This article should be of interest to anyone struggling to keep control of their organisations documents.  Typically this means finding documents on network file stores and within emails.

1.       So you find a document on the network, copy it to your PC and start editing it.  A little later a colleague does exactly the same thing.  You save the document and replace the existing one.  So does your colleague.

2.       To get around the issue of your document being overwritten, you save the new file with a different name (e.g.  Product_details_v2_final_final2.pdf).  Except colleagues have already set a favourites link to the original document and open the older document.

3.       A colleague deletes a document on the network they shouldn’t have deleted.

4.       You wrote a great article last week but can’t remember where you saved the document or the filename you saved it under.  You’ve now got to look through 1000’s of folders on the network.

5.       A client gives you a sensitive document that should be stored securely and only visible to key personnel.

6.       You’re working on a document and need to notify key people of its existence so you email it out to everyone.  They now have their own soon-to-be-out-of-date copies.

7.       You have to expose your network to the outside world in order to give your remote workers access to files on the network.  Connecting is slow so remote workers work on local copies that become out of date.

8.       Documents are not visible when looking up a contact in your company CRM database.

If any of these issues ring true to you then invest time in researching Document Management Systems (DMS).  DMS’s have been around for a while now but have needed a large IT infrastructure to set up and maintain.  As a result the investment costs have been too high for the smaller business.  However, with the advent of Cloud-based computing the cost of implementing a good DMS is very low.  In fact it can only take one lost or accidently overwritten document to pay for itself 10 times over.

So, how can a DMS help overcome the issues mentioned above?  Let’s take each point in turn…

So you find a document on the network, copy it to your PC and start editing it.  A little later a colleague does exactly the same thing.  You save the document and replace the existing one.  So does your colleague.

With a DMS you have a ‘check in/out’ process.  This means that when you edit a document in the DMS it becomes ‘locked’ until you say you have finished editing it.  Therefore other people won’t edit it while you do.  They can see who is editing it and therefore use this knowledge to maybe contact the editor or simply wait.  The bottom line is that nothing is ever accidentally overwritten.

To get around the issue of your document being overwritten, you save the new file with a different name (e.g.  Product_details_v2_final_final.pdf).  Except colleagues have already set a favourites link to the original document and open the older document.

A DMS has built-in version control.  There is no need to keep a long list of the same-ever-so-slightly-different document which confuses people.  The DMS will ensure everyone is given the latest version of a document.  If the latest version needs to be replaced with a previous version you can go back and view all previous versions.

A colleague deletes a document on the network they shouldn’t have deleted.

Enforcing control on a network requires high maintenance from your IT department.  How do you give each worker delete rights in some folders but not in others on your network?  Moreover, some folders may need to be hidden from view for certain groups of workers.  Or read only to others.  A DMS helps manage security enabling you to grant read/write permissions to individuals or groups of users.

You wrote a great article last week but can’t remember where you saved the document, nor can you remember the filename you saved it under.  You’ve now got to look through 1000’s of folders on the network.

A DMS have a powerful search facility that can look inside all documents for any word or phrase you enter.  Or you might run an advanced search that looks for any document created by you in the last 24 hours (to do with Salmon fishing).  So, if you can remember part of the content your chances of finding the document are high. But that’s not all.  A DMS has a ‘tagging’ system which enables you to associate keywords or phrases alongside the document.  A ‘Tag Cloud’ system helps you find the document (and any related documents) very quickly.  For example, this document is ‘tagged’ with the keyword “DMS”. I just need to select the “DMS” tag and any documents in the DMS with this Tag will be listed. 

A client gives you a sensitive document that should be stored securely and only visible to key personnel.

If your business needs to deal with the occasional sensitive document then you will probably keep the document on your own PC and not store it on an open network.  If you have other colleagues that need to see the document then you might email a copy to them.  Where do they keep the copy?  How secure is email in transit?  Are the mail server mailboxes visible to people including your IT dept.?  Using a DMS you can ensure documents and folders are only visible to named individuals or groups.  You simply place the document in the secure area.

You’re working on a document and need to notify key people of its existence so you email it out to everyone.  They now have their own soon-to-be-out-of-date copies.

