CRM Best Practices in Focus

According to a recent Forrester research report, the 5 best practices for implementing SaaS CRM are:

1. Build the Right Business Case
2. Negotiate the Right Contract
3. Follow the Right Implementation Approach
4. Adopt the Right Data Security Procedures
5. Establish the Right Support Structure

Focusing less on what to look for when considering SaaS, which as Intacct’s Dan Druker notes has “come full circle“ in terms of market bias, Salesforce.com recently posted a best-practice paper called, “Seven Domains of Successful SaaS Enterprise Deployments.” They are:

1. Vision and Strategy
2. Business Metrics
3. Adoption
4. Sponsorship and Governance
5. Process
6. Roadmap
7. Technology and Data

For the 2nd domain a few good examples are provided that emphasize the importance of business intelligence in CRM through measuring and monitoring the right metrics. They are:

• Increase revenue by acquiring new, profitable customers: Percentage Accepted Leads to Sale
• Increase revenue by retaining customers: Percentage Sales to Repeat Customers
• Reduce costs by reducing sales costs: Average Number of Sales Calls per Sale

A few months ago we also recorded a webcast with Jeff Kaplan from THINKstrategies called, The Business Case for On-Demand Analytics for Salesforce.com Customers. I’ve posted the presentation below and there’s also a whitepaper on the topic if you’re just getting started with SaaS CRM analytics or looking to get more out of your existing CRM investment.

 

posted by Darren Cunningham at 5:23 pm

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