Simplementation: Few Spoons of Sugar for CRM Initiative

Dears,


In the classic Walt Disney movie Mary Poppins, the children agonize over cleaning their pig sty of a nursery. They dread reassembling spilled puzzle pieces and piling dolls and jack-in-the-boxes back in the toy bin—that is, until their clever nanny comes along and show them that by making the job a game, a former chore can seem downright pleasant. When companies decide to implement new technology—either enterprise wide or in a single department—it’s often viewed with a bit of apprehension. Implementation projects require extra support, synergy across departments, and additional time to adjust. Even small-scale projects require some form of change management. Although rolling out a new software solution requires more than a spoonful of sugar and a snap of Mary Poppins’ fingers, there are ways to make the process less painful—and to make sure the implementation will deliver value.

The average CRM project for a large business takes 14 months; according to industry research giant Gartner. Managers responsible for CRM business applications spend the majority of that time selecting, implementing, and upgrading the technology itself, including integration with or replacement of legacy applications. But no matter what technology you select, and no matter how intensely you strategize roadblocks are all too common on the implementation superhighway. Since those roadblocks often come down to human factors, I’ve collected 10 of the most common and the most costly .

1. Do Your Homework



They say that there’s no better way to get attention than to use the word “free.” If that’s so, then why don’t more organizations take advantage of free software trials? “You should really try before you buy,” Amazingly, a lot of companies don’t do that or competitive face-offs. Often the anticipation of rolling out a new solution leads decision-makers to begin implementing before they have extensively evaluated the product. To test the effectiveness of a proposed software initiative, some vendor takes each client through what the firm calls a “working model”—essentially a small-scale version of the actual software. From testing the products, management can get a better gauge of likely adoption and see what might need to be altered before the go-live date. The initial planning before an implementation is crucial. On a typical CRM consulting engagement, the front end is about 30 to 45 days of fully understanding what the business needs are, what the strategy is, and what you want CRM to supplement. The technology piece is relatively simple from that point.

2. People Who Need People

Time to put that conference room to use. Before even thinking about solutions, organizations must get down to basics, involve key stakeholders, and discuss pain points and objectives. Although management and chief information officers are often the ones finalizing decisions, they should involve their business counterparts—the people who will actually be using the software—from the start. Neglecting user needs will only lead to difficulties as the solution is rolled out.

Historically, there’s been an age-old rift between business staffers and the technology department. The business side complains that the tech staff isn’t speaking its language, whereas technology workers feel as though business users neglect necessary processes and are lax in following procedures. Management may long for, say, a reporting tool for visibility‚ but front-line sales and marketing workers are the ones who will have to feed into it. Without their input, management can’t know which capabilities fit the business processes. This common chasm costs a lot—in expenditures and in missed opportunities. But the chasm itself isn’t the problem. Great [technology] people enable the business solutions. CIOs are focused on technology strategy; business users are the ones who know what works in their day-to-day routines. Buy-in from both is the foundation of a successful initiative.

3. Let it Trickle

When you design the scope of a CRM implementation, you want to do as little as possible “That’s countercultural for consultants.” Throwing too many functions at a business user, he says, could lead to failure. Instead, implementation teams should develop a strategy to phase in features and functionality. Most of the clients whom I interacted initially wanted several functions implemented at once—sales, campaigns, and financial systems. However, suggested rolling out one at a time, giving users time to adopt each and to prepare for the next wave. Change management is always, always, always understated. While it’s imperative that solutions and implementations deliver results in a very timely manner, a step-by-step implementation approach is prudent. Organizations underestimate the scale and scope of the change required in implementing. One recommendation? Factor in time for contingencies. By starting small, but thinking big, users will have time to become comfortable with a solution. And if something doesn’t work, there’s wiggle room to fix it.

4. Think Outside the Box—Just Not Too Far Outside

Its complex sales force automation (SFA) solution required proposal generation for each sale—an appropriate workflow for some of the high-end sales that often reached thousands of dollars, but a hassle when salespeople also had to waste time drafting full proposals on lower-end deals involving products worth only a few hundred dollars. The spectrum of sales simply didn’t meet the solution. It’s like trying to fit an oversized couch into a tiny apartment: No matter how many times you move the couch around, it’s still just too big for the room. You could try sawing off an arm—or, in the case of software, customizing some code—but remember that the more you customize, the more you risk creating unforeseen issues. So make sure that any customization is done within your organization’s known limits. In order to leverage CRM, it’s really critical to set up systems as close to the by-design way the CRM company wanted you to do it. “The more you stray, the harder and more expensive it becomes.”

