CRM is a good business solution entrepreneurs should implement for improved customer experience and sales. However, before installing a CRM system, managers should ensure that the preparations are well executed for smooth and successful transition.
Employees and team members should therefore adequately answer the question “what is CRM?” and understand what implementing a good CRM brings to the organization and delivery of work processes. According to Creatio, more CRM fails occur at the onset of the implementation stage. In this article, we look at some of the risks that may be brought by the adoption of CRM, and how you can get them fixed.
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Lack Of User Adoption
Low adoption rates by CRM users is one major risk businesses face immediately after the installation. It occurs especially when your employees and other users within your organization actively resist learning how to implement or use the key features of the system. The technology may be fascinating to the staff, but even without this problem, getting the people to transit with this technology in a large organization may still be very difficult.
While some sections of employees may see a solution and quickly adopt it, some will still think it puts their job at risk.
Solution
When faced with this kind of resistance, most often it is as a result of poor transition strategies. Managers must therefore begin by nurturing a culture of learning and digital innovation among their teams. By learning together and especially when learning is encouraged from top-down, the company moves forward faster as one.
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Lack Of Vision
Companies moving in with CRM solutions should do so with a clear vision. However, many businesses rush into adoption without clear expectations. It then becomes much easier for these businesses to lose focus over the implementation process. If your implementation plans are clear, and employees will understand how they are supposed to utilize the tools towards achieving the what vision, it becomes more beneficial to implement CRM.
Solution
It is advisable that organizations plan with a clear vision before installing a CRM system. This will help the company and its employees to stay on track and utilize the CRM features towards achieving the set goals.
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Lack Of Communication
Most decisions for the implementation of CRM system are made by the top management. This is because these decisions depend on budgets and other process changes that are better handled by the management. However, if these processes are not adequately communicated to the whole staff, sections of the teams may feel insecure with the process and try to sabotage it.
Lack of communication may also occur when CRM is implemented, but the teams cannot perform the updates until it is done by support staff. In such cases, the solution only generates more problems instead of solving existing ones.
Solution
In order to solve this challenge more seamlessly, you need to get a CRM system with built-in communication management features. In this case, teams will be able to access previous communications and efficiently answer customer questions or follow up staff communication even in the absence of teams who initiated the communication process.
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Lack Of Support
Usually, it is common to find that one member of your team that acts as the software “guru” or “champion.” This member in every case acts as the point person for all queries to do with the implementation process of the CRM system. If an organization begins the implementation without a point person, it becomes more difficult to answer questions along the way.
Although vendor support is also very necessary in this process, your team may not fully rely on the vendor to provide all related software solutions.
Solution
Solving this problem is easy especially at the planning stage. Identify members of the staff who are more enthusiastic about the implementation, train them, motivate them and assign them roles to be able to fully own the implementation process. This way, you have a point person or a number of them in every department, and they will be more ready to speed up adoption and implementation by offering support to other members who may be slow in understanding how the system works.
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Choosing The Wrong Vendor Or Software
Many organizations make the mistake when selecting CRM software. You may either decide to buy a cheaper solution or buy one that is so sophisticated for your business. This always becomes a challenge when you have to optimize the software to meet the needs of your organization.
On the other hand, there are more chances that your CRM will fail because you settled on the wrong partner. Some vendors are too shoddy in their work, that they may deliver solutions that are not adequately cut to meet the needs of your organization.
Solution
You can easily turn up these situations by selecting the right CRM for your business needs and finding the right vendor. Although costs may be important, you should not make it the primary consideration when choosing the right CRM for your business.
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Not Thinking Of Customer Perspective
While CRM system offers a wealth of tools you can utilize to boost business efficiency and provide insights into sales, any failures to make the system customer-driven is not a problem with software development. There are however many ways to organize the information in order to make it easier for the company to handle. This may however not be the best way to organize your CRM system. As a result, it becomes less customer-oriented and it delivers lesser customer satisfaction that leads to reduced sales.
Solution
To solve this business risk, incorporate customer feedback when organizing your CRM to make the system more interactive to both employees and customers for best results.
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Too Much All At Once
Planning the implementation and executing the process in a step-by-step manner gives your organization more time to test, learn, revise and even gain more insight into new opportunities for business. Some companies however try to rush the process by either skipping or combining several stages. This leads to serious problems putting the implementation process at risk.
Solution
To avoid this kind of problem and keep the implementation process smooth, plan well and set realistic timelines. Also, ensure the stages you set for implementation are manageable.
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Lack Of Training
Training is an essential tool to implement before rolling out the software. For companies that begin the implementation before training their teams, the learning curve becomes steeper making the process more challenging even to the most skilled members of your team. Also, some organizations try to shorten the training time or simply cut down the training budget. The result is usually a lower user adoption rate and more risks of CRM failure.
Solution
Provide adequate training for staff before beginning to implement any CRM solution to make the transition smooth and enjoyable.
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CRM Coordinator Picked Randomly
Some organizations make the mistake of picking a CRM coordinator or champion randomly. Usually, a mid-level IT manager, Director of Marketing, or Director of sales may be picked to lead the implementation strategy. However, these people may not have the dedication, the time, the passion, and even the ability to plan for the project. The result is always a failed CRM.
Solution
When choosing a CRM point person, consider their abilities such as planning, the time they have to devote to the process, passion, and other relevant considerations.
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Team Members Don’t Understand Their Role
Every member of the team may at some point need to upload data into the CRM – from field sales agents to in-house office staff. The process may however be completely different for every use situation. This process should be clearly reflected within the CRM interface and supported with adequate training. Besides, every employee should clearly understand their roles in the use case.
Solution
Ensure there is adequate training and all staff member have clear roles in the CRM implementation.