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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 CRM Action Plan
The following is an extract from the article "CRM Best Practices: Creating a CRM Action Plan" by Joe Outlaw from CRM Daily:
"If you have never had to do it, turning your CRM strategy into an actual list of things to do may seem like a mysterious process. But, for those experienced in creating business plans, it should be old hat -- with a customer-centric twist.
There are methodologies and experts who can walk you through the process. But, as with other aspects of CRM, creating a business plan -- which is very personal to the organization -- is best done by those who have the greatest investment in the outcome.
Strategy Becomes Reality
By now, you must have heard that CRM is an iterative strategy; its success comes from continuously and relentlessly revisiting and applying incremental improvements to the organization's customer focus. It requires iterative planning, iterative design, and iterative implementation cycles. Done well, CRM is a three-to-five year journey.
A CRM business (or action) plan outlines concrete goals, responsibilities and deadlines to guide the organization on its CRM journey. The plan, of course, is not a restating of the CRM strategy, but it is derived from and becomes the embodiment of it.
The lack of a CRM business plan is an early warning sign that the entire program is at risk of failure, warns Meta Group vice president Liz Roche.
"The preponderance of reported CRM failures are not actually CRM business or technology failures. Rather, they are failures to meet expectations and delivery of value," she says. "This happens most often because business expectations and anticipated value were never defined and documented in a CRM business plan."
Start with a Method
There is no one way to translate strategies into plans. There are as many methodologies out there as there are application vendors, consultants, systems integrators and analysts helping organizations work through these steps. If your organization does not already have a standard approach, consider getting experienced help for the first go-round. But look for a vendor-neutral methodology, recommends Meta's Roche.
"Most organizations do not use a methodology; or if one is used, the chosen methodology is all too often the technology vendor's package implementation process wrapped in a loose veneer of business process," say Roche.
The problem with using a technology implementation method -- even one that addresses "business issues" -- is that the technology, and not the customer-centered business transformation, becomes the design point. The result will be the CRM project's failure to meet bottom-line revenue and expense goals......"
To view the entire article, visit www.crmdaily.com.
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