5. Don’t Be Seduced by Technology

Stay away from shiny things. In other words, cutting-edge technology with the newest bells and whistles may seem appealing at first glance. And it might be tempting to jump on the buzzword bandwagon, but businesses must consider their needs before falling prey to fancy software and services. Regardless of how new, hip, or innovative a technology may be, employees must be comfortable with it. If staff do not understand, enjoy, or find benefit in a new technology implementation, they likely will not use it effectively and there will be no measurable [return on investment].If a solution doesn’t deliver ROI, no matter how spiffy the new technology might sound, you should probably hold off.

6. Find Sponsors That Stick

We talk about encouraging customers to become evangelists for your company, but before there’s even a chance for that to occur, employees have to be evangelists first. In terms of an implementation your evangelists had better include a project sponsor—or a team of them. “It’s about having someone who can articulate the essence of what [the project is] trying to accomplish and who has the authority to make sure it’s implemented. The sponsor doesn’t have to be the CEO, just someone who’s passionate about the undertaking. Sponsorship often starts out with good intentions but all too often [they’re] lost in the process.”

7. Plan for Product Enrichment

Recognize that CRM really becomes nothing more than a Reception couch if you don’t put the add-ons to the product. If there’s even a chance your organization might grow unsatisfied with its plain-vanilla CRM solution, the implementation period is the time to start thinking about potential future additions.

8. Audit, Audit, Audit

You’ll never know how far you’ve gone if you failed to record your starting place. “You have to inspect what you expect; good CRM gives you many of the metrics to measure your progress. Agreeing on metrics and milestones before the go-live date, of course, will make auditing easier. Although it’s hard to get a great idea of the health of a solution right away, you can still monitor user logins and other basic adoption statistics.

By paying close attention from the start, it will be possible to tweak the solution as any problems arise. Users, for example, may be approaching the tool differently than intended. Best to learn these issues at the start. If you aren’t looking at how people use the system, you’ll have data-quality issues like they’re going out of style.

9. Pull the Plug When You Have To

It’s going to hurt a little—in some instances, maybe a lot—but if enough time has gone by and a solution has not worked, it might be time to call it quits. Hopefully, organizations will have laid enough groundwork to avoid this fate, but never say never. “Most projects don’t die because of starvation,” “They die because of indigestion.”If you shut a solution down that you’ve taken through an implementation process, you probably shouldn’t have made it into prime time. The more-realistic scenario we see being effective is that you roll out a process or functionality that doesn’t completely hit the mark.When efforts you expected to contribute to the overall success of an initiative begin to gum up the works there’s no harm in taking down those little sub processes and discontinuing them.

10. Mind the Generation Gap



“You’ve got to work the way they work,” “they” means both customers and employees.“Even if you’re delivering value to [an older] generation, you have to help them get over the stigma and the doubt,” For some companies, he says, it’s important to deploy change management techniques and ease fears of the scary new technology by reframing the project as mere business transformation. One social networking company didn’t need change management or traditional handholding. Its tech-savvy constituents didn’t want training manuals—they wanted to jump in and take a shot on their own.

Loving P&C
DC*

CRM in Emerging Markets – Consumer Goods Industry Focus

CRM in Emerging Markets – Consumer Goods Industry Focus

Dears,

               

CRM, when done right, drives incremental revenue, margin and a more efficient and effective sales force. For a global organization looking to win in emerging markets enabling CRM capability is more than developing and deploying new tools and processes – it is a transformation. This article outlines an approach to simplify this transformation and to deliver business benefits.

CPG manufacturers are aggressively targeting emerging markets to enable future growth. The increasing number of consumers of international brands of personal and household products in these markets represents a tremendous branding and sales opportunity. The numbers below are staggering:

·         84% of the world global population accounts for 50% of Global GDP

·         30  Million traditional shops world over

·         Potential to add 1 billion consumers for every worthy Brand.

CPG companies are capitalizing on this opportunity by increasing their presence and focusing on affordability, accessibility and awareness of their brands. For example brands like Oreo and Tide do not have a formal presence in India. CPG firms would do well by launching affordable variants of these brands in India. Distributors are a key stakeholder in the success that CPG companies can drive in these markets. In Latin America a CPG firm will need to work with a few hundred distributors; whereas in Asia Pacific a CPG firm would need to leverage 1,000-2,500 distributors to reach 1 Billion new consumers!

There are several business barriers to effective information exchange between the CPG Company, the distributor and the distributor‘s sales force. Often the technology available with the sales force is fairly primitive including paper based exchange of information. The added complexity of multiple languages and low level of sophistication due to lack of formal training within the sales force further amplify the benefits of a robust CRM platform in most developing markets.

