Hidden costs in the implementation of CRM-systems. Field experience
When you start a large project to automate the business processes of an organization, in the initial stages it is very difficult to assume what you can expect in a few months after the start of implementation of the system.
Many suppliers of CRM-systems promise that the project can be implemented in just a few days or even hours.
Most often this is just a marketing promise. Of course, there are cases when a quick installation of CRM is possible, but usually these are simple solutions, which are setting up simple rules, registering users and assigning their rights.
If we consider a CRM system in which 100-500 users plan to work, then without preliminary consulting in the field of process description, individual business rules, user interfaces, role models, definition of data sources and integration rules can not do.
')
And when you are planning a project, you definitely need to set aside time for a pre-project survey and study of the specifics of a particular business. And the leaders of organizations, as a rule, are very busy - and, at best, they allocate several hours a week for communication with consultants. The project manager on the part of the customer though oversees the project, but does not have complete information about all the processes in the organization. Thus, the coordination of nuances of work can take several weeks, and the requirements that were originally included in the contract cover only a fraction of the possible cases.
The process of changing requirements begins, which also delays and increases the cost of the project.
The customer’s management is trying to estimate the cost of a CRM system per user, and most suppliers in their price lists announce this price (per user per month, per year, or according to the usual licensing model).
However, the experience of implementing systems shows that a user license is not the most expensive, which affects the final cost of the project. This is usually 30% of the total cost of the system.
Large complex projects ultimately exceed the budget by 50% -60%, and their implementation requires 50% more time.
How can you reduce project risks?
We recommend that you first describe your own business processes without inviting external consultants.
If necessary, you can bring them to a limited amount of work so that they help to correctly formulate questions and set the canvas. Without this stage, in our opinion, a successful implementation project is impossible, unless the standard configuration of any system suits you or your organization has very simple processes.
Then we recommend to invite solution providers (minimum 10) and listen to their suggestions on setting up your business processes , and not a presentation about the advantages of their company and the number of customers. To fully enjoy the dignity of the technology with which the CRM system was created is possible only after the start of implementation. Since even if you wrote down the requirements, chose a supplier, started to implement, in the process of work you will find out that you did not take into account about 30-40% of cases - you didn’t think, didn’t know or forgot.
After the start of research and implementation of the system, significant changes occur in the organization's business environment, and the time of the relevance of automation tasks is measured in months and / or even weeks. After all, the technology used should allow very flexible and in the mode of small iterations to modify the system.
Try with one or more suppliers to implement a pilot that automates one or more processes, see how the supplier is ready to quickly customize your processes. Depending on the scale of the project, it is possible to allocate insignificant amounts for piloting new systems. Why limit yourself if you think that you may have several systems.
Beware of best practice suppliers. To some extent, this may be good at the initial stage of automation, and you will not have to reinvent the wheel, which will significantly speed up the implementation of the system. But best practice has a reverse side of the medal, which obviously puts you in the group lagging behind competitors, since they have been using this solution for a long time (at least 2-3 years), and you are just going to implement it. If you do decide to use best practice, you need to understand how the configuration of the proposed solution can be modified to suit your organization.
Budget planning
Virtually any implementation project is very difficult to implement within the established budgets.
There are two strategies for selling an implementation project:
There are many hidden costs of implementing solutions for automating business processes and future monthly expenses that are difficult for organizations to assess at the stage of project evaluation and vendor selection.
The main items of the cost, which are often forgotten:
Import data. You probably have a database that you want to import into your new CRM system. And you, most likely, hardly plan to do it manually. The solution provider or consultant will do it for you, but most likely it will cost you extra money.
Support. Many standard CRM systems include only limited or basic support. For the extended support package you need to pay extra, for example, for round-the-clock technical support.
Conditions of a contract. Many CRM suppliers work under a contract for a period of at least 1 year without the possibility of returning a part of the costs if the contract is terminated early. We recommend to pay attention to the supplier who can offer a more short-term contract, a free period of using the system or a pilot implementation.
User training. It is necessary to lay the budget not only for training existing users (employees), but also for new ones (who will come to the company or change positions). You can save money if experienced users in your company conduct internal corporate training on their own without external instructors. Also, vendors tend to have more affordable online training or free online lessons in the recording.
Integration with external systems. CRM-system not only uses the accumulated data in the organization, but also produces a huge amount of useful information for the business. It is necessary to foresee the costs associated with the integration of CRM with external systems during its implementation and operation.
Many suppliers of CRM-systems promise that the project can be implemented in just a few days or even hours.
Most often this is just a marketing promise. Of course, there are cases when a quick installation of CRM is possible, but usually these are simple solutions, which are setting up simple rules, registering users and assigning their rights.
