Questions
to Consider for Data Management and Information Management Solution
Development
What data management and information management do we need to
realize our value proposition? Where does data reside within the
company? What format can be used to allow effective communication
and to enable information sharing between departments?
Does our customer data need to be cleaned? How do we maintain
consistency or 'synchronicity' within our data? What rules are
required to resolve conflicts and differences?
What needs to be done to maintain the integrity of our customer
data? Do we need to reanalyze and refresh it on regular basis
to keep it serviceable? What are the levels of effort and cost
associated with this effort?
To lay a solid
foundation for a new CRM initiative or to breath life into an existing
program, information management strategies need to be tested using
sound data collection methodologies. The manner in which data is
collected, for both customer and employee information, needs to
center around a given company's key customer-focused business processes:
Lead Generation & Management
Selling Methodology & Efficiency
Competitive Intelligence Practices
Sales Opportunity Management
Sales Management Effectiveness
Post Sale Customer Care |
The result should
be a detailed CRM assessment report that provides reliable base-line
measures for information management development and the metrics
for monitoring on-going CRM improvement.
Reviewing the
components of an effective information management initiative clearly
underscores the central place and role the 'customer' plays both
in terms of the specific value ultimately experienced and in the
various elements of the system that delivers and maintains it. The
customer might not 'always be right,' but the customer is always
at the center of the business' focus.
Customer relationship
management (CRM) systems are only as effective as the data management
and information management systems we have and use in them. What
deserves careful and diligent examination is our customer and the
processes we devise to meet their needs!
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