CRM Project Management: Building Realistic Expectations and Managing Risk - Softcover

GENTLE, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749438983 ISBN 13: 9780749438982

Publisher: Kogan Page, 2002

Synopsis

Once you have bought into the concepts of customer relationship management (and it is hard not to), how do you separate the practically useful from the pie-in-the-sky and then actually implement a project? This handbook addresses implementation, advocating an approach that is based in the real world and stressing the measurable goals and tactical uses of CRM. The areas covered include: building a realistic foundation for CRM; critical success factors; risk factors; full risk analysis; and case studies.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Gentle is an international CRM consultant based in Paris. He has been managing CRM, sales and marketing projects since 1993, from strategy through to delivery, and has witnessed both multi-million-dollar failures and spectacular successes.

Michael Gentle has extensive international experience across Europe, the United States, Canada and Asia Pacific, and has worked at major companies such as Apple Computer, GlaxoSmithKline, Cegetel, Worldcom International and the Bank of Tokyo. He has been a regular guest columnist in the computer press for the past 10 years, both in the United States (Computerworld, iSeries NEWS) and in France (01 Informatique). He has a degree in mechanical engineering, with further studies in aerospace and computer science.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Part I - Building a realistic foundation for CRM

1 Overhyped, overpriced and over here

Every which way but easy; Into the trough; Why CRM has failed so alarmingly to date; Are vendors and consultants to blame?; Due diligence: is it the client's fault?; Impossibly high stakes; B-to-B, or back to basics; Breaking the bank; Spend first, think later!; BPR - back to the future; CASE and CRM - a fundamental analogy; Chapter summary

2 CRM 101 - just the basics please

The customer life cycle; Processes across the customer life cycle; Process metrics; CRM from a company perspective; CRM from a customer perspective; CRM from a systems perspective; Chapter summary

Part II - Critical success factors for CRM

3 Organizational readiness for CRM

Should you even be looking at CRM?; Customer maturity; Process maturity; Systems maturity; People and motivational maturity; Debunking the start-up myth; The organizational readiness rating; Chapter summary

4 A valid business case, with measurable benefits

The business case; Measuring benefits for ROI; Chapter summary

5 A credible and active executive sponsor

Involvement or commitment; Will the real executive sponsor please stand up?; Why the CEO should not be the executive sponsor; A representative steering committee; Chapter summary

6 A realistic project scope

CRM as a journey, not a destination; How to define a phased approach; Chapter summary

7 A realistic budget

Why most CRM projects are underfunded; Annual or life cycle budget?; Capex vs opex; What to budget for; Who should own the budget, IT or the business?; Have separate budgets for IT and the roll-out; No mega-licence deals before a successful pilot; What final numbers to expect; Chapter summary

8 Successfully managing international CRM projects

Why international projects are inherently risky; Do international CRM projects make sense?; Why do companies launch international CRM projects?; Critical success factors for international projects; Chapter summary

9 A pilot for proof-of-concept and buy-in

Why a pilot is an absolute prerequisite; Why a pilot is essential for the sales force; How long should a pilot run?; Keep it small enough for failure to be 'acceptable'; Keep scope and objectives basic to ensure rapid results; Leave integration out of a pilot; Be flexible about whether to do UAT; How to choose a pilot group, site or country; Limit an international pilot to a single country; Chapter summary

10 Buy-in from sales managers

Why sales manager buy-in is essential; How sales managers can make or break a project; How to achieve buy-in from sales managers; Chapter summary

Part III - Risk factors for CRM

11 Risk factors

Organizational change and company politics; Too many consultants, too few in-house staff; IT resistance to organizational change; Using the waterfall approach; An RFP-based package selection process; The complexities of offline usage with synchronization; Chapter summary

Part IV - CRM risk analysis

12 Risk analysis

What is covered in this risk analysis?; How to use this risk analysis; How to interpret the results

Part V - Case studies

13 Case studies

Case study 1 - Pharmaceuticals (successful project); Case study 2 - Telecommunications (failed project); Case study 3 - Telecommunications: international project (successful project)

Edition details

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0749438983
• ISBN 13: 9780749438982
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240