Employing Our Firm’s CRM System

October 28, 2009 in Management and Operations, Technology | 4 comments

OTP logo

Our Firm's CRM/Practice Management System

Toward the end of 2008 I set out on a journey to find a solid CRM (Client/Customer Relationship Management) system for our firm.  I knew it was time to employ another system that would allow us to better serve our clients with efficiency and knowledge.  I wonder if it’s time for you to research this same system for your company, and ultimately for your clients?  Let me know (Yes or No) in the comments above.

Here is how Inc. Technology put it: “With effective CRM processes and technology, you can build a single “book of truth” about each customer. It’s a data warehouse that chronicles each customer’s history.”  I knew I needed this.

Several things are important to remember in researching this system:

(1)  We needed a system that would employ other aspects of a professional firm as well, like managing time and billing.  Our CRM would not only allow for management of the “relationship intelligence” of our firm, but the management of our staff’s time and the production of invoices from that time,

(2)  You can’t employ a CRM system (or any other large IT project) without first employing a company-wide process to place the new technology “on top of.”  That is, technology is only to be used as a tool.  When a process is first implemented in a company, then, and only then, should a technology be employed to use that process more efficiently.

(3)  All good systems still require constant staff training, continued improvement, and on-going monitoring,

(4)  Though the CRM system will allow you to gather more information about your clients, it is ultimately to be used to serve your clients better (a great point from the article above), and

(5)  Large implementations of technology require time and commitment to fully realize the benefits.  Understand this when deciding to implement these systems.  Without this knowledge, you will burn out early in the use of the product and never see the benefits that come to those who stick with the technology to the end.

Any other thoughts on implementing CRM systems (or other large technologies) in your company?

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer, CPA

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , ,

  1. Mike Campbell’s avatar

    Mike Campbell on October 31, 2009 at 11:24 am

    Thanks for sharing. There are a few limitations with our current CRM; primarily related to reporting. We have considered other packages, but did not come across OTP. I’d love to see a follow-up a few weeks from now to hear how it’s working out.

    Next week we are installing the latest version of our CRM package and hoping that it provides us with the visualization tools we are looking for.

  2. thriveal’s avatar

    thriveal on October 31, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    Mike, you might want to wait a while on OTP. It is definitely a robust package, scalable to no end, but it’s currently running over an Access database… old technology.

    I believe they are in the process of building a version on .Net, but it may be a while. Once they are done with that project, they’ll probably release some type of web interface to allow use of some of the primary pieces of the software online (which they DON’T have now – frustrating).

    Which package are you using, and are you using it for “relationship management” primarily (i.e. tracking relationship/customer interaction), practice management (i.e. time and billing), or both? Curious.

    Jason

  3. Mike Campbell’s avatar

    Mike Campbell on October 31, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    We use Deltek Vision. It has be a key component to enable our 25% annual growth over the past five years. It integrates project management, time & billing, CRM, and accounting. It has a web-based architecture and built on SQL DB. In the past, it was geared specifically for engineering firms, but they have expanded their market base to include all project-based firms.

  4. thriveal’s avatar

    thriveal on November 1, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    Sounds great, Mike. I’ll look at Deltek Vision. I’m always eager to have new solutions in our toolbelt for suggestion purposes. Take care.