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The Executive Guide to CRM Architecture
W h y C R M F l e x i b i l i t y W i l l I m pa c t Y o u r S u c c e s s
P I V O T A L C O R P O R A T I O N
White Paper
E X E C U T I V E Most businesses today are under increasing pressure to respond to change S U M M A R Y expeditiously-to adapt to the ongoing needs and demands of their customers, the changing competitive landscape, and the evolution of the marketplace. An organization's CRM system can either effectively support or hinder their business agility and capacity to respond to change, affecting overall corporate performance and customer satisfaction. This white paper explains the importance of flexible software architecture and how the right CRM solution can support and even advance an organization's ability to evolve in lock-step with changes as they occur-enabling them to attain and maintain a competitive advantage.The Executive Guide to CRM Architecture: Why CRM Flexibility Will Impact Your Success
Most organizations have unique business processes and Configuration:rules-even businesses that operate in the same industry or market. Whether your company's unique traits include . Creating rules (such as report filters, escalation levels, specialized processes that give you a competitive and other business rules) that make the system behave advantage or complex informational requirements due in the manner you want and produce the information to a diverse and multi-tiered customer set, understanding you needthe importance of flexibility in a CRM system's . Adding fields, changing field names, and adding architecture is key to avoiding implementation failure or changing field values (that is, data options for and to ensuring the solution meets your organization's populating the field) to capture required information requirements over the long term. . Formatting data elements on the screen, such as Most CRM vendors will claim their solution is changing the order in which fields appear, as well customizable. Understanding what that really means, as how they look (for example, bolding or putting however, can make the difference between attaining required fields of entry in a different-colored font)your organization's goals and implementation disaster. In this paper, you will learn about the different Customization:categories of "customization" and the role a flexible . Scripting logic to drive process or workflow (for architecture plays in being able to customize with example, if the credit department puts an account on ease, as well as flexibility's importance in deploying, hold, an internal notice is automatically sent to the upgrading, and integrating your CRM system account manager handling the account)successfully. By understanding these factors and how they relate to your organization's needs and resources, . Managing the application programming interface you can ensure the CRM solution you select enables (API) to enable integration with other applications/you to operate as an adaptive enterprise, which is systems. (Although many CRM vendors will provide critical to maintaining a competitive edge in today's tools to integrate their software with industry-business climate. standard applications, such as accounting packages, this form of tailoring is still often required)Understanding Customization To summarize, configuration changes are generally When searching for a CRM solution, many organizations those that can be accomplished by non-technical users, will start assessing their needs by reviewing their without the need for programming (though you may customer-facing business processes, as well as their have to consider your resources and the skill level of internal information requirements. It is usually during this existing staff-for example, a business analyst may be phase that companies realize that no software package needed to configure more complex implementations will accommodate their needs "out-of-the-box" and that that address end-to-end business processes). Engaging the ability to adapt or mold the software to their way of an external consultant or the software vendor to make doing business will be key to generating tangible results. configuration changes will cost you both time and money-be sure you know what configuration options The industry often uses the terms "customization" and you need and whether they are provided in the CRM "configuration" interchangeably to... [download for more]
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