The CRM Change: Mystery, Magic, Danger?
Spurred by technological advances and more intense competition, change has become an important element of a manager's priorities. Yet change management, like CRM, is in danger of being hijacked by the technology industry. Already the concepts of the agile enterprise, the on-demand economy are being thrown around in television ads. Change, however, is more profound than just deploying a new platform or trying to change the way you do things. Any change will undoubtedly impact people: your employees, your customers, your partners and your shareholders. Implementing a CRM strategy will involve considerable change and ignoring the impact it will have on your organization's stakeholders is dangerous.
The route to successful CRM is, like the journey to Hades fraught with mystery, magic and danger.
Mystery
Mystery because, despite it being at least 10 years old, the concept of CRM is still not well understood. Is CRM the use of technology to manage your relationships with your customers or is it a means to better understand how to deliver value to your valued customers in order to create, retain and grow relationships with them? I believe it is the latter.
Magic
Magic because so many organizations think that all you need is money and technology for all one's problems to go away. Throwing money at a problem is often too simplistic while technology, albeit an important element, has never delivered on its promises alone. The real magic of CRM is getting senior management to support a strategic CRM program throughout its development and implementation. This commitment is harder to obtain than you might think. Yet as the top levels of your organization get involved in orchestrating and leading the changes necessary for CRM, your chances of turning an opportunity into actual improved business performance are real.
Danger
Danger because there are many ways of getting it wrong, of getting bad advice leading to wasted resources, escalating project costs and potential damage to existing business processes. With basic upfront planning and involvement, both people and process issues inherent to CRM can be overcome.
Why Change?
This is not a rhetorical question. Developing and implementing CRM will change the way you do business. In fact, it will probably change the way you view your whole business. That change is often so dramatic that it is important you understand why you are going down that road. You will need to precisely define why you feel changes are necessary: what are the business drivers, what are the benefits to both your organization and your customers, what will be the results of such a change both in terms of business performance or return on investment. Additionally, you will need to have some idea of how long the process will take, who will drive and who will manage it.
The Role of IT
You need to consider whether it is your IT team's responsibility to:
- Identify the need for the solution
- Identify the right business approach
- Identify and map the underlying processes
- Identify the teams and business units that will benefit
- Build the business case
- Ensure all the people issues areaddressed
- Ensure that business benefits areachieved
If most of the above is not their responsibility you had better be very clear whose responsibilities they are and get some metrics, plans and actions in place.
Business is Accountable
As CRM initiatives have traditionally required some sort of technological deployment (such as a data warehouse or sales force automation application), IT departments have often been given the responsibility to manage both the technical and the business process side of things. Their remit has been to manage the whole process, from identifying needs to ensuring that the business as a whole benefits from the new systems. This however is a serious mistake. IT departments are not designed to manage change: they lack the understanding, the skills and the necessary authority to ensure that any change in systems is implemented and used. The initiative is and should remain with the business or department that originates the change. IT is only one resource among the many others that you will need to involve. As you are reading this article, we assume that you are thinking about developing or implementing a CRM strategy. If that is indeed the case, do not delegate your responsibilities to your IT department however good they are.
People
The main issue with leaving the responsibility of managing change within the context of a CRM project to the IT department is that they are not in a position to affect the people side of the change equation. Yet your employees are probably the most important part of your CRM initiative. They will implement it, and they will eventually run and use it. If they do not buy into the program, CRM will only be an empty promise. And, here lies your greatest threat and your greatest challenge. Here also lies the secret to a successful CRM implementation.
Your challenge will be to coax, coerce and cajole your staff into buying into the changes that you propose. That is why a clear understanding the reason you are embarking on such a program is so important. This demands that you have a clear view of the unwritten ground rules that make and enable your organization to function. Another important aspect in understanding the organization you inhabit is the level of cultural intelligence displayed by the team involved in the changes. This is especially important when tackling the necessary organizational changes that have to be made for your CRM program to be successful.
