CRM consultants accelerate time to value, recommend business process enhancements, facilitate change management, enable greater utilization of CRM software systems and reduce implementation risk. Yet, many CRM software buyers struggle to evaluate, compare and engage CRM consultants. The process is further complicated as no two consultants or consulting firms are equal or offer their services in a like structure or objective manner. This CRM Search channel brings structure, advice and insight to both IT buyers hiring CRM software consultants and CRM consultants engaging customers.
CRM Software Consulting
Professional services providers play an integral role in CRM software selection, implementation, upgrades and optimization projects. Choosing the best CRM consultant decreases risk, increases user adoption, accelerates time to value and maximizes CRM software Return on Investment (ROI).
A CRM consultant can bring clarity, objectivity, analytic thinking, strategic planning, technical mastery and an understanding of customer-based processes—and use these skills to accelerate and get much more value from a CRM project. Here are 10 signs that clearly let you know when you can benefit from a CRM consultant.
When considering CRM implementations or upgrades, most organizations choose to focus their in-house talent on efforts related to their core business, and rely on outside experts for the application and technology specific areas. But specifically how do you choose the right CRM consultant? The first step in choosing the right CRM consultant has nothing to do with the consultant at all; instead ...
CRM consultants, just like their clients, value advance planning, clear communication, full disclosure and prompt response. While such expectations don't sound novel, they're often not conscientiously implemented and realized during a CRM project. This article examines the methods you can use to minimize downside risk and forge a productive relationship with your consultant.
For a customer relationship management (CRM) implementation effort to succeed, the company’s culture must change. Yet failing to prepare and fund organizational change as part of a CRM initiative is commonplace, says CRM expert Paul Greenberg. Greenberg says that change is seen as intangible (i.e., unmeasurable), and therefore not relevant.
Karen points out why separating the software selection consultants from the software implementation consultants can maximize your opportunity to leverage the highest and best skills of both while maintaining integrity and objectivity in a project where the result will have long-term and deep implication on your company's IT investments and business processes.
Research from Ovum and In-Stat show continued MSP growth. This rise of cloud computing, the large scale market acceptance of software as a service and a challenging economy all contribute to MSP growth. Like cloud computing itself, MSPs can reduce capital expenditures, relieve internal IT labor and allow business managers to refocus on the company’s core competency.
Leveraging outside consultants to bring structure, insight and advice to the CRM software selection process can decrease time and risk while increasing confidence and the probability of choosing the optimal CRM system. However, the consultant selection process is based on limited information, subjective measurement and claims that are difficult to fully validate.
Consulting Briefs
Forrester Ranks IBM Top Services Provider
IBM has been ranked as the top information technology services provider by Forrester Research. "The Coming Upheaval in Tech Services," published by Forrester in July focused on upcoming changes in the technology services market and ranked the top 10 service providers by revenue. Forrester Research's report reviews four factors that it believes will dramatically change the dynamics, economics, and competitive landscape of IT services over the next three to four years. The restructuring economy, innovation moving toward the edge of the enterprise, redefining of buying, and the increased consumption of technology provided "as-a-service" were all named as factors that will contribute to the transformation.
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