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CRM Risk Management
For successful CRM Risk Management it is important to collect and monitor risks throughout the lifetime of the project. One of the first tasks that a project manager performs is to establish a risk log and document any known risks. Tools for maintaining risk logs include Microsoft Excel, Word, SharePoint, Google Docs, specialist project management tools and many others. Commence documenting your risks at the start of the project and review them regularly. If the potential impact of any risk is likely to exceed project tolerances, it is important that the risk be escalated to the project board to monitor and control.
For CRM Risk Management, I highly recommend reviewing one or more of the risk management approaches from the following resources. It is important to adopt a risk management strategy that is suitable for the organisation –this often involves tailoring the approach to the size and structure of the organisation.
I’ve provided some CRM implementation risks, both business and technical, to help get you started with CRM Risk Management.
Happy Risk Management!!
CRM Implementation Business Risks
| Risk | Impacts | Response Strategies |
| Low levels of user adoption of the CRM System | Benefits | Engage user champions from the beginning of the project.Showcase the system at various points before go-live to gauge and incorporate user feedback.
Provide user training. |
| Lack of in-house knowledge for administration of the new CRM system.Administrative tasks include such items as resetting and customising workflows, user security maintenance and generating ad hoc views and reports. | System availability; Data accuracy; Support | Train IT support staff in the use of the CRM system, e.g. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration Certification.Administration of the system should be factored in for post go-live. e.g. 0.2 – 0.5 FTE depending on the size of the system, complexity and number of users. |
| The CRM solution provider does not perform or meet expectations. | Outcomes; Benefits | Choose a well-respected solution provider with experience in delivering systems of similar size and complexity.Perform reference checks. |
| The implemented solution does not meet expectations.The implemented system does not correspond to vendor promises. | Outcomes; Benefits | Choose a CRM product that is in the top 5 CRM products on the market. The system is likely to support all of the major CRM functions including the ability to integrate to other systems. The system is also likely to have a more refined user interface that supports features like data validation, duplicate detection and other improvements.Ensure that time is devoted to working with business users in order to establish requirements.
Prototype and provide user showcases often throughout the project.Use an agile methodology, e.g. SCRUM. |
| Processes are not in place after go-live for managing change requests and fixing issues. | User expectations; Benefits; Competing priorities | After go-live, a CRM system will often spur further change requests, new initiatives and require issue resolution.Establish processes in-house, before go-live, for managing change requests and issues. E.g. helpdesk, ITIL Framework. |
| General lack of qualified resources post go-live to assist with further changes to the system. | System lifetime | Choose a CRM in the top 5 CRM products on the market. This will make available a larger market of specialist analysts, consultants and developers for helping to configure, customise, integrate and further extend the system when the time comes.Ensure that the solution provider is committed to the CRM product for a number of years, has a roadmap that includes support of the product, and has a well-defined team of specialist resources available. |
| The implemented system does not meet user expectations. | Usability; User adoption | Ensure that time is devoted to working with business users in order to establish requirements.Prototype and provide user showcases often throughout the project.
Consider using an agile methodology, e.g. SCRUM. |
| Specialist resources leave the project part way through, leaving a gap in business specific domain knowledge, or product knowledge. | Resourcing; Schedule | Ensure that the team implementing the CRM is cross-trained. Tasks requiring business specific domain knowledge should be spread amongst resources and not performed by only one resource. |
| Missing or infrequent active and visible executive sponsorship.Project is perceived by users as optional. | User adoption; Outcomes; Benefits | Ensure that the governance of the project is well defined.Establish a project board/committee.
Use a project management methodology, e.g. Prince2, PMBOK. |
| Failure of risk management and proactive risk mitigation | Schedule; Outcomes; Benefits; Existing business processes | Ensure that the governance of the project is well defined.Ensure that a risk log is maintained and reviewed regularly throughout the project.
Establish a well-defined strategy for managing and reviewing project risks. Ensure that processes and escalation points are in place for managing exceptions. |
| Project planning omissions. Significant delays incurred because project tasks were omitted. | Schedule; Cost | Ensure that the project plan is reviewed and updated regularly.Ensure that the project plan is reviewed by the project board on a regularly basis.
Incorporate contingency (duration, effort and cost) in project and stage plans. |
| Failure to backfill project team schedules/workloads | Schedule; Outcomes | Ensure that project team members are adequately backfilled in order to compensate for the time they are expected to spend on the project and away from their normal day-to-day tasks of running the business. |
CRM Implementation Technical Risks
| Risk | Impacts | Response Strategies |
| Increased numbers of users, workflows, and reports generation affecting performance of the system.(non-cloud based CRM solution) | System availability; Usability | Confirm with the vendor that the system specifications are designed for the number of users and data loads that are expected.Ensure that more-than-adequate hardware and network infrastructure is available to support the solution.
Alternatively – choose a cloud based solution where resources are designed to scale with usage. |
| A technical issue prevents the CRM database server from operating.(non-cloud based CRM solution) | System availability | The system will be used for day-to-day business operations. It is critical to have an architecture that is available.Include redundancy in the architecture of the CRM solution. E.g. an active/passive database solution.
Have the database on a separate server to that of the application server to add a layer of separation. Perform report generation on a separate server to both the application and database servers.Alternatively – choose a cloud based solution where resources are designed to scale with usage. |
| Network latency and bandwidth are inadequate for users of the system(risk for cloud based solutions) | Usability; User adoption | Ensure that the network is optimised for bandwidth and has low latency. There are specific optimisations that can be performed, e.g. for MS Dynamics.If using a cloud based CRM, ensure that the data centre is located close by. E.g. Singapore rather than US if the majority of users are in India or Australia. |
| The implemented CRM system does not track incoming and outgoing email. | User expectations; Customer conversation tracking | Surprisingly, this happens more often than expected. Make sure that it is understood how email will be tracked during vendor demonstrations. Also ensure that the proposed email tracking is accepted by end users. Sometimes the simple idea of getting CRM to track incoming email can be a little more difficult than it first looks. |
| The use of third party add-ons introducing installation problems and bugs. | Outcomes | Avoid third-party add-ons if possible.If the vendor proposes to use a third party add-on as part of the solution – ask for a reference from one of their customers who has used the add-on before.
Ensure that the impacts and complexities of using the add-on are well understood before using it. |
| The data from other systems is incomplete or inaccurate. | Data validity; Schedule | Data scrubbing – if information is being loaded from other systems, allow adequate time in the project for cleaning data before importing it into the CRM |
| Integration with other systems introduces potential points of failure. | System availability | Integration of CRM with other systems introduces potential points of failure.Integration of systems can be either seamless with little or no administration, or it can be incredibly complex and be the cause of many headaches.Confirm that the solution provider has integration expertise and check references. Alternatively, have that knowledge in-house, or engage a specialist Enterprise Integration Architect to design and review the proposed integration. |