Value Chain in Emerging Markets

Emerging markets are complex. Complexity is driven by channels, products and routes to market. In developed markets CPG firms work directly with large organized national scale retailers. In emerging markets CPG firms work primarily with distributors. The distributors employ a sales force that services High Frequency Stores (HFS) - individual mom and pop stores which carry relatively small inventory, pay cash and need very high frequency servicing. Further, market structures vary widely across emerging markets. In Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and India — for example — modern trade and traditional trade co-exist; whereas in Ecuador, Peru or most Southern Cone countries traditional trade makes up majority of the market. The existence of traditional trade and therefore the route to market presents the following challenges:

1. Lack of control on retail execution. For example, a CPG firm does not have the ability to direct the sales force to execute specific activities. The sales force therefore—typically— pushes products that are easier to sell in that store as opposed to those driven by trade/consumer promotion.

2. Lack of visibility to retail sales. CPG firms have visibility of the receipt of their shipments to a distributor but not to what the distributor sold to a retail outlet.

3. Low level of sophistication of sales representative due to lack of formal training.

4. Need to collate data across distributors.

5. Lack of advanced technologies/tools to drive automation

In our experience, an approach that enables you to streamline and harmonize business processes while introducing innovation can increase your chances of achieving a successful outcome.

Enable

Streamline program management, technical leadership, change management, training, development, integration, and testing - everything into one program.

·         Accelerate CRM platform development with early brand/country deployment wins.

·         Ensure adoption by engaging local leadership early in the program.

·          Involve star performers from the sales team right from the start. Design the details with their input. Ensure it is their baby and not (only) yours.

·         Ensure adoption by providing ―context sensitive help

Harmonize

Focus on detail and achieve realistic global process harmonization by determining a country variant due to local business practice, culture and legal needs. For example, you will find that planning oriented processes can be harmonized across markets, while transactional processes and those that  lead to competitive advantage may need to be country specific.

Innovate

We are of the opinion that winning early in emerging markets will drive significant growth over the next decade and that CRM will accelerate achievement of that outcome. We also believe that breakthrough ideas that enable distributors to perform better and in turn create visibility for CPG firms to each retail store will create a significant competitive advantage.

Loving P&C
DC*

SaaS-ifying your CRM Application

Dears,

SaaS-ifying your CRM Application

SaaS CRM Maker Salesforce.com is clearly the poster-child for the software as a service (SaaS) industry (at least in the CRM space) and has boasted its multi-tenant architecture as the undeniable standard for hosted software delivery. However, SAP has entered the SaaS industry with its Business By Design solution and trumpeted its isolated tenancy hosted delivery model as one of the most overarching advantages when compared to Salesforce.com.


The debates between multi-tenant and isolated tenant hosted delivery platforms are nothing new, however, the topic has transcended from a quiet conversation among industry pundits to a full scale debate among SaaS buyers and influencers.

The multi-tenant hosting model claims to deliver the following advantages over isolated tenancy:

1. First and foremost - dependability and reliability. By mandating every customer operate on the same database, operating environment and software version, the hosting manufacturer is able to deliver greater standardization, operate with fewer variables and ensure a more reliable information system.

2. Material cost savings. When all customers reside within a single database, there are material economies of scale related to both software procurement costs and IT (Information Technology) administration (including provisioning, maintenance, tuning, trouble-shooting, evolution and systems management).

3. Faster life cycle evolutions. By not supporting individual client applications and multiple software versions, resources can be more tightly focused.

Not to be over-shadowed, isolated-tenancy advocates point to their hosted software architectural advantages:

1. Software versioning. Whereas multi-tenant CRM software solutions require all customers to share the same application version and all customers are upgraded in mass (whether they desire the upgrade or not), isolated tenancy CRM systems generally support multiple versions of their software (usually the current version and the last one or two versions) and permit clients to accept or defer new version releases. Isolated tenant and multiple version support often appeal to those clients who have incurred system integration or software customization and want the opportunity to evaluate the ramifications of a new version release before being forced to the new version. Isolated tenancy applications also appeal to those clients who would like to defer a new version release for a period of time (often until the first point release is issued).

2. Increased flexibility for access to information and system integration. Because isolated-tenancy CRM applications devote a dedicated and unique database to each customer installation, greater access to data with third party query tools, report writers and integration tools is permitted.

3. No limits customization. Unlike multi-tenant applications which include constraints which cannot be violated due to the shared database approach, isolated tenancy applications offer a 'no limits' software customization which generally implies both more flexible and lower cost customization.



Current Trends

• Hosed CRM and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) buyers show increased awareness in the multi-tenant versus isolated tenancy trade off. Majority of the Customers indicated that the tenancy model is or was included in their software selection evaluation.

