The Successful Execution of CRM: Part 1
July 2006
By Dr. Nancy Rauseo

This is the first of a series of articles focused on the execution of CRM, directed primarily to software resellers, vendors, and consultants. The majority of you may view your role in CRM as a provider of CRM technology and services. Most view CRM implementation as three phases: selling the CRM technology, designing it, and implementing/using it. Depending on the type of provider, your role may lean more towards sales, with little involvement in design and implementation.

Think about these questions:

• Which of these phases is the longest? Which of these should be the longest
• How do you measure success with your customers? By the number of sales or closes? By revenue? Or by successful implementation of CRM technology?
• Which of these phases impacts your reputation and future sales the most?
• How do you create value for your customers during the sales cycle?

We are all pressured to sell more, faster. Success is normally measured by the revenues produced in a given time period. The reality is that some sellers of CRM are so anxious to close the deal and gain the commitment from the users of CRM, that they bypass the most important role of all ~ creating value for the customer. Here’s the problem: inadequate analysis and planning during the software evaluation process will inevitably cause a delay in design and implementation. When the customer’s experience is frustrating, they will take it out on you and the software! So how can software resellers, vendors and consultants bridge the gap between a company’s readiness for CRM and the implementation of technology? Consider these best practices:

1. Measure success from the customer’s eyes. Your success depends on the value created for the customer during all three phases. Your credibility rests on your customer’s experience during sales, design & implementation ~ whether you are a participant or not.
2. Pay now or pay later. Short sales cycles normally mean longer, more frustrating design and implementation cycles. The more thorough you are in your analysis during the sales cycle, the faster and more efficient the design and implementation phases will be for your customers.
3. Be an asset, not just a vendor. It’s not about the technology; it’s the integration of that technology into the company’s culture, processes, and business strategy. You can enhance your role by facilitating the CRM change process for your customers. At minimum during the sales cycle, help your customer develop an Organizational Readiness GAP Analysis, a CRM Strategy, and Critical Success Factors for CRM. Now, let’s briefly review these three best practices.

Organizational Readiness GAP Analysis

Organizational CRM readiness refers to the level of structural, cultural, financial, intellectual, and technological resources and skills embedded and available to the company. This assessment process allows a company to evaluate its current conditions in key CRM areas and then define the level of risk associated with the implementation of CRM. The degree of CRM success depends on how well the risks are managed, i.e. how well the gaps and corrections are defined and implemented. The results of this analysis are the foundation for development of a CRM Strategy.

What is a CRM Strategy?

A company must know where it is today, where it wants to be in the future, and how it is going to get there. In a nutshell, CRM is a business strategy and philosophy ~ it is future-oriented. A CRM strategy is guided by a Vision Statement as well as supporting values and behaviors. The key elements of the strategy are guided by these principles:

• CRM is based on customer knowledge and the voice of the customer. Data and information are the raw materials of CRM.
• CRM is not technology ~ technology merely enables it. Technology is the machinery that enables CRM to work.
• CRM requires that an organization be customer-centric and display value-based behaviors.
• CRM requires the right people. People are the power supply of CRM.
• CRM is a set of processes and experiences designed with the customer in mind. Customer-centered processes & experiences are the products of CRM.
• CRM improves human interactions.
• CRM creates value for both the company and the customer.
• CRM strategies must include clear, measurable objectives and metrics. It is virtually impossible to improve what you don’t measure.

What are Critical Success Factors?

Critical success factors or CSFs are skills, actions, values or behaviors that influence the desired CRM performance. They are measurable, actionable, and specific to your market or industry. Identifying critical success factors is an evaluation approach that is used to gauge whether the company has achieved its desired performance. Before embarking on the CRM journey, it is important for the company to identify those issues critical to its business. If the issues or factors were absent, the company would not survive.

There are hundreds of general critical success factors available in the CRM literature today. You can find all kinds of lists in white papers, books, articles, vendor case studies, and so on. The problem is that ‘one size does not fit all’!

