3 Stages Of CRM Implementation

17 Apr 2018

For us here at OpenCRM, the idea of a business wanting to adopt a CRM system to help their day to day functionality is a bit of a no-brainer–why wouldn’t they? And we can tell you how much it helps from a USER’s point of view. After all, we are not only advocates of our own product, but it also forms the nerve-centre of our own daily operations.

But your new CRM system has to fit your business and the success of that all comes down to implementation. Trust us: without putting some thought into the process you might find yourself wasting time as you try to start running before learning how to walk.

So how is CRM implemented?

A successful CRM implementation requires three key stages steps:

1. Planning
2. Execution
3. Review

Planning

What goals are you aiming to reach by implementing a CRM solution? Are the people who will be affected by the CRM adoption aware of the coming changes? Do you have their buy-in? Do you know how many people you want to get on board? How much they will be using the system?

Getting these questions answered before starting with the execution means you are getting people engaged in your CRM implementation from the outset. Hopefully you are also generating a buzz about the forthcoming improvements to your business processes!

It also means you can establish a budget to based on how many subscriptions you are likely to need. You can also think about how much time and effort will be needed in the next steps.

Execution

When it comes to successfully completing this stage of your implementation, the key is getting the right people in the right place at the right time.

For example if you are setting up the email integration, are your IT people on hand to do the back-end config at your end? Often a project can be delayed if not everyone is on the same page. Or if one department is waiting around for another team to do their bit. If your system set-up includes data migration, is your historic data exported and tidied up so that it is ready for import when the time comes? Have you finalised the look and feel of email or PDF templates?

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Getting such steps carried out in a logical order will help with a swifter adoption of the new system. This in term will minimise any downtime as you transfer from one system to another.

Review

The good news is your new CRM is up and running, well done! You might think your implementation process is over. But you’ve actually only just reached stage 3.

Now is the time to look back at the planning and execution stages to see if you are on your way to reaching those goals you set out to achieve. Are all the people using the system that you had planned for? Have you rolled out access to all the parts of the system that you intended to use, or are you still getting to grips with the basics? If it is the latter – and there can be many good reasons why a project doesn’t roll out as smoothly as anticipated – have you got plans to catch up and get you back on track?

Carrying out frequent project reviewing ensures that you keep the end-goal in sight. That way, even if the project moves slower than you would like, you can make sure your implementation is a success.