• The smaller the customer, the more likely they gave less importance to this issue.

• The larger the client, the more likely they preferred or even demanded isolated tenancy. As one Fortune 500 respondent commented, "I find it audacious and presumptuous that a CRM company is going to tell me that I'm sharing a database with thousands of other companies as well as tell me that they are upgrading my system without my advance notice, input or approval. Do they not recognize that a system upgrade may wreck havoc with other related systems?"

• Security conscience organizations such as health care, financial services and federal government seemed to show strong preference for isolated tenancy, however each of the SaaS CRM Tenant model has its own advantage Single Tenancy could be model to look for to scale to new heights in the next few years.

Challenges in moving Desktop Warmers to the Cloud Comrades

While the idea of a cloud is appealing, there are challenges in moving an existing product to the cloud. Here are the challenges in moving to a cloud based business model:

• Customers are not going to switch unless the cost saving is exceptional. Minor savings are not good enough.

• Deployment has to be exceptionally fast

• High performance is an expectation. Customers somehow expect that the cloud has unlimited resources. So, if they’re paying for a cloud app, they expect that they can get whatever performance they demand. Hence, auto-scaling is a minimum requirement.

• Linear scaling is an expectation. But this is much easier said than done. Parallelization of tasks is a big pain. Must do lots of in-memory execution. Lots of caching. All of this is difficult.

• Latency must be low. Google, Facebook respond in a fraction of a second. So, users expect you will to.

• If you’re using Linux (i.e. the LAMP stack), then, for achieving some of thees things, you’ll need to use Memcache, Hadoop.

• You must code for failure. Failures are common in the cloud (at those scales). And you’re system needs to be designed to seamlessly recover from this.

• Is customer lock-in good or bad? General consensus in cloud computing market is that data lock-in is bad. Hence you need to design for data portability.

• Pricing: Deciding the price of your cloud based offering is really difficult.

o Cost of the service per customer is difficult to judge (shared memory used, support cost, CPU consumed, bandwidth consumed)

o Customers expect pay-as-you-go. This needs a full-fledged effort to build an appropriate accounting and billing system, and it needs to be grafted into your application

o To support pay-as-you-go effectively, you need to design different flavors of the service (platinum, gold, silver). It is possible that this might not be easy to do with your product.

Loving P&C
DC*

Saving your CRM Program with Successful Technology Enablement Process (STEP)

Dears,

There’s been a lot of bad media propaganda about customer relationship management (CRM) technology over the years. While a lot has been made about CRM failures, the reality is that only a very small proportion of implementations actually fail in the sense that the system doesn’t go live. Remember Artificial Intelligence (AI), one of the biggest buzz - words of the 80’s? How about Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE)? These technologies rarely got implemented even though companies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to do so. At the time, industry analysts had us all believing that these technologies were as important as the coming of the Messiah, yet all that remains of them are distant memories.

There may be several causes for the high failure rate in enterprise type implementations, but two primary reasons seem to surface to the top with small to mid-size companies. First, implementation of a comprehensive CRM solution often requires a fundamental change in the policies and procedures of how a company sells and supports its customers. Changing to a customer-centric business model, meaning always placing the customer first can be very difficult to implement. Employees have a tendency to cling to old policies and focus on better ways to manage their business rather than creating a better customer experience. This type of change requires strong commitment from senior management and must permeate throughout the organization. You can’t just speak it, document it in your brochures or place it on the back of your mission statement. You must execute it with passion. Without this commitment, even the simplest of CRM solutions will fail.

Where CRM has commonly failed is in its ability to positively impact the bottom line. As a thirteen year veteran of the CRM industry I’d estimate that 80% of CRM systems seriously under-perform their potential, with the majority generating very marginal, and in many cases negative value for their owners. Most systems are limited in scope, and usage tends to be occasional and unstructured. So how did we get into this state? Two reasons I suspect:

Firstly, CRM vendors are, in general, first and foremost motivated and equipped to sell software, as opposed to deliver benefits. They may truly believe their software delivers value, but there is a big gap between raw technology and an implemented system that generates operational benefit. In particular vendors have failed to appreciate the importance of analyzing and encompassing their clients’ business processes, and have struggled with user adoption. Secondly, for those systems that do bridge the gap, many have failed to remain relevant over time. This is often because there has been insufficient maintenance of the system, or the business and changed and the system hasn’t adapted.

While businesses may be able to overlook the fact that their CRM technology isn’t delivering on its promise in the good times, the tougher economic environment means that these systems are letting them down just when they need them most. The need to attract and retain customers has never been more pressing. The good news is that it’s often relatively easy to turn a CRM system round, and with the investment already made, this can often be achieved without significant additional expenditure.