If we consider a CRM system in which 100-500 users plan to work, then without preliminary consulting in the field of process description, individual business rules, user interfaces, role models, definition of data sources and integration rules can not do.
')
And when you are planning a project, you definitely need to set aside time for a pre-project survey and study of the specifics of a particular business. And the leaders of organizations, as a rule, are very busy - and, at best, they allocate several hours a week for communication with consultants. The project manager on the part of the customer though oversees the project, but does not have complete information about all the processes in the organization. Thus, the coordination of nuances of work can take several weeks, and the requirements that were originally included in the contract cover only a fraction of the possible cases.
The process of changing requirements begins, which also delays and increases the cost of the project.
The customer’s management is trying to estimate the cost of a CRM system per user, and most suppliers in their price lists announce this price (per user per month, per year, or according to the usual licensing model).
However, the experience of implementing systems shows that a user license is not the most expensive, which affects the final cost of the project. This is usually 30% of the total cost of the system.
Large complex projects ultimately exceed the budget by 50% -60%, and their implementation requires 50% more time.
How can you reduce project risks?
- Describe independently the business processes that you want to automate.
- Invite at least 10 suppliers.
- Implement a pilot implementation with one or more system vendors.
- Be wary of best practice companies.
- Be prepared that the implementation budget may increase by at least 50%.
- Estimate the hidden costs of implementation.
We recommend that you first describe your own business processes without inviting external consultants.
If necessary, you can bring them to a limited amount of work so that they help to correctly formulate questions and set the canvas. Without this stage, in our opinion, a successful implementation project is impossible, unless the standard configuration of any system suits you or your organization has very simple processes.
Then we recommend to invite solution providers (minimum 10) and listen to their suggestions on setting up your business processes , and not a presentation about the advantages of their company and the number of customers. To fully enjoy the dignity of the technology with which the CRM system was created is possible only after the start of implementation. Since even if you wrote down the requirements, chose a supplier, started to implement, in the process of work you will find out that you did not take into account about 30-40% of cases - you didn’t think, didn’t know or forgot.
After the start of research and implementation of the system, significant changes occur in the organization's business environment, and the time of the relevance of automation tasks is measured in months and / or even weeks. After all, the technology used should allow very flexible and in the mode of small iterations to modify the system.
Try with one or more suppliers to implement a pilot that automates one or more processes, see how the supplier is ready to quickly customize your processes. Depending on the scale of the project, it is possible to allocate insignificant amounts for piloting new systems. Why limit yourself if you think that you may have several systems.
Beware of best practice suppliers. To some extent, this may be good at the initial stage of automation, and you will not have to reinvent the wheel, which will significantly speed up the implementation of the system. But best practice has a reverse side of the medal, which obviously puts you in the group lagging behind competitors, since they have been using this solution for a long time (at least 2-3 years), and you are just going to implement it. If you do decide to use best practice, you need to understand how the configuration of the proposed solution can be modified to suit your organization.
Budget planning
Virtually any implementation project is very difficult to implement within the established budgets.
There are two strategies for selling an implementation project:
- Sale of the first phase of work is very cheap and the subsequent increase in the cost of the project. Be wary of vendors who offer such solutions. Software implementation is human labor, which is expensive. No one will implement the system for 50 thousand rubles for 2-3 months.
- Inclusion of certain risks of increasing the scope of work in the project assessment.
- Comparing the proposals of suppliers, do not hesitate to ask how the project is carried out technical project and what changes are included in the project cost, and for which you need to pay separately.
There are many hidden costs of implementing solutions for automating business processes and future monthly expenses that are difficult for organizations to assess at the stage of project evaluation and vendor selection.
The main items of the cost, which are often forgotten:
Import data. You probably have a database that you want to import into your new CRM system. And you, most likely, hardly plan to do it manually. The solution provider or consultant will do it for you, but most likely it will cost you extra money.
Support. Many standard CRM systems include only limited or basic support. For the extended support package you need to pay extra, for example, for round-the-clock technical support.
Conditions of a contract. Many CRM suppliers work under a contract for a period of at least 1 year without the possibility of returning a part of the costs if the contract is terminated early. We recommend to pay attention to the supplier who can offer a more short-term contract, a free period of using the system or a pilot implementation.
User training. It is necessary to lay the budget not only for training existing users (employees), but also for new ones (who will come to the company or change positions). You can save money if experienced users in your company conduct internal corporate training on their own without external instructors. Also, vendors tend to have more affordable online training or free online lessons in the recording.
Integration with external systems. CRM-system not only uses the accumulated data in the organization, but also produces a huge amount of useful information for the business. It is necessary to foresee the costs associated with the integration of CRM with external systems during its implementation and operation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/338394/
All Articles