Case Study: Successful Implementation of CRM
This is a case study of how one company successfully implemented CRM:
After reviewing the available options,
Christian finally settled on implementing CRM with Salesforce.com.
He considered both that it had the most comprehensive feature set and that its pricing model was more amenable to his budget than alternatives. He also noted that its user interface was the most robust out of all the systems he’d evaluated and finally hired a consultant to provide consultancy around implementation issues and training for his staff in order to get off on the right foot.
The case study describes the company’s history, how the CRM system was selected, the steps taken in its implementation and rollout, and a series of tests conducted at each stage to measure the effectiveness of CRM.
It also includes a conclusion section that discusses some of the key lessons learned and areas where improvement would be beneficial.
Interview with Key Players: Christian Reitbauer (Company CIO/CTO), Ulrich Hoyer (CEO), Nele Koeppe (Vice President/CRM Consulting)
"C-Suite" / "S-Suite" vs. "Group" Reporting
The first phase of an effective CRM implementation is to set up the right hierarchies, as this will become the foundation of the CRM system.
As Christian Reitbauer, CIO & CTO of Company C noted in an interview, “we knew that we wanted a matrix structure within our team and that it made sense to set up the hierarchy accordingly, so we could then use it to drive all of our reporting.”
However, it seems that the decision was made to report using a “group” structure.
It is not clear why this decision was made, but it is likely that due to their size, the Company was more concerned with focus than trying to make sure everybody had visibility into the full picture. This does have advantages and disadvantages.
The Advantages of Using a "Group" Structure:
The Disadvantages of Using a "Group" Structure:
Key Lessons Learned: In the end, Company C settled on creating groups around product lines and regions as they felt this would give them the most uniform view both internally and externally while also allowing teams to operate independently.
An article here on Salesforce.com describes how to set up a hierarchy. It also describes how to use the Salesforce.com interface by breaking down the setup into two steps - building the hierarchy and then setting up reports and dashboards to show the data.
"Group Reporting" Benefits
Members of each group are assigned specific responsibilities, such as sales forecasting, pipeline management, forecasting, and territory management. Although team members all have access to a CRM system with common functionalities for sales managers and personnel, each group is able to customize their own views based on the specific requirements of their business unit or area of operations (e.g., sales territories).
The sales forecasting group is able to build a forecast for a given sales territory; the cost of the forecast is based on their historical selling habits for that territory. The budget for the forecast is determined by how much they think it will cost based on historical selling costs and current sales. The actual results of the forecast are then compared against that budget to determine whether they should be either increased or decreased.
Sales managers have access to dashboards that show certain key areas of their week’s activities, including calls initiated, calls waiting, and leads generated during a specific time period.
The following are a few of the benefits that have been brought about by using CRM:
"Group Reporting" Disadvantages
Groups within the same department require independent financial controls. Budgets and forecasts must be independently calculated and monitored for each group, as groups may have different targets, service levels, etc. Group members may not all have the same abilities or tools to accomplish their jobs. Marketing and engineering staff members in separate groups will all see reports from the sales team, but they will not all see reports from accounting. Group reporting requires a large level of personalization to make it work effectively.
"Team Reporting" Benefits
Team reporting allows a company to focus on the activities that are most important rather than having every employee in the company see every possible report. A team can then be built around their specific needs and goals, and this will help them to make better decisions about the activities that are important for their business. It can also lead to more efficient use of resources as each person in a team has a clearer view of his or her portion of the business. This will ultimately lead to greater efficiency, higher productivity, and more profitability.
Team reporting can be implemented using a sales process and the basic components of CRM. Sales processes are typically built around creating leads in the system and then following up on each lead to convert them into sales or a specific action or activity (e.g., getting them to fill out an application for a seminar, registering for a demo, etc.).
Sales processes are used as an internal tool to track the progress of individual leads from beginning to end. This gives managers more control and visibility into operations because they have access to information about how long each lead spends in each stage of the process, who is responsible for each task, etc.
This information can then be used to make more informed decisions about staffing and where improvements can be made in the sales process.
The following are a few of the benefits that have been brought about by using CRM:
Team Reporting" Disadvantages
Key Lessons Learned: Although there may be some reasons why it would make sense to create groups that report to certain managers, it is generally better for company employees to report through the same hierarchy so they have a complete view of company data. This also helps prevent confusion, especially for employees who don’t yet understand how their jobs fit into the bigger picture.
The following table shows how, depending on the company’s size and needs, a company can choose the best reporting structure.
Table: Company Size & Needs
The following diagram illustrates how these different reporting structures look within an organization.
Technical Dashboard Guide for CRM4 by Kesha Patel, ISACA Publications (2009)
Kesha Patel is a consultant and software trainer who specializes in helping companies find solutions to problems using Salesforce.com and other technologies. In addition to the technical books she has written on Salesforce, she also manages NoFluffJustStuff.com, a blog that provides daily tips for Salesforce users.
Conclusion
A salesforce.com report needs to address the needs of the user who created it. Each report should have its own purpose, such as helping a manager do his job better or providing salespeople with reports they need to make decisions. If a user is not sure what information he should see in each report, his Salesforce.com administrator can make recommendations that will help him decide which reports to use and which information is most important.
This section provides a general overview of how Salesforce.com functions and how it works with other systems to accomplish certain tasks..