Here a sampling of some generic CSFs for CRM:

1. Establish and obtain acceptance of change.
2. Ensure that changes are compatible with the customer’s needs.
3. Integrate CRM objectives with business objectives.
4. Integrate the voice of the customer within all strategies.
5. Be honest about your current conditions.
6. Solicit input and obtain support from all CRM stakeholders ~ all the time.
7. Make a commitment to change.
8. Measure all successes and failures and communicate them openly.
9. Embrace negative feedback from customers.
10. Use CRM information (customer knowledge) in all critical business decisions.
11. Partner only with external parties that have the same customer-centric values and beliefs as we do.
12. Partner with external stakeholders that have experience with CRM – both good and bad.
13. Be patient when making changes.
14. Ensure that technology follows process design – not the other way around.
15. Empower employees to make decisions beneficial to customers.

Each CSF is given a level of importance, i.e. high, medium or low. This aids the company in ranking or prioritizing strategies and evaluating their feasibility.

Dr. Nancy Rauseo is on the faculty of Florida International University’s College of Business Administration where she teaches marketing and CRM. Nancy holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A and Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University. Prior to her teaching career, she held various senior management positions for over 20 years in the areas of sales, marketing and technology implementation. For information about our CRM On-line training, please visit us at AXIS.

Sage Accpac 5.4 is here
267 more reasons to love your Sage Accpac ERP Business Management Solution

Sage Software proudly announced the new release of Sage Accpac ERP Version 5.4—an important upgrade that includes 267 of the most requested features by Sage Accpac customers. Sage Accpac 5.4 delivers more power and flexibility, so customers can work faster and smarter than ever before.

The new Sage Accpac 5.4 gives everyone in the accounting department more of the tools that they need to get their jobs done faster and with greater confidence. New process improvements let accounting personnel speed through their tactical tasks, giving them more time for analysis and strategic thinking. New Reporting and Inquiry tools give business owners and controllers better and faster access to information for more effective decision-making. And, with new operational flexibility that runs through every module of version 5.4, Sage Accpac customers now have more ways to configure the system to accommodate their unique processes, procedures, and preferences.

Product Compatibility with Sage Accpac 5.4

For customers running earlier versions of Sage Accpac ERP it takes some planning to make sure that all of the products are running are compatible with each other. These products may include other end-to-end applications such as Warehouse management, Human Resources, and CRM, among others. They also include Sage Accpac Options products and third-party applications. Please contact us and we will contact the vendor for third-party compatibility information. Sage also has some tools to assist you with respect to end-to-end and Options products.

On Sage’s public Web pages, you can find updated Sage Accpac Options and end-to-end compatibility charts under “Related Links” on the right side of the page. In most cases you’ll find out if the current version of the Sage Accpac products you are currently running is compatible today, needs a service pack, or at least see the ETA on the compatibility release.

For a detail list of enhancements, please download the document “What is New in Version 5.4”.

Managing Offshore Business Deals Within Sage Accpac ERP

Businesses located in port cities often deal with “offshore” suppliers who can usually provide a cost advantage for goods over local competitors. As this became more evident in the 1970’s and 1980’s, many companies created business models where they not only benefited from low cost “offshore” suppliers but took the model one step further by not taking delivery of any inventory. Instead, they had goods sent directly to their customers from the supplier.

This “middleman” or “jobber” model is popular with businesses that supply specialty merchandise with company logos such as pens, paper, shirts or other promotional items. It is also popular with companies who supply specialized materials and equipment to hotels, hospitals, universities or the military.

The nature of these deals is that you can have several purchases from multiple suppliers and several sales to multiple customers all related to the same Job. In Accpac, it is not possible to track multiple purchases and sales orders under one job at the transaction level. Until now.

