CRM has become a key way for many organisations to keep track of their most vital customer information, add more meaning to their interactions with their clients, and in doing so, differentiating themselves from their competitors.
The problem is that the pressure is mounting on companies to stand out in a field of increasingly similar peers, and CRM is unfortunately not one of the solutions one can buy off the shelf and expect to gain immediate value from.
“Extracting real value from a CRM implementation takes customisation,” explains Andrew McPhail, Business Development Manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM at local Microsoft development powerhouse, 3fifteen.
McPhail says, however, in going down the route of customised CRM, companies run the risk of over-customising and creating a scenario where they overpay for the value they're getting.
“It's a tricky game,” McPhail continues, “since not customising a CRM solution enough has the potential of saddling a company with an expensive white elephant.
“Like most things in the technology industry, the perfect CRM solution should be deployed as quickly as possible, include customisations that deliver a high level of value and achieve on both of these goals with as little burden on the customer's pocket as possible.
“And we'd like to think that's exactly what we've created.”
With its CRM Quick Start solution, McPhail says 3fifteen has combined a three-month trial version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and a two-week engagement period - during which 3fifteen's top CRM resources conduct a series of workshops with the customer, map out the key business requirements of the solution and implement field-level customisations that deliver on those requirements - to create a solution that provides companies with a fully live and functional proof of concept that delivers a large chunk of the functionality they will ultimately require.
“And it does so in under two weeks,” McPhail enthuses.
“After that two week engagement, should the customer wish to experiment more and continue using the solution, they will be free do so under the trial licence for another two-and-a-half months,” he says.
“Most customers, however, opt to convert the solution into a fully-licensed CRM solution as soon as possible, and continue carrying out the balance of the customisations while all the time deriving value from the base 3fifteen has implemented,” he says.
In some cases, McPhail says the field-level customisations carried out by 3fifteen are enough to keep customers happily deriving value from their CRM solution for a 12-month period.
“Other customers are more aggressive in their approach to CRM and opt to forge ahead with additional customisations straight away,” he adds.
“The point is, however, our approach with the CRM Quick Start solution delivers value quickly and cost-effectively - weighing in at a cost that's no higher than a typical CRM proof of concept - and places the customer in the driver's seat by allowing them to choose the pace at which they'd like to progress with their CRM plans,” he says.
“We're convinced this is what the market has wanted for some time and think this approach has a great deal of potential.
“And with a couple of these solutions under the belt already, we're looking forward to a great deal more success in the CRM space,” he concludes.
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