Sales usage and/ or compliance of a CRM system can vary widely for many reasons. Some sales talent believe that they personally own the account contacts and are a conduit to the relationship. Some posture and pontificate on compliance and then do not lead by example. Some just don’t like to enter data. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 has a nice advantage of being able to work within Outlook and Office. Leveraging the strengths of applications that nearly everyone is familiar with. Salesforce does offer plugins; however I can tell you as a former user, it cannot match the ease of use today.
Always consider the front office and the back office needs and desires of any CRM project. If you want the usage and compliance of the front office, it needs to work the way that they do — not the other way around.
Michael Lewis is the fantastic author or Liar’s Poker and Moneyball. His books transcend the subject and offer lessons in innovation, management and leadership. Here are two online reads of his that I have recently enjoyed: Coach Leach Goes Deep, Very Deep and The No-Stats All-Star
Service Level Agreements (SLA) are nothing new and have existed in information technology for many, many years. Now that the cloud has opened the information utility to everyone, SLAs are out in the open. But what does it really mean? It is not like you have a meter or a gas gauge telling you how much you have used in real time. Also, what actually constitutes an outage? A period of time? As a client, how would you prove it? If there was an outage and the client could prove it, how does the client receive compensation? These questions can be answered in as many ways as there are cloud or cloud application providers. Most have very different answers to how they get to numbers that equate 99.9% or better.
Years ago, a client of mine was a service provider that offered enterprise services hosting. They touted 99.999% uptime — excluding 4-hour bimonthly maintenance windows. Those windows were on Saturdays from 12 AM to 4 AM. This is a period of time that would not be an inconvenience for almost any enterprise, even globally. In actual minutes, 99.999% is just over 5 minutes per year which does not leave much time for anything except a reboot. If the maintenance windows were taken and used, this service providers actual uptime would be closer to 98.9% The addition of virtualization has made 99.999% SLAs a potential reality — for a price.
Having sold “Cloud” based services, I can tell you firsthand that SLA is critical to the selling proposition. The questions on uptime, outages and compensation do not have easy answers. It would be nice to see an industry standard on what 99.999% actually means. Once that is set, the other questions would fall into place.
In my experience, pipeline/forecast is one area of a CRM system that seems to change frequently. I have seen this both from the consulting side and as a user. Not going to comment on whether it is right or wrong, just that it happens, often, as a matter of fact in many organizations. Been spending some time getting up to speed with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as I have not seriously looked at it since the 2.0 version. I am impressed with the Windows Workflow Foundation to automate much of the process configuration. The product has really come along way. The improvements could really automate a change in process so that users still actually use the CRM application. Happier users, better CRM.
When I first moved to Seattle, I could not tell the difference between an espresso and freeze dried Taster’s Choice. That changed in a hurry. I now have a strong regular habit. I even brought a Starbucks Barista® Espresso Machine into the office of a former employer to slow my espresso burn rate. The Barista® is a great machine and would recommend it. Note: the new version is called Saeco® Via Venezia Espresso Machine.
From time to time, people ask for recommendations on coffee. Here are some of my favorites.
Cafe Umbria Terra Sana Fair Trade Organic
Great coffee from one of my favorite cafe’s in Pioneer Square.
Trader Joe’s Kauai Coffee and Fair Trade Organic Guatemalan
Great coffee without a huge price.
Starbucks Ethiopia Sidamo
The old standby. Can’t go wrong with it.
Starbucks Guatemala Casi Cielo
Newer addition to the Starbucks roster. Very good.
Tully’s Italian Roast
Tully’s uses Starbucks old facility and produces a more mild coffee. Preferred by some. This is a great option.
Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii Kona Peaberry
If you are going to spend on Kona might as well make it Peaberry. Buy 6 and get a free pound. Expensive and excellent.
Koa Coffee Plantation Kona Peaberry
If there is a “more affordable” Kona, it is Koa Coffee Plantation. I love their 5 lb bag option!
Happy Caffeinated Weekend.
Customers Want Productivity, Not Products
Solid article by Jessica Tsai detailing the recent Microsoft Convergence conference. I have always has success tying productivity solutions to technology, so that customers are now vocalizing this need does not come as a surprise.
Above the Clouds
Worth reading this engrossing whitepaper from the UC Berkeley Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory on Cloud Computing.
I have had a lot of conversations with very talented people that seem lost in this new economic reality. Understandably many are upset about their respective employment situations; however, as a whole they seem to be forgetting what has made them great. Here are some recommended reads for some positive “mojo”:
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
I first borrowed a copy of the Alchemist in 1996 while backpacking in Australia and devoured it in a single day. I hated to return it. Since then I have recommended the book countless times and given away many copies as gifts. It is work checking out Coelho’s blog where he posts daily and even links to pirated copies of his work.
The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership
by Steve Farber
This is a great short read about leadership. First read in 2004, I have taken the time to re-read it about once per year and see how I measure up.
The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals
by Keith Ellis
I recently came across this book. Would recommend. It is authentic and can help you get you from A to B.
Hang in there and read on.
CTI integration with CRM systems is typically limited to Sales and Support offerings. Since phone systems change less often than other pieces of technology, these integrations have been “set and forget” when properly scoped. I have clients that have not touched the CTI integrations of deployments ever. These integrations are usually pretty simple in size and scope. anywhere from 3-10 fields are identified and passed from system to system. Call durations are typically returned at the end of the call for the all important “Cost per Call” and “Contact Reduction” metrics.
With more systems moving to Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics Live platforms some vendors are now offering out of the box solutions. Just one more vendor…
My current thinking is that this is a piece that could and should stay in-house, just like the phones.
Looks like a wet, some say typical, weekend in Seattle. Likely take in some St Patrick’s Day festivities and get tickets for the Mariner’s Opening Day. Stay dry.