Trade Job Costing is a new solution for Accpac that captures information about a wholesale trade deal and updates related operational transactions (sales orders and purchase orders) in Accpac. Deals are commercial projects or jobs, which are potential orders that may or may not be confirmed and which consist of numerous business transactions conducted by an intermediary or “jobber” between a number of vendors and customers. In addition to tracking historical and analytical data on deals, Trade Job Costing is useful for tracking order fulfillment, purchase commitments and margin analysis on jobs.

There are several business benefits gained by implementing the Trade Job Costing solution. Businesses can:

1. manage trade jobs within Sage Accpac ERP;
2. sell products before they are purchased;
3. track actual sales and purchases to calculate margins;
4. attach electronic documents to trade jobs;
5. add customized notes to trade jobs;
6. generate status reports at any time during the life cycle of a job.

In addition to the Trade Job Costing module, there is also a new Trade Finance solution that allows businesses who purchase from “offshore” suppliers to manage all aspects of purchasing goods with Letters of Credit inside Sage Accpac ERP.

You can amend a Letter of Credit as many times as necessary and keep a full history of the Letter of Credit from the day of opening to the day of closing. Open Letters of Credit can also be adjusted, reversed, canceled or closed at any time. The system will track not only approved Letters of Credit but also those rejected and waiting approval.

Integration to Accpac is very tight since Trade Finance is written with Accpac’s software development kit. As a result, Bank charges are posted to Accpac’s Bank Services module and Vendor Payments are processed through Accounts Payable as normal.

Trade Finance can capture various shipment details such as Port of Shipment, Port of Destination and Carrier. You can also define whether partial shipments are allowed or not. Transhipments, where goods have been reshipped from one port to another, can also be tracked.

There are several business benefits gained by implementing the Trade Finance solution. Businesses can:

1. monitor exposure to currency risk and total charges by Letter of Credit;
2. monitor exposure by bank to assess cash flow needs;
3. monitor exposure by vendor to assess commitments;
4. keep track of all shipment and payment schedules;
5. keep track of all insurance and inspection details;
6. create a list of documents required to complete Letters of Credit;
7. link various Accpac documents (such as invoices) to the Letter of Credit;
8. monitor margins withheld, credit lines and any collateral pledged against Letters of Credit;
9. attach electronic documents to Letters of Credit.

If your company trades with “offshore” suppliers and/or Letters of Credit you should consider the benefits of these solutions to your business.

How to champion a Warehouse Management System project to your Organization

Today, most companies face three basic questions when considering purchasing a warehouse management solution:

1. Why buy anything? (the tactical decision);
2. Why buy now? (the strategic decision); and
3. Who to buy from? (the personal decision)

Why buy anything? Individuals within your company must recognize needs and be able to sell those needs to management before a project will be approved. Companies need to purchase new systems for several reasons. Some of these reasons can include the following:

1. Managing an increase in sales and inventory volumes;
2. Reducing training of new or temporary personnel;
3. Improving accuracy of pick/pack/ship operations;
4. Moving to a new warehouse or adding locations; or
5. Encountering new customer requirements.

When considering a purchase, a company should analyze the Return on Investment (ROI) for the project. The real needs of the company need to be stressed during the project definition. Establish the expectations of the project up front. When preparing the ROI, consider items such as a cost reduction by taking cycle counts versus shutting down for a full physical inventory. Think outside the walls of the distribution center to include areas of improvement from product flow to customers and stores. Also, consider supply chain efficiencies that can be achieved with the implementation of a new system.

Tailor the solution to the needs of your company. Figure out the decision makers within your organization need in order to obtain “buy-in” on the project. A warehouse manager should consider partnering with the CFO of the company. The CFO is responsible for the financial security of an organization. The CFO will be more willing to budget this investment if you can clearly justify the benefits and payback of this project. It is much easier to gain acceptance for projects that are backed or championed by a corporation’s financial gatekeeper than without them. Be prepared, however, to be held accountable for ROI calculations.

