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DSC Tech Library
Customer Relationship Management
This section of our technical library presents information and documentation relating to CRM Solutions and customer relationship management software and products.
Providing timely customer service information is vital to maintaining a successful business. Accurate information provided in an organized and thoughtful manner is key to business success.
TELEMATION, our CRM and contact center software, was originally built on this foundation. The ability to modify Customer Relationship Management software is important in this ever changing business environment.
Telemation Customer Relationship Management solution and contact center software is ideally suited for call centers throughout the world.
CRM Best Practices: Creating a Budget
The following is an extract from the article "CRM Best Practices: Creating a Budget" by Joe Outlaw from CRM Daily:
"Budgeting is budgeting, you may say, and to a large extent, that is true. But, despite the best efforts of many capable accountants, CRM projects are notorious for overrunning their budgets.
Perhaps it is the lack of experience most organizations have with CRM. Perhaps it is the organizational breadth and the high percentage of people costs that make CRM projects so difficult to estimate. The good news is that many of the common pitfalls of CRM budgeting have been identified, and sound advice is readily available.
Making a List
The CRM budget process begins with a list of planned projects. The list may be the result a formal CRM needs assessment (CNA), or it may have emerged from less formal analyzes. If a CNA was conducted, you should have a priority order established, a rough business case, and approximate timing for each project. The rough business case typically will be based on the estimated cash flows of costs and benefits.
If your list of CRM projects came without business cases, priorities or approximate project dates, your next step on the road to a budget must be to create them.
Once you have the approximate cash flows, you must fill in the cost details to create a budget that will pass muster with your senior business and financial management. To do this, a broad array of resources, both internal and external to the organization, often is required.
Checking It Twice
The level of detailed analysis and support required for each project cost is up to the organization. In general, the more that goes into the project costing and budgeting, the fewer negative surprises are discovered during execution. The most common reasons for CRM budget overruns are unanticipated expenses and excess people costs due to schedule breakdowns.
There is no "standard" CRM project -- for example, some may include technology, others may not. Therefore, what will be included in each CRM project's budget also will vary. Typically, you must plan on people resource costs -- both for external consultants and for the internal staff involved -- and technology costs.
Technology can include the CRM applications themselves -– software licenses or application services fees -- as well as additional computer and telecommunications hardware and software; implementation-services fees; and associated maintenance and ongoing operations costs.
Regarding application-implementation fees, be wary of the "average multiplier" numbers given out by software vendors for the ratio of their software-license fees to implementation fees. These can vary widely, depending upon your industry and your individual requirements......"
To view the entire article, visit www.crmdaily.com.
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