Using a DMS you store the document in a folder and email a link to it to selected people.  Those recipients will have access to the latest version of that document.  Using the DMS people can participate and discuss documents.  All notes, comments and revisions can be accessed all from the document.

You have to expose your network to the outside world in order to give your remote workers access to files on the network.  Connecting is slow so remote workers work on local copies that become out of date.

Ideally you’d like to see a Windows-Explorer style folder system available on-line over the web where remote workers can access documents safely and securely.  This is what a web-based DMS offers.  Everyone has access to the latest material wherever and whenever they need it.

Documents are not visible when looking up a contact in your company CRM database.

Last - but certainly by no means least – all these documents that sit in various folders on your PC and network are not immediately accessible when accessing your customer information.  You have a disjointed information system as a result.  Go here for contact details and go there for signed commercial agreements and so on.  In fact most DMS’s fall short in this area because they are document-centric systems and not people-centric.  This is why it is important to consider your corporate database when sourcing a DMS and tie the two together.

 

About SouthwestCRM

SouthwestCRM supplies European organisations with best of breed business-critical software.  Its UK office develops its own products that enable leading systems to work together seamlessly.  Founded in 2007, SouthwestCRM is an Authorized Partner for KnowledgeTree^© Document Management System and Bronze Partner for SugarCRM Customer Relationship Management system.  Further information about the company and its services can be found here

Author:  Simon Leek, Founder of SouthwestCRM has worked with CRM and DM Systems for the past 21 years providing advice and guidance to all industry sectors and public bodies.  Simon believes the single most important key driver in a successful deployment is always the end users buy-in and this means easy to use and intuitive solutions to address their individual operational needs.

Ok so this is a little tongue in cheek but these words when strung together can take on a completely different - and sometimes unintended - meaning.  This simple example of what is said by one person to another can often be misinterpreted. In business situations, it is the single biggest reason for project failure and fall outs.

Over the 20+ years I have been consulting around the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems the gap between what the buyer asks for and what the seller delivers is the single biggest reason for project failure.  Having been in this situation myself (but I've learnt some good lessons!) I thought I'd share some tips with anyone who is about to embark on a new CRM project (or any type of project for that matter).

Tip 1: Like a good Carpenter - measure twice, cut once

I cannot emphasise enough about the need for good planning and design BEFORE you start implementation.  Have all your processes mapped out beforehand and ensure that you know the reason for doing the process and its benefit to the business and individual who will be using the process.

When I go into companies that are looking to replace their existing CRM, very often they are unhappy with their existing CRM because it was never configured properly in the first instance.  Sometimes their existing CRM can be made to work but all too often disenchantment has set in and a fresh start is sought.

If you're not sure what your processes are yet or what the likely impact will be from implementing a new process then be prepared to spend additional time, effort and money implementing, fine tuning and re-implementing a process.  I often see situations where the budget has been spent on the initial purchase and new processes are poorly implemented by the customer [supplier now in reactive support mode] leading, again, to disenchantment with the software.

Tip 2: Budget well

Who decides how much to spend on your new CRM system?  How was the budget amount derived?  All too often an unrealistic budget figure is set before engaging with the CRM suppliers.  This is a recipe for project failure.  Suppliers vie for the business and estimate down the likely overall cost in order to sweeten their offering in the eyes of the client and to remain price competitive.

One area which commonly causes the budget to increase is in data migration.  Skimp in this area, or get this wrong, and your new CRM system will never function as intended.  Poor quality in, poor quality out.  Decide, what data to bring in, what each field of information is going to be used for and when.  How many different data silos do you operate? are all silos being replaced with the new system? Do any need to co-exist and keep in sync with each other?  How much data is there?  What indexes need to be applied to the database to speed up keyword/field searching?  Very often a customer will budget one to two days to import their data into the new system.  Be realistic and budget accordingly.

