CRM Analysis

CRM Analysis by Luneos (29/06/10)

If you want to invest a couple thousand dollars into a CRM solution, it really pays off to perform initial requirement analysis. This analysis provides help when you are selecting the right CRM vendor and later also during system deployment and testing. If the analysis is done carefully, it helps to distinguish between really important features and nice to have’s, as well as to decide, in which order should be these features implemented.

According to our experience, the best approach is at first to divide CRM analysis into several parts (e.g. contacts, calendar and tasks, document management,..), then assign a percentage weight to each part and begin to ask specific questions. Answers can be then rated on scale from one to ten and the system with the highest weighted total sum is then the best CRM for your company.

Before signing the contract, put together an implementation plan that includes both features specification (from analysis) and their deployment date. If it is possible, attach this document to the official contract, because such step can help you to avoid potential unpleasant discussions about implementation scope and time.

Licences or hosting?

There doesn’t exist any universal answer for the question if it is better to purchase licenses, or rather decide for a hosted SaaS solution. This decision always depends on company size, its attitude to IT, trained staff availability and other internal and external factors. The hosted solution with fixed monthly price has an advantage that your company doesn’t need any initial bigger investment to purchase licenses or hardware and this fact has a positive impact on your cashflow.

Tailor made industry solutions

We also recommend to make a brief survey among your competitors and business partners to find out which systems do they use and how are they satisfied with their performance. Performing such survey helps you to quickly eliminate inadequate solutions and focus only on those CRMs that can bring your company real benefits.

Before choosing CRM system and its supplier also try to find out if some vendor doesn’t already have experiences in your industry and if there isn’t any tailor made industry solution. The main advantage of these preset systems is not only faster deployment and configuration, but also better IT support for your processes.