sinatraco.com Blog

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a type of business application that allows a company to gain visibility into the relationships they have with their customers.  Ideally, it’s a way to gain the elusive “360-degree customer view.”  Done the right way, it is one of the most powerful tools available to company.  Done the wrong way, a company can waste ten of thousands of dollars which can lead to the brink of financial ruin.  It is a high-stakes game with a high risk / high reward ratio. 

Posts in this category will attempt to give some advice into how to implement a CRM application.  A great deal of the ideas here will focus on the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment model, which I believe is the most effective way to deliver a great deal of functionality at a reasonable rate.  I’ve seen first-hand both sides of the “build vs. buy” debate as it relates to technology and I fall firmly on the side of SaaS!!

A few years ago I was consulting for a company who talked to a developer about creating a complete database to track clients.  The developer mapped out the sales processes and began to create the homegrown application.  It was a long and arduous process and the company was spending upwards of $170K per year in development.  The final application was never delivered because the scope of the project grew out of control by the end of the process.  It was a frustrating process and the entire project was not only a complete failure, but it put the company in financial trouble.

This is not a unique example.  This kind of story happens all too often with companies of all sizes from the smallest of the small to the largest of the large. 

When I arrived on the scene, the owners of the company where clearly frustrated and any kind of technology was scoffed at.  I introduced one of the leading SaaS applications, salesforce.com.  A SaaS application is one that is accessed via the internet so it worked well with the 7 oiffices they had spread throughout the country.  It is also paid via a monthly subscription rate based on the number of users, which meant the overall cost would be predictable and stable. 

We mapped out all the processes, automated workflows, gave visibility into the sales pipeline, tracked marketing campaigns, developed a dashboard management system, and had a centralized place to capture all client interactions.  When the application launched (in about a month!) it changed the way in which the company did business.  It transformed the work environment. 

Most importantly, I was able to reduce the $ spent on technology from $170K+ per year to around $30K per year, a reduction of 82%.  Better still, the new salesforce.com application took this company light years and within 18 months grew by over 480%.  This was a powerful example of how not to do CRM and what happens when it is done correctly. 

A few recommendations when implementing a SaaS application:

• If you have poor proceeses in place SaaS will not help – you need to map out your processes BEFORE you take the SaaS leap
• Find someone locally that has experience with salesforce.com or some of the other SaaS solutions – there are nuances of these applications that can be difficult to pick up early on.  The good news is as you get aquainted with the solution it is very easy to manage in-house with little IT infrastructure
• Make a commitment from the TOP to use the application – if the leaders of the company don’t use it, neither will the employees.  Once a manager pulls out a color dashboard that shows everyone’s output in living color, you’ll be amazed by how productivity goes through the roof.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com