Also be prepared to do battle for resources or funds for your project. Every department within an organization battles for funds and resources to support the organization. Sometimes, the person whom complains the most gets the most attention. In order to beat out those whom seem to carry the loudest voices in the corporation, you will need to document existing processes in the company and outline benefits from changing those processes.

Derive a list of requirements that are based on cold hard analytical facts from your business processes. Develop a base line for areas of improvements. Calculate these improvements as part of the overall project. Claim them as part of the project. Detail business processes for each individual. If not done well, this can cause problems with the implementation. Be prepared to define how are you doing business today and what is the cost of doing business that way?

Before entering into a project, an organization’s project sponsor should have a total understanding of the processes needed to run the company. Eighty (80) percent of these processes should be well documented. Companies should leave twenty (20) percent for wiggle room to implement best practices.

Why buy now? Or, in other words, “How to persuade people in your organization that they should consider purchasing a system now?” Typically, the decision process takes a compelling event, such as a new warehouse or new customer requirements.

If you need a system and do not have a compelling event, then you need a selling event – which will provide incremental value over time. If you have a selling event, it is imperative to have a well defined plan, project sponsors, and an ROI to move a project forward within your organization. Be prepared to explain why the company should invest in upgrades for additional efficiencies.

Who to buy from? If you are unsure on how to proceed with any of these tasks, engage with or ask your current software vendor for assistance. They should be a key player in providing information to the project sponsor. Business advisors should introduce ideas to improve current operational processes as well as providing a solution to the organization whether software is involved or not.

If you are in need of assistance of a trusted business advisor or would like some help in creating a project to implement a warehouse management solution, please contact us immediately for our support at info@axisintegratedsolutions.com. We’d love to help you!

Centralized Data Management for Sage Accpac ERP

Managing data has become a major concern for most businesses for several reasons. As computerized business management and accounting systems have become more comprehensive and large computer hard drives have become less expensive, it has become easier to record and store vast amounts of detailed data about our businesses. As more processes in a company have been automated, the accounting systems of old have evolved into full scale business management systems that integrate all operational facets of a business. The result is that businesses are increasingly demanding more and better information out of these systems to assess their performance and measure results against pre-established criteria such as budgets, forecasts and other key performance indicators.

As companies grow and their need for comprehensive reporting and analysis increases, it becomes easy for people to look for a quick fix by creating one spreadsheet after another to solve the information needs of managers and other top level executives. One day we realize that we have created a reporting and data management nightmare because none of the reporting systems are integrated to the accounting system, there is little or no security for the data and there is no centralized control over updates to the data. Therefore the integrity of the data we depend on for decision making purposes comes into question.

Not only does it get more difficult to manage all this data but it gets more difficult to create reports with relevant information delivered with the right amount of detail. Reporting systems need to be flexible enough to link different financial data elements together to identify key trends in a business. Since these elements can change over time these systems need to dynamically change with the requirements in the business.

With the rise in popularity of benchmarking and the use of key performance indicators (KPI’s) not only is there a requirement to link financial data elements, but analysts are also recognizing the need to link financial data to non-financial data that influences financial performance in a business. Furthermore, as graphical user interfaces and scanning equipment have become more popular, linking documents and pictures to data has also become more important.

In order to provide structure and security to the collection and management of all types of information requires a centralized repository of data (sometimes referred to as a data warehouse) which is stored in the same database as the rest of the information in the accounting and business management system rather than an external database. The question is, how do companies develop a cost effective method of collecting and managing the data they need to support the reporting and decision making systems required to run their businesses?

To address this growing trend in the Sage Accpac ERP (Accpac) market, Orchid Systems created a tool set called Budget and Information Management that allows users to add any type of data to their Accpac company databases. The immediate benefit of this approach is that all data is protected by the same security, back up and maintenance functions included in Accpac’s System Manager. Multi-User access is provided through standard Accpac Lanpaks so there is no additional cost for multi-user access. Documents and pictures can be linked to Accpac data and stored in the same database.