Tip 3: What is the value to the business

In this example, I'll paint a picture of a small business owner.  For simplicity the business owner is a he :)  So the business owner has set a budget of 20K on a new CRM system.  The CRM system will effectively help keep control of the entire sales, marketing and customer service parts of the operation.  Time will be saved and his end customers will see a marked improvement in customer care.....  how much is that worth to the business? What if the actual investment cost was more like 40k? You need to identify the value of the system to the business otherwise the budget and system is just seen as a cost to the business and not an investment.  In the example above, the business owner might not think twice about spending 40K on a new BMW car and baulk at the thought of spending the same on a system that will help run his entire operation more efficiently.  I've lost count of the number of small businesses with around 10-20 staff who only budget 5K on a CRM system.

Be clear about the value of the system to the business from the outset.

Tip 4: Be prepared for a culture change

The best planning and configuration will just fall flat if the end users are ill-informed or not prepared for change.  If I was given the keys to a thoroughbred racing car and told to drive around a race track, I'm pretty sure that if I gave Michael Schumacher the keys to my Volkswagen, he'd still beat me.  I wouldn't be at ease with the car and I'd probably crash in any case :( With a little tuition, tips and incentives, I'm sure my lap times would come right down.

But seriously, you're going to find all sorts of personalities involved in the project.  Some people hate change, others have hidden agendas, some embrace new systems and apply their own styles etc..  The bottom line is education, training and benefits realisation.

Understand the benefits each user is going to get from the new system.  Identify areas which may result in a slowdown in some tasks for one user but which are necessary to the overall speed up of the process across the business.

Conclusion:

Get CRM right and your business will grow, will be more efficient and will empower your workforce.  Get it wrong and you may whale beef hooked.

Many SugarCRM and info@hand users are just not aware of the value and capabilities an external reporting system can bring to their business.  A reporting tool can integrate seamlessly with the CRM database so we thought we'd post some examples to wet your appetite.

is one report example that shows some of the charting capabilities from JasperServer.  The PDF file was generated from within info@hand via a simple one-click menu selection.

One client recently needed a report that printed a 'Job Sheet'.  The job sheet report prompts the user to enter a 'Job Number' and then prints to PDF a nicely formatted and branded Job Sheet.  The Job number is a Project Custom field in info@hand and the details on the sheet contains all product lines that are associated with multiple related purchase orders in the system.  And since the Purchase Orders are all linked to the original Sales Order, the sales order number and customer details are also included on the job sheet.

Ingredients you need to get this working:

• info@hand CRBM or SugarCRM CE/Pro/Ent
• Jaspersoft iReport
• Jaspersoft JasperServer
• Java Runtime Environment

Other uses:

1. Completely change the look and style of the Quotation output
2. Produce a stunningly good looking Account Profile with associated Contacts
3. Include charts & graphs on purchase history by Industry sector

The only downside is that these reports cannot be listed in the standard info@hand Report Writer.  Something we are trying to get Long Reach Corp to support!!

We will be creating a demo site where you can log in and try out so check back soon.

Regards,

Simon

So these days it seems that SugarCRM is stepping on the toes of Salesforce.com. The small to medium sized market (SMEs) is becoming Sugar’s territory.

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You just have to see a SugarCRM demo to realise that the feature set is more or less the same but with one big difference…License Price.

With Sugar the money you save on licensing costs can be put to better use getting your sales, marketing and customer service software bedded into your business infrastructure.

A well implemented CRM solution will serve the user base quickly and effortlessly creating an empowered workforce that actually likes to use the software.  They see it as a business-critical tool.  Go figure.  Implement CRM poorly and it becomes a conflict between Man and software and there are no winners.

The fundamental flaw when buying CRM is the age old battle between the competitors to fit a solution into your budget.  Let’s suppose your budget is £2.40 and the software costs £2.00.  That leaves you £0.40 to spend on making the software work.  Alternatively spend £0.40 on the software and £2.00 making it work for you.  Myth – just because a product costs less doesn’t mean it does less.  Usually it costs more because of the brand or global name it has earnt.  Salesforce.com is a great product but so too is Sugar.  Any of the thousand or so SugarCRM partners around the world will concur.