Incidentally, if you aren’t sure whether your CRM system is performing or not, one quick check is to review the reports generated by the software. If you can’t find any useful, comprehensive, or accurate data about the running of your business you can safely assume your system isn’t doing a lot for you.

Back to Basics

There are massive benefits to using CRM technology to control your key customer facing processes. Not only does it facilitate a host of operational efficiencies, but utilising the notion that you can’t manage what you can’t measure, one of the key benefits is being able to continue to improve over time. Your CRM system may not be doing much to help you today, but getting things back on track might prove the difference between prospering and failing in difficult times.

If you look back at some of the most successful products in the past decade, you will find that hey were point solutions, providing narrowly focused capabilities such as contact management, product &pricing management and opportunity management. They were easy to implement, easy to use and provided immediate value to the user. This resulted in strong user acceptance. I began to ask myself why CRM solutions could not be implemented the same way, as point solutions. Who mandated that companies must tackle the implementation of marketing campaign management, sales management and customer support functionality all at once? Why does back office integration have to be completed at the same time? Add to this the changes in policies and procedures required to transform to a customer-centric business model and it’s no wonder that we are seeing so many failures in the CRM space. We are simply asking people to do too much all at once. It’s time we get back to basics and this resulted in the creation of  my own simple methodology S.T.E.P, the Successful Technology Enablement Process.

S.T.E.P. takes a modular approach to your CRM initiative using a best practice guide to insure the successful implementation of one department at a time. S.T.E.P. recommends that you begin with the sales organization, automating the sales process first, and then move on to marketing, campaign management or the customer support functions. S.T.E.P. allows you to start small and break down the implementation process into pieces that are attainable, based on the customer’s requirements and resource availability. S.T.E.P. allows management’s commitment and involvement in each phase of the implementation. Management will help to facilitate workplace productivity, discuss the reasons for moving to a customer-centric business model and assist in maintaining complete control over the project. This is critical as the implementation begins to spread through the different departments.

S.T.E.P. Consists of Five Phases:

Step I Needs Analysis

During this phase of the implementation we document the strategic and tactical objectives of the department. We determine the process, workflow and functional requirements and identify areas where information needs to be tracked, shared and integrated.

Step II Project Planning

A formal departmental implementation plan will be created, and finalized during this phase. A system administrator will be selected to coordinate with members of the department as well the system integrator or consultant(s) managing the implementation.

Step III Installation & Implementation

Installation of the software, workflow policies and procedures will be implemented during this phase. System configuration, privileges, preferences and security will be determined.

Step IV Testing & Quality Assurance

An operational prototype of the departmental application is up and running at this time. Operational issues are identified and resolved, and basic modifications are made.

Step V Deployment & Training

The application is now completely operational. There are no additional installation activities. Training begins for departmental management and end users. Ongoing support is provided by the system administrator with telephone assistance from the system integrator or solution provider. Once the first department is operational, we will follow similar steps again for the next department. The specific details of each phase of the S.T.E.P. program, tasks and time frames are worked out with each customer. Using the S.T.E.P. approach, a typical installation of the sales system for a team of 10 to 20 sales representatives only takes 3 to 5 days.

The implementation of any CRM solution takes time and proper planning. The S.T.E.P. program is unique, providing customers with the ability to focus on specific components of CRM and insure their successful implementation before moving ahead and automating additional areas. Clearly, the real value of CRM comes from the integration and sharing of customer information while insuring that the solution works in concert with the rest of the organization. You can realize significant value and maximize return on your investment if you take it one S.T.E.P at a time.

Loving P&C
DC*

SaaS OnDemand CRM, 6 umpteen Factors

Dears,

You have analyzed your organization’s business needs and determined that an OnDemand CRM solution will best meet your requirements. And you’re not alone. Industry observers expect the market for on demand CRM to grow by more than 30 percent per year. But how do you determine which on demand CRM solution is right for you?

Here are six important factors to consider.

1.      ANALYTICS

CRM without comprehensive yet easy to- use analysis and reporting capabilities is akin to a car without a dashboard. Particularly in today’s challenging business environment where gaining actionable information resulting from sales, marketing and service interactions is a ‘must have,’ your CRM solution should include both real-time and historical analytics capabilities. Real-time analytics provides a current snapshot of critical business metrics such as your sales pipeline, while historical analytics uncovers trends as well as anomalies over time. CRM analytics should include both a wide range of pre-built dashboards as well as the ability to easily build customized reports that meet your company’s unique requirements.

