – the selection of your CRM solution is critical to the long-term success of the project. The average life-span of a CRM application is five years. You will be living with your choice for quite a while. A good selection will enhance your processes and a bad selection may blow you back to the spread-sheet days. CRMPlus has a white paper on the selection of a CRM solution. Some key points:
• Scope development – the overall scope of the project should be identified. This does not need to be a detailed specification but should provide key information about how your implementation will be used. This will include information such as:
  • Key problems to be solved
  • Business requirements
  • Corporate vision for the solution
  • Demographic information
    • Number of users
    • Reporting structure
    •  Security requirements
    • Databases that need to be converted
    • Special process requirements
    • Marketing requirements
    • Sales requirements and methodology
    • Service processes
    • Solution selection – Focus on your requirements! CRM vendors will throw all kinds of buzz phrases and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) at you to win your business. Keep coming back to your requirements – will this solution meet my needs? If you don’t know what your needs are, the vendors can spin you in circles. The best salesman will get the project and that might not be the best solution for your application.
    • Contract negotiation – once you have selected the solution that meets your needs, then you can negotiate for the best price. Savvy purchasing practices may dictate that you negotiate with all the competitors without allowing them to know that you have made a choice. Remember that price can be difficult to pin down. Look at the total cost of ownership over the life of the solution, not just the up-front cost unless you have some unique financial requirements.
    • Implementation – implementation is when the work really begins. There will be a team for your company and a team for the solution selected. Each brings a special expertise to the project. Your team has the industry and business experience and the solution’s team has the understanding and experience with the solution. This phase includes:
    • Scope conversion – converting your Scope document into detailed specifications for implementation and customization. This is a very important step and can lay the foundation for success or failure. The implementation teams should create a final document or set of documents (Statements of Work) that address all aspects of the implementation. This will be your final road-map to how the solution was created.
    • Customization – the development team creates the necessary customizations
    • Database Conversion – your data from the old solutions are migrated into the new solution. This might be a very complex conversion from several systems or it might simply involve importing a spreadsheet or two. We have even implemented solutions with no data conversion at all.
    • Integration – if your corporation requires integration of your CRM solution with other systems, this is usually accomplished at this stage. Although, many of our customers have elected to delay integration until after the solution has been placed in service.
    • User Implementation – if your CRM solution includes a Windows client or remote software, it is implemented at this time. If your solution is totally web-based, then there shouldn’t be any software to install on the user’s computers.
    • User Training
    • On-going Support – Once the solution is in place and working, someone needs to be responsible for addressing user concerns and questions.

Even thought the solution has been completely implemented, you will require various level of support. For fairly static and well defined implementations, the support is usually limited to helping users get the most out of the solution. Some companies have changing requirements or see the value of a centralized database and phase in customizations and integrations over the life of the solution. It is difficult to determine how much resource or contract labor this on-going development may require. It is different for every company and fairly independent of the solution selected if your requirements were adequately identified and addressed during the selection.

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Zeba has had a professional relationship with Charlie Kemmerer, President of CRMPlus, for over twelve years and originally joined the CRMPlus team in 1997.  Zeba enjoys working with clients who have a specific business need which requires customization of the system.  He takes great satisfaction in developing a working relationship and a personal rapport with these clients to truly understand their needs. He also loves the creativity behind developing a solution for them, then seeing that idea become a reality.

Charlie has received numerous awards for his work to which he attributes to his consultative sales approach.  Traditionally, sales training was feature – benefit – pain based.  Charlie knew he could support customers more effectively by focusing on the issues they were facing, determine how CRMPlus could solve those issues, and ultimately make the customers business better. Charlie has also always taken the approach that if he doesn’t have a solution, he won’t try to force one.  He states, “We are not about selling something.  We are about helping to solve problems. We want to learn your business, identify your problems, come back with solutions that work and help you do your job better, make more money, and better utilize resources.  That is the joy that we get out of our business.”

The Product Advisory Council (PAC) consists of Sage partners and offers the opportunity to provide Sage with guidance on product design, future releases, and customer experience. PAC is focused on product related issues, complementing the Business Partner Advisory Council (BPAC) which focuses more on general business issues. The PAC’s primary role is to serve as a dedicated group of partners that support the long term success of Sage products through validation of product plans and designs for each product line. PAC members are a resource to product management, designers/business analysts, UCD, developers, and other groups that require product related feedback.

 “We are honored that Sage has selected us to serve on the PACs,” said Charles Kemmerer. “Having a direct line to Sage management is a win for our customers; it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Sage and our commitment to the ongoing improvement of the products we offer.”

PAC members are recommended by Sage team members who recognize the participants’ passion for the products, strong product knowledge, ability to think strategically about the long term product directions, and represent a broad range of customers and markets. Members actively participate in PAC meetings, product surveys, design reviews, beta/controlled release programs and other activities where Sage would like input or feedback from PAC members.