A lot of rhetoric is given to software stability when it comes to using Open Source software and Sugar is one such project that falls into this camp.  The reality though is this:

•    The user community keeps coming back for more, with over 5 million downloads of the Sugar appliance
•    99 times out of 100 an issue is caused through an incorrect configuration or hardware fault.  Not the software.
•    Since SugarCRM is Open Source, a lot of end-user organisations download and install it themselves - badly
•    SugarCRM is a multi-national software company dedicated to enriching and future-proofing its product suite
•    There is a vibrant community of developers building added value components which enhance SugarCRM (some good some bad)

In tough economic times, buying SugarCRM is the pragmatic choice.  When implemented correctly (and carefully) it gives your business a big competitive advantage.

 

CRM Success: 7 Pitfalls To Avoid

Avoiding User Acceptance Issues

One of the biggest issues facing companies that deploy a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is user acceptance.  This document outlines what we see as the top seven reasons why user acceptance is still a big problem for so many companies.  The decision to purchase and deploy a CRM system is usually based on solid business logic. But once the decision has been made to deploy, many projects go off track. Here are the top reasons why.

Lack of Executive Buy-In

Sure it was a Senior Director or the CEO of the organisation who came up with the idea to deploy CRM in the first place, but these people are seldom actively involved in the delivery. The best solution is for executives to actively participate in the system implementation. By rolling up their sleeves and spending time on the project, they can avoid nearly all of the pitfalls.  

The System Is Not Designed With Users In Mind

Managers, the consumers of information from a CRM system, are typically the decision makers when it comes to system selection and customisation. But the real users of the system are the sales, marketing and customer support staff who must enter and manage information. Often little or no thought is given to the needs of these users and the system deployed often does not meet their needs. Ultimately, a CRM system should make users more productive. But all too often the new system is perceived (correctly or incorrectly) as additional work for already busy employees.

Lack Of Training And Orientation

We have learned over the years that there is no such thing as too much training. Training increases comfort with the system, allows users to become more efficient, and overcomes reluctance to change. But few companies invest adequately in training.

Managers Are Not “Living In The System”

When managers do not rely on the information in a CRM system as the “gold standard” for decision making in the organisation, how can they expect end-users to take the system seriously? By conducting the daily operations of the organisation through the CRM system, user acceptance is reinforced, data quality improves, and decision making becomes more efficient and accurate.

Poor Data Quality

At the end of the day, any CRM system is only as good as the data in it. During deployment, many companies migrate legacy databases from multiple sources, create large amounts of duplicate data, and don’t take the time to “scrub” data so that it is valuable and meaningful to users.

Not Keeping It Simple, No Eye On The Bigger Picture

Most CRM projects start off with good intentions but end up becoming bloated with lots of features, functions and ideas that, together, miss the orginal intentions.  It is important to keep it simple at the beginning and grow slowly as users get used to, and adopt, the new technology.  Conversely, keeping things too simple, or focused, can mean that the wrong CRM system is purchased and the organisation ends up with several fragmented systems.  In our experience it is vital that a good project delivery plan is laid out from the start which is delivered in easy steps in a very controlled environment where user expectations can be well managed.

Lack of Project Ownership

A key driver is to assign an internal project ‘owner’ that has global respect and clout with users and managers.  Someone who can proactively drive the day-to-day delivery of the organisations operational requirements, someone who has a deep insight into the processes, culture and end user needs and who is able to relate technically with I.T staff and the CRM Vendor.  Unfortunately, all too often this role is not considered or users are just too busy to take it on.  Ultimately, this creates a stagnating project or leaves the CRM vendor to make its own assumptions.

So many people I speak with don't know why they use Twitter.  Most site the fact that it seems to be the in-thing to do or that others use it so therefore so should "I".  Then what happens?  People start writing 140 characters about what they have done that day or they advertise a product asking people to buy it.  The former, they decide, being mind-numbingly pointless and the latter bearing no fruit whatsoever.

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Eventually with only a few close friends and family "following" them they start to follow others in the hope that these people follow them back.  Before long their twitter profile is awash with random messages from people they neither know or care about.

Now at this point many new Tweeters give up Tweeting.  They label it a pointless-faddy-thing-to-do which wastes time from doing "real" business.

So what's all this to do with CRM?

 

When I began Tweeting I fell into the above camp until several weeks into it I decided enough's enough, I'm going to give my Twitter antics 30 days to bear fruit otherwise I too will ditch it.   