2.      ENGAGEMENT

According to Forrester Research, approximately 75% of us now use social tools and technologies to collaborate, whether we create content, critique it, or observe it . This process of engagement has begun permeating the enterprise. But does your prospective CRM vendor support features that foster instant messaging-like collaboration right within CRM? Do they support RSS feeds and gadgets both inside and outside their application for information mash ups as well as easy information access – features that enable sales people to be as informed as possible about their prospects and customers in near real time? Do they offer complementary applications that increase the effectiveness of sales users in critical functions like sales prospecting?

3.      INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC CAPABILITIES

The cost of customizing plain-vanilla solutions is far higher than leveraging prebuilt features optimized for your industry that come with a CRM solution. By leveraging industry-specific, out-of-the-box business processes, data models, object models, and business logic, organizations can gain faster time to value at a lower total cost of ownership. Why build a custom solution at higher cost when you can buy an existing offering that includes most of the requirements a financial services firm or life sciences company, for example, is seeking from an on-demand CRM solution?

4.      INTEGRATION

Companies invest in best-of-breed front and back office applications to streamline critical business processes for a particular function. But if these offerings operate in their own silos, your organization may experience productivity issues, data quality problems, and reduced business

effectiveness. Does your CRM vendor provide standards-based integration capabilities that bridge your applications? Does it provide these offerings as a single vendor solution, ensuring one point of

control? In order for your salespeople to easily and efficiently conduct seamless business processes, such as building and attaching a quote to an order, comprehensive integration features are critical.

5.      INFRASTRUCTURE

A key reason you want on demand CRM in the first place is to outsource infrastructure issues. But like any purchase, you need to consider what’s under the hood, so to speak, and understand exactly what you’re purchasing. For example, if you speak with your IT department they may tell you they

want the peace of mind of having all instances of your company’s on demand CRM application located on a dedicated hardware stack rather than co-located on servers with data from other companies. This ‘single tenancy’ option also provides your organization with the flexibility of being able to determine when planned maintenance and upgrades occur in order to ensure your business isn’t disrupted during critical times. Another item you should consider: Is the hosting service provided directly by the CRM vendor itself or do they outsource it to another company? The

bottom line: not all hosted data centers are the same, or offer similar levels of service and flexibility.

6.      CHOICE

What if at some point your organization requires functionality that is best managed through an on-premise CRM solution? For example, a comprehensive loyalty, marketing resource management or e-commerce application may exceed the boundaries of any on demand CRM system. Does your vendor provide on premise CRM, as well as capabilities for seamlessly integrating both on demand and on premise CRM instances? While on-demand CRM may solve your current requirements, your business could require more flexibility and choice from your CRM vendor in the months and years ahead.

Loving P&C

DC* 

Empowering Consumer Goods Industry with Direct Retail Distribution (DRD) CRM

Dears,

Consumer Goods Technology developments have the potential to redefine ‘business as usual’. In the right hands, powerful mobile devices, connected to high-speed networks, can drive innovative approaches to direct retail distribution (DRD) that were not previously possible. If you’re a Consumer Products company considering new systems for your DRD operations; looking for ways to better integrate your field sales, delivery and merchandising operations; or wanting to increase competitive advantage through higher levels of in-field service and productivity – this article will make little difference to you as well.

DRD drives multiple benefits through the power of in-field synergy: a fresh, cohesive approach that builds brand presence by providing capabilities to: a) expand the traditional role of DRD drivers; and b) to coordinate the efforts of complementary groups of field workers. DRD transcends the barriers imposed by rigid roles that have traditionally isolated the tasks of drivers, sales reps and merchandisers. Not only can drivers now do more in store, they can alert supervisors and central headquarters, as well as sales representatives and merchandisers in their regions, to any field situation they observe that requires prompt attention. Schedules can be reprioritized in real-time based on a constant flow of in-store information.

Quick, coordinated responses unite field workers in their ability to achieve key business objectives and win at the shelf. No longer isolated individuals; they are interconnected teammates lifting their brands. All members of the team can think and act as in-store brand advocates; each has a keener sense of the fierce competition around their brands (from traditional foes and private label alike). They know the roles their brands play in categories and their need to align with shifts in customer needs – store by store – and in local consumer demand. They work more purposefully and positively to protect their brand sales, profits and market position. And in this new paradigm, everyone who touches a store on behalf of a brand is capturing data that can help Consumer Products companies make better strategic and tactical decisions. This is a giant leap for brand-kind.

WHAT MORE COULD BE DONE IN THE FIELD?

Here’s a quick sampler:

·         Field workers use store printers to issue purchase incentives and coupons on the spot to offset a Competitor’s two-for-one promotion.

·         Field staff access Retail Application help stay in consistent compliance, and immediately reschedules labor priorities if needed.

