March 29, 2004

Working with consultants? It's really your final answer that matters most

When you work with a consultant, you pay them for their expertise and you should LISTEN to them. However, you must make the final decisions about implementation and how it will affect and help your business.

News Factor reads Ask for and heed consultants' advice throughout the project. That is, after all, why you hired them. But, do not ask or expect them to make important business decisions about your CRM implementation that your organization should make. (full story)

Some other insight in News Factor's article was:

Once the decision to hire consultants for your CRM project is made, the next step is to evaluate and select one or more. The relative importance of the selection criteria will vary from company to company and from project to project, but should include the following:

Experience and expertise in your industry or sub-industry. Examples: sporting goods manufacturing, hunting and fishing equipment, trout-fishing gear.

Experience and expertise in your geography. Examples: North America, mid-Atlantic region, Delaware.

Experience and expertise in the aspects of CRM contained in your project. Examples: sales-specific, field sales-specific, business-to-business field sales-specific; business process reengineering; organizational change management; customer interaction channels (telephone or call center, Web or in-person).

Experience and expertise with CRM technologies and applications (both the new ones you are considering and those in your current environment). Examples: Oracle, Microsoft or IBM databases; analytics applications; applications from Siebel Systems, Pivotal or RightNow Technologies.

Customer references -- more relevant to your industry, your business, and your CRM project, the better.

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