To begin with I took a long look at my marketing communications plan and realised that Twitter might just help me to build the relationships I was keen to nurture in the region I was targeting. For me, Twitter was going to become a tool to help me build business relationships with people I had already met.  I 'unfollowed' all those people half way around the world that were filling my Twitter inbox with garzillions of irrelevant messages.  I had it down to about 60 people most of whom I'd met through various business network meetings.  And so began my inner circle of known acquaintances.  I felt part of a nucleus of like-minded individuals who had a similar passion to grow their business.  These people were all Twittering on and I started to get to know them all as people.  Go figure.

Next I needed a system to keep me in touch with my little world of Twitter.  Twitter.com was good but unless I actually logged on and got 'involved' in the daily antics of the people I was following I would miss things.  Important things.  In other words it was a bit like being in a bar with friends and coming in on only part of the conversation.  To get around this I researched software programs that could remain open on my PC (in the background) which, alerted me or I would periodically look at.  Tweetdeck became my tool of choice.

Not only could I see what my network was tweeting about but I could also use Tweetdeck to listen out for keywords and phrases that I am particularly interested in.  For example, in my case, if someone is Tweeting about "CRM" and "Exeter" then I'll know.

I helped them out when they tweeted a question.  They tweeted thanks and other people started to follow me.  I started asking for help/advice and people started to fall over to help me out.  I use Twitter to impart knowledge for free.  What goes around comes around and I have seen some wonderful tips from people I am following.

30 days later I had found a great company that I bought from (through a recommended Tweet) and I had found a new customer who, although already new me, tweeted a question which turned out to me right up my street.

Besides Tweetdeck, my CRM database contains a rich source of information on my target audience.  I can see what my contacts are Tweeting about inside, the very tool I live in each day. My CRM system.  It is connected to other social networks and overall Twitter is helping support my CRM strategy.  It's empowering when you do it right.

Whether you are looking to improve your customer service or simply find new customers, South West ICT offers IT-based sales and marketing support to all Cornish businesses.  We are a CRM company in Cornwall delivering software solutions that make light work of email management, email marketing campaigns and customer relationship marketing activity.

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In tough economic times, every channel to market has to be exploited and every business relationship nurtured.

When there are many employees in a business, it is easier for a large business to realise the full benefits of IT systems but this is not so easy for the smaller businesses who struggle to embrace the right technology and therefore lose out of significant sales and marketing opportunities.

 

Some of the many benefits of CRM

• Customers keep coming back to YOU
• Easier to find (and attract) new business
• Greater sales reach
• Consistent branding and messages adds professionalism

This is where South West ICT can help a small business.

 

Many of our smaller clients are ‘IT technophobes’ or they focus on their core capabilities prefering to leave the IT to someone else.  South West ICT’s Professional Services team executes their marketing campaigns leaving them to run their business and use the CRM technology to follow up on the ‘warm’ leads the campaigns generate.

A Customer Success Story: Duchy Hose & Hydraulics - Falmouth

 

When Duchy Hose & Hydraulics came to us, the owner/manager was keen to send out monthly newsletters to each of his customers.  Rather than employ someone to look after this area he contracted our Professional Services team to send out his email marketing messages on his behalf.  As a result he was able to carry on as normal while his brand and key messages landed in front of his customer base every month.  Moreover his business became a 24hour sales operation since his messages were being delivered even when he was not working!
Duchy now has a CRM system that is building up customer knowledge which they plan to use to focus on finding and winning new customers.

Free to You with Convergence Funding!

 

With Convergence funding available to many businesses in Cornwall, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become the de facto standard for any progressive Cornish business.  If you are not proactively marketing yourself then contact us and we’ll transform your email management and customer marketing activities overnight.

South West ICT covers the South West from its base in Falmouth and is Cornwall’s #1 business for CRM.

A real-life example is always a good place to start and in this case study you will see the power of the LinkedIn network and how it relates to an in-house CRM system.

This is a business that sells high value capital goods.  The actual company name is not important but the concept is since it can be applied to any business of this type.  The sales process involves several meetings over a 3-6 month period.  There can be several decision makers including the MD/CEO, Finance Controller and Sales Director.  For the purpose of this exercise we’ll call the company “SW Goods Ltd”.

