Advice Line | Bob Lewis » The right questions to ask when selecting CRM software

August 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The right questions to ask when selecting CRM software

TAGS: General

Dear Bob ...

I greatly enjoyed your column on controlling the behavior of end users ("Revisiting the End-User Computing Manifesto, 10 years later," Keep the Joint Running, July 31, 2006).  You and I are pretty much of one mind, for the most part.

I would add one good practice that can take the form of an obligation for users:

    1.  When a new type of application is needed, end users will work together to develop a consensus as to what application comes closest to meeting their needs, and will work with IT to determine if and how it can be supported by IT;

    2.  Once consensus is reached and appropriate budgetary/ROI tests are met, IT will prepare to support the application, and the application will be provided through normal channels.
 
    3.  Once the application is provided and supported, users wanting to use other apps of that type are subject to your "Where IT has established a standard, end-users must accept it" rule.

Your closing line about Act! hit close to home. We desperately need a CRM, and we are trying to get our users to agree on one. We hope it's not Act!, but if that's what they ultimately demand, that's what we'll ultimately support.

Thanks!

- Act!ing out

Dear Act!ing ...

I agree with you, to the extent that an application is beyond what's reasonable and appropriate for end-users to develop for themselves, or so long as the IT governance process includes what they need as a priority. The fact is, in most companies, IT's bandwidth is far more limited than the list of opportunities for automation. End-user-developed or installed applications are an important tactic in closing that gap.

Regarding your need for CRM software ...

What you're asking of your users is the wrong question, I think. The right question is, of the sales force, "How do you want to sell better?" The right questions of sales management are, "What selling process do you want to encourage the sales force to follow?" and "How do you want to manage the selling process?"

With answers to those three questions, you're in a far better position to find software that (1) will satisfy sales management, and (2) the sales force will actually use, instead of ignoring it and using Act! instead.
A lot of our consulting attempts to refocus both IT and business management on the difference between IT installing software and IT helping the business improve what it does. It isn't necessarily easy to cajole everyone into trying it. I promise you that once you do get everyone into this habit, they'll never willingly to go back.

- Bob

Posted by Bob Lewis on August 15, 2006 04:24 AM

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