Budget and Information Management makes reporting on financial and non-financial data in Sage Accpac ERP much easier. Each Budget code can link up to 10 fields and combine that with 10 additional user-defined fields for tracking information not normally kept in an accounting system. You can capture an unlimited number of budgets and forecasts for any combination of Accpac master file data not just GL budget sets. Because all the data is held in one table, it is easy to create and run Crystal Reports against this data without the need for sub reports in Crystal.

A link to Microsoft Excel is included with the solution to allow you to read data from Sage Accpac, manipulate it in a spreadsheet and then write back automatically. You can also use Budget and Information Management as a data source for other reporting and analysis tools such as Sage Accpac Insight and Crystal Analysis.

If you’ve been wondering how to enhance the budget, forecast and analysis capabilities of Sage Accpac ERP without creating redundant or duplicate systems, consider the benefits of Budget and Information Management from Orchid Systems. For more information, please contact us at info@axisintegratedsolutions.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q – Can I view a list of all the Account Receivable Miscellaneous Receipts that were posted?

A – Beginning with Sage Accpac ERP version 5.3, an Accounts Receivable Receipt Inquiry Form has been added that allows you to display information for all the miscellaneous receipts. On the form, make sure there are blanks in both the From Customer Number and To Customer Number.

Note: You may also drill down from a selected line on the list to view the original receipt in the Receipt Entry form by clicking the Document button.

Q – Can I view a list of deposits in Accounts Receivable by Bank for a specific fiscal period?

A – Beginning with Accpac version 5.3, an Accounts Receivable Receipt Inquiry Form has been added that allows you to display information for all the receipts deposited to a selected bank for range of fiscal year & periods as well as a range of receipt dates.

The Receipt Inquiry also allows you to look up receipts using other criteria. For example, you can display information for a receipt for which you have only the receipt number. In addition, you are no longer limited to viewing the receipts for one customer in the Customer Activity form.

Note: You may also drill down from a selected line on the list to view the original receipt in the Receipt Entry form by clicking the Document button.

Q - How do I define a Default User Template?

A – In Sage CRM v5.8 all new CRM installs contain a Default User Template. The Default User Template is where you can define your baseline of settings for all new users. What is the default language to be set to? What are the security access rights common to all users? What are the default user preference settings? Once the default user template is defined, you can create other user templates, using the default as a basis, to set the baseline for the Sales users, Customer Care users, and so on.

To define the default user template:

1. Select Administration | Users | User Templates, then search for the Default User Template. Click on the hyperlink of the Default template. The Template Details tab for the Default template is displayed. You can also associate a default set of User Preferences and a default Security Profile with the template, from the User Preferences and Security Profile tabs respectively.
2. Select the Change action button on the Template Details tab and update the fields. Select the Save button.

Q - Can I get an Overview of User Activity from within Sage CRM?

A - Yes. In CRM v5.8 the User Activity administration option enables you to view details such as summary information about all user activity, a list of currently logged on users, and a list of historical user activity records. For example, to view user activity information for all users:

1. Select Administration | Users | User Activity.
2. Click on one of the three tabs to view the information you require (All User Activity, Currently Logged In Users, and User Inactivity).

Q - Why the "Invalid User ID or Password or could not connect to the database." message appears when running the Sqltest Tool from FoxPro access?

A - This issue may occur if the user is not logged into Sage Pro with the "ADMN" user ID. If the user is logged in as "ADMN" and the error still appears on a Microsoft SQL Server (SQL) installation of Sage Pro, the "ADMN" privileges must be verified in SQL. Follow the steps below:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
2. Under the correct SQL Server Group, double-click Security and click Logins.
3. Right-click user "AIADMN" and click Properties.
4. Click Server Roles and verify that the following options are selected:
   1. System Administrators
   2. Security Administrators
   3. Disk Administrators
   4. Database Creators
5. Click Database Access.
6. Verify that all of the appropriate Sage Pro databases, including the system and temp databases, are selected.

The Sqltest tool should now run with no issues.

