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Get the Most Out of Your CRM

In today’s connected world, continuous optimization of enterprise applications to realize your digital strategy is key.

  • Application optimization is essential to stay competitive and productive in today’s digital environment.
  • Enterprise applications often involve large capital outlay, unquantified benefits, and high risk of failure.
  • Customer relationship management (CRM) application portfolios are often messy with multiple integration points, distributed data, and limited ongoing end-user training.
  • User dissatisfaction is common.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

A properly optimized CRM ecosystem will reduce costs and increase productivity.

Impact and Result

  • Build an ongoing optimization team to conduct application improvements.
  • Assess your CRM application(s) and the environment in which they exist. Take a business-first strategy to prioritize optimization efforts.
  • Validate CRM capabilities, user satisfaction, issues around data, vendor management, and costs to build out an optimization strategy.
  • Pull this all together to develop a prioritized optimization roadmap.

Get the Most Out of Your CRM Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should optimize your CRM, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Get the Most Out of Your CRM – Executive Brief
Get the Most Out of Your CRM – Phases 1-3

1. Map current-state capabilities

Gather information around the application:

1. Identify CRM optimization team.
2. Inventory current system state.
3. Complete the CRM business model to create goals and organizational alignment.
4. Identify key CRM processes (optional).

Get the Most Out of Your CRM Workbook

2. Assess your current state

Assess CRM and related environment. Perform CRM process assessment. Assess user satisfaction across key processes, applications, and data. Understand vendor satisfaction

CRM Application Inventory Tool

3. Build your optimization roadmap

Build your optimization roadmap: process improvements, software capability improvements, vendor relationships, and data improvement initiatives.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

10.0/10

Overall Impact

10

Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

American Realty Advisors

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

10

American Realty Advisors

Guided Implementation

9/10

$30,999

5

Workshop: Get the Most Out of Your CRM

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Define Your CRM Application Vision

The Purpose

  • Define your CRM application vision.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Develop an ongoing application optimization team.
  • Realign CRM and business goals.
  • Understand your current system state capabilities.
  • Explore CRM and related costs.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Determine your CRM optimization team.

  • CRM optimization team
1.2

Align organizational goals.

  • CRM business model
  • CRM optimization goals
1.3

Inventory applications and interactions.

  • CRM system inventory and data flow
1.4

Define business capabilities.

  • CRM process list
1.5

Explore CRM-related costs (optional).

  • CRM and related costs

Module 2: Map Current-State Capabilities

The Purpose

  • Map current-state capabilities.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Complete a CRM process gap analysis to understand where the CRM is underperforming.
  • Review the CRM application portfolio assessment to understand user satisfaction and data concerns.
  • Undertake a software review survey to understand your satisfaction with the vendor and product.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Conduct gap analysis for CRM processes.

  • CRM process gap analysis
2.2

Perform an application portfolio assessment.

  • CRM application portfolio assessment
2.3

Review vendor satisfaction.

  • CRM software reviews survey

Module 3: Assess CRM

The Purpose

  • Assess CRM.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Learn which processes you need to focus on.
  • Uncover underlying user satisfaction issues to address these areas.
  • Understand where data issues are occurring so that you can mitigate this.
  • Investigate your relationship with the vendor and product, including that relative to others.
  • Identify any areas for cost optimization (optional).

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Explore process gaps.

  • CRM process optimization priorities
3.2

Analyze user satisfaction.

3.3

Assess data quality.

3.4

Understand product satisfaction and vendor management.

  • CRM vendor optimization opportunities
3.5

Look for CRM cost optimization opportunities (optional).

  • CRM cost optimization

Module 4: Build the Optimization Roadmap

The Purpose

Build the optimization roadmap.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understanding where you need to improve is the first step, now understand where to focus your optimization efforts.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Identify key optimization areas.

  • CRM optimization roadmap
4.2

Build your CRM optimization roadmap and next steps.

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About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

Member Rating

10.0/10
Overall Impact

10
Average Days Saved

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve.

Read what our members are saying

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

In today’s connected world, continuous optimization of enterprise applications to realize your digital strategy is key.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 7 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation #1 - Map current-state capabilities
  • Call #1 - Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

Guided Implementation #2 - Assess your current state
  • Call #1 - Build the CRM team. Align organizational goals.
  • Call #2 - Map current state. Inventory CRM processes. Explore CRM-related costs.
  • Call #3 - Conduct gap analysis for CRM processes. Prepare application portfolio assessment.

Guided Implementation #3 - Build your optimization roadmap
  • Call #1 - Understand product satisfaction and vendor management. Look for CRM cost optimization opportunities (optional).
  • Call #2 - Review APA results.
  • Call #3 - Identify key optimization areas. Build out optimization roadmap and next steps.

Author

Lisa Highfield

Related Content: Customer Relationship Management

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