With CRM Software, Consider Best Practices
VII. Consider Best Practices Utilization
Why Do We Use CRM Software Best Practices?
Best practices are techniques, tips, and tricks that have evolved over time through research, planning, and
historical deployments. The process of yielding best practices typically involves a series of trial-and-error stages
implementing a technique or methodology and then evaluating its effectiveness. If the result is positive, the
technique is kept, refined, and distributed to other members of the organization or other organizations. If the result
is negative, the practice is thrown out and another technique is tested. This substitution repeats until a positive
result is reached. In the end, the organization is left with a group of techniques and methodologies that when
employed will increase the productivity and effectiveness of the implementation effort or production system as a
whole. Best practices save organizations from spending valuable time figuring out what somebody else already
knows. In other words, don’t reinvent the wheel.
Best Practices Best Used In Moderation
Our view that a minority of CRM software Best Practices can comprise the majority of the tangible and lasting value for a CRM implementation project has been substantiated by a few different comprehensive studies. One study, by Accenture, surveyed top executives among communication companies that comprise 72 percent of the industry revenues in North America. The study evaluated the effects of the strategy, process, technology and human performance components of CRM on marketing, sales and service.
This study is one of the few known to have quantified the measurable impact of CRM capabilities on financial performance. The results of the study revealed that a small but select number of marketing, sales and customer service capabilities could have a major impact, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, on a company's bottom line. A difference of as much as 50 percent in return on sales between average and high performing companies was attributed to CRM performance.
Examining 54 CRM software specific capabilities, the study identified 11 specific areas that have the greatest impact on a company's financial performance. The study also claimed that each of these 11 capabilities had the potential to add $20 million or more to a typical $2 billion communications business unit's return on sales. These results contradict the traditional view that most CRM capabilities are equally important. |