Q - How do I shrink the Microsoft SQL Database log file?

A - When using Sage Pro ERP with Microsoft SQL Server, it is important to monitor database log file size. These files can become very large if performing many transactions. At times, it may also be necessary to shrink this file if using excessive amounts of hard drive space on the SQL server.

By default, the database logs for Sage Pro (system, temporary and individual company databases) are set to Recovery Model "Full" in SQL. As a result, all operations on the database are recorded in the database log file. This can be useful since at times it may be necessary to restore the database. However, this can be detrimental to system performance since the log file may become too large.

General practice for database administration is to use the Recovery Model "Full" at scheduled intervals to back up the database log file, and then shrink the live one to an acceptable size.
Changing the Recovery Model, backing up the log file, and shrinking the log file should be evaluated by a certified DBA who is able to determine the possible repercussions of such changes for Sage Pro and the policies of the customer site. Additional information on these settings and procedures can be found in the Microsoft SQL Help.

To determine and change the Recovery Model used by a database, follow the steps below:

1. Open SQL Enterprise Manager.
2. Right-click the appropriate database and click Properties.
3. Under the Options tab, the Recovery Model is listed in the middle of the screen.

To determine the size and to shrink the database log file, follow the steps below:

1. Open SQL Enterprise Manager.
2. Right-click the appropriate database, point to All Tasks and click Shrink Database.
3. Click Files.
4. Click the Database files list box and select the database log file. It will have "_log" appended to the database name.
5. The database log file size is listed. Select Shrink file to to activate the size field. This allows the log file to be shrunk to a user-defined size

Note: This information should be reviewed with a Microsoft SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) before implementing on live systems. The following is provided for informational purposes only and is not supported by Sage Customer Support.

Q - Why values in the “At % of Value” column in the ABC Exception Report do not add to 100 percent?

A - This report acts as a categorization of inventory; it is not a financial report. It compares small portions of a large amount of data and mathematical rounding differences prevent a 100 percent correlation.

This report evaluates inventory ranges in order of importance, based on value or usage. It reflects the relative contribution of a given inventory item’s value in accordance with the business model of the company. The report reflects the relative contribution of a given inventory item’s value (Usage) to the overall IC valuation (Usage). In other words, this report ranks the importance of an item.

TOOL OF THE MONTH

Tech Tip

Having a policy that encourages complex user passwords along with a scheduled requirement to change them, is one of the best security investments you can make. However, passwords must be easy to remember to avoid users keeping them on a post-it note next to their monitor. So how can you help?

Suggest that your users select a standard "theme" for their passwords. For example, places you have lived or cars you have owned. Then add at least one non-alphanumeric character, such as !@#$%^&*, and one number. Then, by changing the non-alphanumeric character OR the number, you have a unique, secure password that can be changed and still be remembered.

Another good trick is to take the same theme and substitute a number or a non-alphanumeric character and you have a strong, unique password.
The following examples can easily be updated 25 times by just changing the number or the non-alphanumeric character.

Examples:

Camaro&1
1$OldBylerRd
C&mar0 ... for Camaro

This cycle should get your users through the most aggressive "change your password" requirements, keep your network secure and remove post-it notes from their monitor.

Five Tips for Secure, Complex Passwords

1. Password cannot be based on or contain the user's account name
2. Must contain at least 8 letters
3. Must contain characters from three of the following four categories:
   1. Uppercase Alphabet (A-Z)
   2. Lowercase Alphabet (a-z)
   3. Arabic numerals (0-9)
   4. Non-alphanumeric characters (!#$%&+=*)
4. Mandatory password change every 90 days
5. Passwords can't be reused for 270 days

Article courtesy of All Covered
This article was provided by All Covered, the leading Technology Services Partner for Small Business. All Covered delivers excellent service with competitive pricing to thousands of satisfied customers. For information on an introductory offer to All Covered's services, please call 888-309-3999, or go to www.allcovered.com/partner-offer/?id=ac414.