The Scenario before LinkedIn

Back at base, SW Goods Ltd enters all their sales leads and networking contacts into their in-house CRM system.  The particular CRM system is SugarCRM, the world’s largest Open Source CRM solution. As new sales opportunities are uncovered the details of each opportunity are entered into SugarCRM.  Sales activities such as meetings, demonstrations, phone conversations are logged in SugarCRM.

To summarize:

The Scenario after LinkedIn

The salesman logged onto SugarCRM as usual but today a new feature is available when viewing his prospect.  Immediately his world has opened up and now SugarCRM is no longer showing information that has been added by him or someone else in-house.  He can see a list of employees at this prospect company that are in the LinkedIn network.  It just so happened that one of these people, the Finance Controller who he had never spoken with, was ‘connected’ to one of his LinkedIn contacts as a 1st level connection.

A few phone calls later and his 1st level LinkedIn contact has recommended his company to the prospect.  A new relationship and advocate has been borne in the account and the sales opportunity has been reignited.

To summarize:

•    Connect LinkedIn business network to your CRM system
•    Select a Company/Account in the CRM system and instantly see the employees who are in LinkedIn •    See how these employees are connected to ‘your’ LinkedIn network
•    Build new relationships and advocates
•    Gain wider buy-in and sell more easily

Moral: Connecting LinkedIn to your CRM system creates a true relationship building experience for business people.  Without this connection your CRM system is a good, but an underutilised, internal-facing resource.

When it comes to customer management systems most small business owners confidently say “we don’t need that.  Sheila in the office does that for me” and then they get on with the business of making money.  yee ha.

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In practice though I do see a trend towards the adoption of customer management processes using specialist software applications.  The trouble is that most owners don’t have the time nor inclination to swat up on how these tools can grow the business, preferring to stick to the norm rather than get embroiled in spending their hard earned cash on software they don’t know much about.

 

I came across an entrepreneur one day called Bob who ran a successful business that he has built from scratch and now turned over the princely sum of £2M per annum.  This individual was the owner, manager and salesman.  He had an efficient sales routine of phoning up his target companies.  300 in fact that he targeted at the start of the year using his trusty card index system that sat on his desk.  Using a paper tray system he would split the 300 into 12 strays and work through each tray each month.  Bob was an exceptional salesman and respected in the industry.  

Each week Doris in the accounts department would put on Bob’s sales orders for the warehouse to process.  

One day I asked Bob what his aspirations for the business were and he told me that he planned to be the largest supplier in the UK for his product type.  I thought for a moment and asked him how much more turnover he would need in order to achieve that heady status.  He then thought for a moment and exclaimed that he would need to be roughly 10 times the size he is now.

So I asked Bob how he planned to scale up the business to achieve 20M turnover.  He suggested cloning himself so that he could make more calls each day.  In practice though this probably meant recruiting more sales people to try and duplicate Bob's process.

Now before I continue I will say upfront that this is probably a very good idea but I asked Bob if he would like to reach 10 times more sales by himself without recruiting anyone, would he be interested in exploring this.  Obvious answer I know, but how?

 

Firstly the trusty old card index and filing system will have to go and be replaced with a computer.  I could see his barriers starting to rise ??**!? The 300 names would be replaced with 3000 names.   The monthly cycling through of accounts will be replaced so that each of the 3000 will receive at least one message each month containing useful information and backed up by Bob calling the ones that the system identifies as an interested person or hot opportunity.

 

Over the next 2 years, Bob’s sales grew to £5M without hiring another person.  More importantly he now has a system that can be shared with any new recruits he cares to take on.   Contacts can be split and shared with ease.  Processes are repeatable and consistent.  Quotations and Sales orders are automatically processed without the need for manual printing and data reentry so the entire operation is working effectively, costs kept to a minimum and profits maximized.

 

How did Bob get on with the change of culture and adoption of software?  Not bad.  It took a couple of months of pain to bed in the new working practices but according to Bob he says it was worth it. He looks back at his old process and laughs.  However did he manage before!

 

CRM takes time and effort to implement but the rewards far outweigh the initial obstacles.  You’ve just got to remove the inertia and get onto it.

 

* Real names have been changed