·         Product recall alerts beam to all DRD handhelds to remove affected items from store shelves, and real-time reports back from the field verify the action. (Rapid recalls can differentiate brands; nearly half of consumers have changed shopping patterns due to food safety concerns – and they don’t equate higher prices or brand names with safer food.

·         Store-by-store memory of past performance, promotions and display preferences are instilled; this enhances productivity and brand presence, and makes field staff turnover a moot point.

·         Field workers take photos of a competitor’s new packaging or promotion and transmit immediately to HQ.

·         During periodic reviews with retailers, account teams can document that their field force spent, say, 20,000 hours servicing the chain’s stores; can detail achievements (e.g. no voids in end caps, minimal out of stocks); and document category performance lift as a direct outcome of these efforts.

DRD not only allows companies to blend the activities performed by deliver drivers, it also allows the driver’s role to be integrated into an end-to-end field operations process. By utilizing mobile technologies and applications that interact across field managers, sales reps, in-store merchandisers and DRD drivers, companies can respond more quickly to brand performance issues in the field. These may be related to out-of-stocks, new product launches, in-store promotions and point-of-sale display, share of shelf or competitor activity. Co-coordinating field team members to address these issues in a timely manner (that can have a positive remedial impact on revenue and brand performance) is a significant challenge that can be addressed through DRD, as illustrated in the scenario in the picture.

What to seek in a next-generation handheld

Several motives drive the decision of CPG manufacturers to replace older technology. First, the costs to continue to support end-of-life hardware and software become unwise or prohibitive. Second, increasing demands on CPG field teams to perform create the need for more powerful, advanced devices with new capabilities—and ruggedized units with larger screens, higher resolutions, faster speeds and longer battery life are available at comparable costs. Third, today’s more robust technologies enable DRD drivers to get more involved, to expediently complete and report on a broader range of tasks.

The fast pace of technology advances keeps CPG seeking more robust solutions for their DRD teams. Devices with capabilities on this checklist will equip brands with the information power and industrial engineering their teams need in the field:

·         well-supported sales and merchandising functions, such as compliance, distribution and share-of-shelf checks, competitor price checks, shelf resets, consumer intercept surveys, delivery and invoices

·         web-based integration with CRM ( Oracle Siebel CG CRM /Oracle Field Sales ) to ensure invoice prices are 100% accurate based on back-end systems

·         pre-sales functions

·         DRD solutions on a ruggedized PDA/Smartphone

·         choice of a tablet or laptop, which is sales and merchandising focused

·         choice of a cell phone for simpler field condition audits

·         the ability to barcode scan the outside of case cartons

·         modern, scalable architecture that could fill needs for the next decade

·         rapid deployment

Paradigm Shift

It is axiomatic to say that the world inhabited by Consumer Products companies is one of constant change. Anyone who has lived through the past few years would be hard pressed to argue otherwise. In modern trade markets, the seismic changes that have reshaped the competitive landscape have also created opportunities for companies to reshape their operations to service customers more efficiently and more productively. Direct retail distribution, long regarded as a logistics function at the end of a highly optimized supply chain, is one such area of opportunity. New thinking about the role of the delivery driver as an agent of in-store brand presence – and of DRD as an integral part of the consumer demand chain – can be a powerful lever for competitive advantage. This kind of thinking is no longer just wishful. The availability of powerful handheld devices, high-speed mobile networks and innovative applications provide the tools that can drive Game-changing initiatives for forward-thinking companies. With traditional DRD solutions nearing the end of their shelf life, and with a growing expectation from retailers that there is more value these systems can deliver, Consumer Products companies are in the position to drive a welcome change.

Loving P&C
DC*

CRM Design & Getting it Right

Dears,

Having spent couple of weeks in CRM design reviews of our projects, I thought I’d share some tips on surviving the process  while it was freshly seared on my memory and I call it a Hell raiser. Trust me, CRM design work, rather like a prolonged course of dental treatment, isn’t the most fun way to spend your time. For those of you who haven’t been through CRM design before, it’s probably appropriate to first explain what it is: CRM design is where, having selected the CRM technology you wish to implement, you sit with your chosen System Integrator, and work out how your CRM requirements will be delivered in the new software.

On the surface this might not seem exactly onerous, but what you agree at this stage is what the System Integrator will go off and create, and if what they create doesn’t turn out to be quite what you wanted, then the System Integrator is likely to point out that, since you signed your name in blood that this was indeed what you wanted, they’ll now have to start all over again – and of course charge you for the privilege – so the project ends up taking a lot longer and costing a lot more than you intended.

