What are the key questions to ask when gathering CRM requirements?

There are 2 separate pieces. The second is the easy one: collecting the specific configuration and implementation requirements, i.e., the hard facts. Most vendors have specification forms, mine run hundreds of pages, where one can check the boxes and fill in the blanks: who are the users? who has access to what data? what does the screen look like?

The first piece is the kicker. There is no list or template or reference with which to begin. It's deductive. You start with very open ended questions and take copious notes. Look at William's questions above. None of them can be answered with one or two words. These are icebreakers to start the discussion. New questions will arise. Once you can draw a general picture of your organization, its mission, processes, goals, you can start listing specifics, always asking "what is the business purpose of . . .?" Eventually you work your way down to the second piece, the nitty-gritty details.

There are traps. You're going to cross boundaries which have been in place since the beginning of time. You'll uncover sacred cows in closets. I recommend yoga, meditation and 30 year old Scotch.

Hi Cathy,

The first question that I always ask is actually a very simple one. In fact, it's not even a CRM-specific question. The question is:

"What do you hope to accomplish?"

The answer should be something that the CEO agrees with (executive sponsorship!).

Question #2 is:

"What's keeping you from getting there?"

Continue asking these questions until you have a clear understanding of the goals, and the current issues that are preventing them from happening.

The odds are, you'll have to change some of the current processes to get there (as Brian suggested.)

Do some process mapping with each of the functional areas (marketing, sales, service/support). Understand how things are done now. Don't take one person's word for it, but get a bunch of them in a room, and map out all of the key processes on a white board, or poster-sized post-it notes. Keep adjusting the process until everyone in the room agrees that you've captured the reality.

Repeat these steps for all of the major processes, with the other functional groups.

Once you've clearly defined each of the current processes, go back through each one, and adjust it: Identify current bottlenecks, delays and problem areas, and make them more customer-friendly, and align each process with the goals that we talked about earlier.

The processes ultimately exist to deliver value to the customer, so make sure that's what you're building.

Only after you've defined the processes that can take you to your goals, it's time to find a CRM solution that can support those processes.

For a recent presentation on this topic, go here:

http://www.slideshare.net/Presentations.that.Stick/driving-project-success-ac...

Successful CRM solutions must fully involve your entire organization. That includes executive buy in and a commitment from the top that the CRM will be used by everyone that touches a customer or a prospect at your organization. Getting it right requires a thorough plan that identifies the organization's requirements in all of areas including people, processes and technology. Great software without a decent process and buy in from the people will simply end up as great shelf ware. However if you get the executive buy in and have the solid agreed upon processes then go forward with requirement.
Get an independent CRM requirement analysis tailored to your needs, designed to deliver superior business results over time that is based on a variety of collaborative and investigative techniques. A detailed requirements definition will ensure your CRM project sets off on the right path from the outset.
The CRM experts will work with your organization to describe the critical architectural requirements that your CRM solution will need. You do not want a standard software features list. Rather, through interviews, workshops, job shadowing, financial impact analysis, and audits of existing processes and technologies you should get:
1) A preliminary data model that best captures business objects that will fully enable the enterprise.
2) A detailed view of the required workflow capabilities, security and permission models, scalability requirements, integration requirements, user interface/user access and more.
3) A mapped out phased deployment plan that will help ensure your organization embraces the CRM vision and has a visible roadmap to make it happen.
In the end you don't want a CRM software … you want the promise of true CRM to happen for your organization.

http://www.onpath.com/crm/

William hit the nail on the head. By far the most valuable thing you can do is to describe your desired sales process and related processes, such as Marketing, Support, Contract Renewals and Consulting Services/Billing in as much detail as possible.

Do not just ask whether the vendor will support these processes, make them prove it in a demo.

The following white paper provides detailed advice on obtaining responses to your RFP, negotiating price and avoiding cost traps: http://www.focus.com/ugr/research/crm/how-pick-right-crm-helpdesk-bpm-vendor/

The #1 question that must be asked before any other question is "Is the CEO fully supportive of this project?" If the answer is "no", then you will not have a successful deployment.

I have been at companies or know of companies where:
1) the SVP of Sales or COO demanded it
2) it was deployed
3) the SVP of Sales or the COO then left the company and the use of the CRM stopped that day.

If the SVP of Sales and the CEO are not big supporters, then there is zero chance for success.

The key point is most sales people do not want to be bothered with a CRM as they don't like processes or the fact that someone is closely monitoring their activity. They will also view keeping a CRM current with information as taking up valuable time from their selling activity.

It's important to understand that CRM is an enabler of the overall business strategy.

Before you jump straight into process, I've found that it's important to understand business goals and vision.

From there, you can begin to work your way through the different layers and levels throughout the organization.

While it is critically important to understand existing process (how things are done today), it is also important to know whether current process(es) were created based on previously limiting constraints (people or technology). Prudence and pragmatism need to enter in, but to simply map existing "old" processes into a new system has the potential to ignore a perfect set of opportunities to innovate, create more value, and implement meaningful change.

The most important thing is understanding the overall goals of the organization, how each individual fits into achieving those goals, and understanding what it truly takes to get their respective jobs done. (This is often not as apparent as it seems at first glance)

The requirements gathering process should include executives, directors, managers, and line workers across functional roles and responsibilities in the front office (sales, marketing, PR, customer service).

Once strategies, goals, and jobs to be done are well understood and documented, defining and prioritizing requirements becomes possible.

And as you point out, knowing and defining your requirements makes the selection and implementation process much more effective AND efficient.

Whether it be CRM, ERP, SCM, ECM, KM, etc. I always like to ask the question "what are we doing today?". A comprehensive current-state analysis is essential to making sure the objectives are in line with actual needs and opportunities.

Once this has been clearly established, we have a firm foundation to base the future state goals and objectives upon. The current state analysis also allows us to see what is working well today. We want to make sure we don't break these things in the process of fixing everything else.

Some high-level CRM specific questions that might logically follow include:
What is the customer asking of us? What channels are we providing/listening on? How can we BEST deliver what the customer is asking? How are we measuring our effectiveness?

THE VERY FIRST QUESTION -

Let's put much more focus on something Marty Knight touched on in his answer.

From the very beginning, CRM assessment, design, selection and implementation is a "special project". From the answers above, you can conclude that is not a business as usual, fit it in when you can using your usual resources activity. CRM will change the landscape of your organization.

So, perhaps the VERY FIRST QUESTION TO ASK is,

Can we do justice to this process internally
..OR,
should we use an outside consultant from the very beginning?

Choosing to use an internal resource assumes you have someone within your organization that:

--1. Has so much available time that she/he can commit to days or weeks of insightful questioning and information gathering and organizing.

--2. Has sufficiently broad and deep CRM understanding and experience to lead their organization in the very best direction and knows best practices and what is possible with the latest CRM technology

--3. Has the leverage within the organization to successfully maximize the value of CRM.

--4. Is sufficiently politically neutral to gain broad based support without suspicion of self-interest.

--5. Will be around long enough to shepherd the project through beyond it's initial release and into the ongoing reassessments and improvements stage.

If you do not have a person that meets the five criteria above, then the answer to the question, " Do we need an outside consultant?" is certainly "Yes".

If you use an outside consultant, you don't need to commit to the whole project at the beginning.

Your phase 1 can be the management of your needs assessment process and the delivery of an internally supported, comprehensive CRM specifications and/or recommendations document to you organization.

Take care, take extra care...

We just wrote a blog article about this topic:

http://www.crmsoftwareblog.com/2010/09/12-questions-every-crm-buyer-should-be...

Hope it is helpful.

Mary Lenehan
Crestwood Associates