Buying CRM Considerations
Why is building CRM like building a house? – Part 1.
Connecting up the utilities and moving into it!
In CRM terms, integration could be considered the same as connecting your new house to water, waste, power, internet etc. These all taking planning and consideration, the same for integration. Some integrations are simple, for example, Dynamics 365 to Office 365 but CRM to ERP, your Web site etc. can be more tricky and complex. There are a number of questions that system integration has, for example, is it a 2-way integration? Is there a master system? Which specific elements of data is required? How is security to be applied?
Then there is moving in!
When moving from one house to another, you would be considering how furniture will fit into the new house? Will you have enough to make the new house “work”? Will it be the right colour?
The same thoughts need to be applied to the data that needs to be migrated to your new CRM system. You may have Account, Contact, Product data etc., but each system has its own format for storing, as well as, other database-specific rules and requirements. Making the task of moving may be more complex than it first appears.
The task is further complicated if you have to move from multiple dwellings. Now you probably have duplicate beds, sofas, tables etc. When moving to a new house you might decide what you are going to take with you before you move. It’s just the same with data, you may get duplicates. We recommend deduplicating the data once you have moved it to the new system.
When we are discussing a new CRM system with a buyer, we always highlight the effort required in the migration, as we focus on implementing as simple a system to start with, the cost of migration is likely to be the larger and most costly part of the initial phase. We work with the buyer to help identify what is the value of the data they have and only bring across the data sources that will add value to the new system, this is not the same as deduplicating outside of CRM.
The result of providing great quality data into a simple and effective CRM system is a must and will provide huge benefits very quickly.
Contact us if you wish to discuss this further.
| Related Information: | Why is buying CRM like building a house presentation |