In reality the design phase can be pretty straightforward, assuming the requirements are pretty close to the out of the box software. If however you require much in the way of customization or integration, the design phase will normally incorporate the dreaded design specification which you will be tasked with reviewing and swearing the requisite blood oath on the life your first born by way of confirmation of its accuracy.

Reviewing design documentation is to say the least challenging, so my six tips for surviving the experience:

Start with a good set of requirements – I won’t dwell on this as it’s a frequent theme in this blog, but suffice to say if you have a detailed well thought out set of CRM requirements – apart from saving you lots of money – it gives a ready means of checking off that everything you previously said you wanted is indeed what your System Integrator is planning to give you (System Integrators having tendency to slightly selective memories when it comes to things they feel might be awkward/expensive to develop).

Do not expect it to be in a language you understand – Design specifications are written for two audiences: you, as the client to sign off, and the System Integrator development team so they know what they’re meant to be developing, but actually mostly the System Integrator development team, who are generally extremely technical, which you may or may not be, and work with the selected software day in day out, which you probably don’t. So it’s a bit like being asked to sign a contract which is written in, say Greek, when English is your first language. So allow a lot of time (even a straightforward design document can take several days of work), and stock up on coffee and paracetamol.

Make sure you understand every word – Even innocuous phrases can have deep meaning, so these documents don’t suit a quick skim. The greatest mistakes I’ve made on projects have been where I’ve figured something’s been too arcane for me to take the time to fully understand, so my advice is no matter how dumb you feel the questions may be, keep asking them until you are 100% certain you understand what’s being said.

Expect trouble – You might be wholly convinced that your selected System Integrator are a pretty switched on bunch, and they might well be, but they will still make mistakes and omissions, and a lot of them, so don’t get lulled into thinking that you can trust them, and avoid the necessary investment in coffee and paracetamol. Even on a modest requirement I figure the System Integrator has done a pretty good job if I find less than a hundred issues on the first pass.

Finished reviewing? – the journey just begins – While you might feel a sense of a job well done having completed your review of the design, there’s normally plenty more to do. Curiously, many design specs have more mistakes in their second iteration than the first – a phenomenon for which I’m unable to offer any logical explanation. Half a dozen iterations isn’t that unusual for a moderate amount of customization, so budget for coffee and paracetamol accordingly.

Make sure the System Integrators have the resources available to action your input – You’d figure it wouldn’t surprise System Integrators that clients actually reviewed their specs, but it seems to. Once you’ve completed your review you would hope the System Integrator would be able to process your input in a timely manner, but if the relevent staff member has been allocated onto another project this isn’t going to happen, so it’s always wise to make sure that resource is available to quickly process the necessary changes, otherwise very lengthy project delays can ensue.

While this post is slightly tongue in cheek, the design phase might seem innocuous, but it really does catch a lot of organizations out. Very substantial overruns can easily result, so it’s really worth the considerable investment of time and energy required to get it right. There aren’t unfortunately any short-cuts, but coffee and paracetamol really do help.

System Integrators generally require you to sign off a design which they will go away and build, and if that doesn’t happen to be what you wanted when it’s delivered, they will raise a change request for you to sign off which will generally entail you paying them money to go away and change it.In principle this is a sensible policy since it’s designed to prevent the phenomenon of ‘scope-creep’ where the client keeps adding new requirements. Imagine if you went to a restaurant and ordered the soup and what turned up was mere a teaspoon full of your selected starter, and when you remonstrated with your waiter, you were informed that they had indeed delivered ‘soup’ and if you wanted more then of course you could place another order. Predictably, unless you were on some radical diet, you might feel rather upset, and might well choose, amongst other lines of protest, not to visit the establishment again.

The focus of System Integrators seems to be on what is ‘signed off’ rather than what is right to help the client’s business. And as long as something is signed off the System Integrator is generally happy, regardless of whether that something is in the client’s interests or not. Thereafter the standard operating procedure seems to be to maximize the short-term profitability of the client by using the change request procedure to limit even inconsequential changes.

This practice reflects the following aspects of the CRM System Integrators’ world-view:That their role is to sell technology NOT deliver business solutions – however much ‘solution’ may litter their marketing literature and sales presentations.That a project is a ‘one-off’ spend with the System Integrator. That ongoing revenue is seen as a nice to have rather than a fundamental requirement that needs to be catered for.If things are to change the System Integrators need to understand that they can implement genuine business enhancing solutions, and when they do they will have a client happy to invest in their technology over the long-term. If and when this world-view changes then the change request may finally revert to a sensible tool to manage projects.

I indeed proud to say that as a company ,Sierra Atlantic always been a honest Implementer of CRM solution even if it takes for us to invest and do what is best for business rather than making our customer bleed .

Loving P&C

DC*