Analyze the significant stakeholders for your CRM project and manage the activity levels with them. Maintain a plan showing the communication format and frequency with each one of them
Tips for requirements and current state analysis interviews for your CRM system. The tips span planning, conducting and following up after your 1-1 stakeholder interviews.
A CRM Business Analyst’s activities include relating the project to the company strategy, managing stakeholders, preparing business case & project scope, driving user adoption.
The article lists activities that go into preparing a business case – analyzing high level requirements, assessing costs and benefits, risks, solution options and then selling the case.
Cross reference observations from your workshops and interviews analyzing current state and cross reference them against best practices to arrive at strategic themes
For establishing the scope of the project, we need to think through the statement of the business problem being addressed and the goals that the CRM project is setting out to achieve.
How effectively you drive adoption among your customer facing staff to bring enduring changes in business processes and behavior will define the success of your Salesforce initiatives.
Cause & Effect Analysis for studying CRM failures is illustrated using a real life example of analyzing declining sales by diving deeper into Processes, People, Structure, Planning.
Does the business case have relevance beyond the early stages of the project?
Yes it does. A useful business case is one that you evolve as you complete key milestones during the life cycle.
In analyzing CRM needs, ‘know the people’. Understand the user’s unmet or unspoken need. Observe users as they go about completing their tasks, in their own work environments.
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are good resources to tap into for new ideas and trends. Companies may have Enterprise Architecture Teams or Advisory Boards or a network of experts to tap into.
Look across internal and external users for identifying stakeholders for your project. Regulators, partners, suppliers and even competitors are candidate stakeholder groups.
A range of stakeholders exercise influence, positive or negative over the project and its results. Having a close relationship with and understanding their motivations is critical.
Balanced Scorecard is a strategy tool for describing and managing strategy, in the knowledge economy. It transforms intangible assets into tangible customer and financial outcomes.