Database Reference
In-Depth Information
3.4.1 CRM Product Functionality and Features
Just as a vendor company, a similar exercise would have to be taken for the company's suite of
CRM products. Product evaluation criteria would involve queries as illustrated in Table 3.2.
Unlike the traditional computerized systems, which take a data-oriented view of the opera-
tions of the company, the enterprise-wide systems primarily emphasize the process-oriented view
of the organization. Hence, special attention needs to be paid to ascertain whether the CRM pack-
age can configure, support, and maintain business process of the organization.
3.4.1.1 Support for Standard Processes and Best Practices
Companies that are multidivisional and multilocated develop differently at different sites and
acquire a character of their own at each site that may not fit into a uniform mold across the orga-
nization. A CRM package must have an ability to provide a comprehensive functionality to imple-
ment such deeply ingrained, differing ways of operations at different locations. It should be able to
provide ready-to-use, best-practice processes that incorporate such varying ways of executing any
business transaction or process.
A standardization of processes usually leads to tremendous gains in terms of maintenance,
future upgrades, documentation, training, and even routine operations and the administration of
the CRM applications system.
3.4.1.2 Support for Customizing the Processes
This custom support is counter to the general emphasis on standardizing the processes and imple-
menting generic ones. It's a business truism that the survival and success of a company depends on
how it differentiates itself and its products or services from those of its competitors. To leverage on
their competencies or advantages, companies cannot abandon the corresponding differentiating
processes and will have to incorporate such fundamental variants in their CRM implementations.
Therefore, in addition to the best-of-class processes, a CRM package must provide a basic
framework and philosophy for the customization of processes for a company or even for a different
division of the company. As is suggested in Chapter 6 “SAP CRM Implementation Project Cycle”,
a company should rationalize, standardize, and, as much as possible, use the process configurations
that have been made available in SAP CRM.
Customization requirements could arise because of
◾
Country-specific rules and regulations
◾
State-specific differences, if any
◾
Country-specific business requirements
◾
Company-specific business strategy and tactics
◾
Division- and location-specific business and operational requirements
3.4.1.3 Support for Cinderella Process
These processes are also known as
exception
processes or
strange
processes. Process scenarios occur
in an organization that may result from particular or peculiar circumstances at any moment of
time. Such exceptions could either be treated as erroneous scenarios or be handled as specifically
identified exception processes. For instance, occasionally, every organization makes or is required
