In sickness and in health…

One of the areas I touched on last week, was the tendency for organisations purchasing CRM technology, to focus on functionality rather than implementation credentials.

We have a couple of projects at the moment where we’ve helped the client finalise their business and functional requirements, and are now assisting them through the vendor selection process. One area we’ll certainly be focussing on, is the strength of the implementation teams from each prospective vendor. Typically engagement with a vendor breaks into two phases – pre-sale and post-sale. Each phase has its own set of characters, and it can be a little like watching Sven Goran Eriksson’s England play a friendly international – it’s likely to be a whole new team in the second half.

Which is an interesting point, because purchase decisions tend to be driven, whether purchasers fully realise it or not, by the buyers comfort with the salesperson – who of course is going to play, at best, a back seat role through the implementation process, and quite possibly will never be seen again. The team that can make or break the project – that are going to do the real work – that can make your life a joy or abject misery – rarely come into play. Which seems a little like selecting a wife or husband solely based on three dates with his/her distant cousin.

I think it’s important to include the implementation team itself in the decision making process. It’s particularly key to meet the principal players, particularly the project manager/lead, and look to assess their capabilities and track record. When you perform due diligence type activities, such as reference calls and visits, it can be insightful to validate both the technology, the vendor’s general implementation prowess, but also the specific performance of the team you will be working with. At the end of day, perhaps your comfort with the people who will be doing the actual work is more important than affinity with the person selling it.

ShareThis