Ensuring CRM Success

In an article entitled What's Hot and What's Not in Law Practice, which appeared in the December issue of Marketing the Law Firm, CRM (customer relations management) was listed as the second 'hottest' technology in the 'Marketing Strategies & Tactics' section. The comment that followed was, '[b]ut there's a lot more involved than just having the right software: It must be used.'
Not only is this true ' but it poses an interesting question. What exactly does it take for a CRM system to become successfully used within a law firm?
CRM solutions provide enormous benefits. The relationship intelligence that some of these systems deliver reveals the unique and complex connections between people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise. Access to relationship intelligence empowers lawyers to leverage who and what they know to uncover new business opportunities, differentiate from the competition and bolster client retention.
But CRM is more than a technology; it is a business strategy that impacts every facet of the law firm ' from business processes to culture. Therefore, understanding the interrelationship between CRM technology and the firm's overall CRM strategy is critical to ensuring successful use.
We have worked with hundreds of organizations on their CRM initiatives and have come to recognize certain attributes that are excellent predictors of success. Those include:
Strong leadership. CRM is not simply an IT or marketing initiative, but a firm-wide effort that should be spearheaded at the highest levels of management. The firm's leadership must take ownership of the CRM initiative, communicate its and then lead by example.
Alignment of marketing and IT. The marketing and IT departments play an integral role in the project's success. If their interests are not aligned properly, they will be working at cross-purposes, which can ultimately blunt the effectiveness of the CRM initiative.
Sufficient resource allocation. Firms ensure the success of their CRM initiatives by carefully studying the total cost of the project beyond technology acquisition and allocating sufficient resources to effectuate their plan.
Openness to change. Firms must be willing and able to undertake any changes determined necessary to execute on their strategy.
Education/training. Firms must provide adequate education and training on the technology, process and cultural changes.
Focus on data quality. High data quality is crucial to successful CRM implementation. Firms must focus on these issues in the selection of CRM software and in dedicating internal resources.
Moreover, technology, people, processes and culture are all essential attributes in the most successful CRM initiatives. How do these elements come together to result in a strong technology implementation? Below are some of the critical success factors:
CRM vision. The client-focused firm has a clear picture of its unique value proposition and what the client-centered organization looks like. In addition, the firm will also exhibit strong leadership in communicating this core vision throughout the firm and gaining buy-in at all levels.
CRM strategy. The CRM strategy provides a client-facing road map to help the firm deliver on its business goals. Its purpose is to help cultivate and maintain a loyal, long-term client-base. Marketing the CRM system to internal users and clearly communicating how they will benefit from it are also critical. A thorough understanding of the requirements of the user community is essential to do this effectively.
Because of the ever-evolving nature of client relationships, a CRM strategy is an ongoing exercise that changes over time. As a result, the CRM initiative could potentially be an overwhelming undertaking unless it is approached in manageable portions. The strategy should therefore include tactics with realistic and achievable milestones that provide value along the way. This allows firms to maintain a strategic perspective while incorporating milestones that provide incentive and motivation for those participating, and real value to the firm.
The Client Experience
Many firms fail to incorporate real-world client experiences, perspective and feedback into their CRM planning. Firms should go beyond their own beliefs about the client experience and actually make efforts to ascertain data directly from the client.
Collaboration. Consensus and buy-in are crucial. A firm must also ensure that the internal compensation and incentive structure is in alignment with the firm's overall strategy.
Processes. Firms must examine their existing processes, discard those that do not align with the CRM strategy and implement new ones that conform to it. Automating current broken processes is not effective.
Relationship intelligence data. The above analysis will also yield valuable clues as to the types of data users require. Understanding the data you need and where it comes from, therefore, will be critical to the success of your overall initiative.
Technology infrastructure. Once the above steps have been taken, firms will then be in a much better position to understand the technology infrastructure required to support their CRM strategy.
Metrics. Metrics are essential to help measure the project's ongoing success and ROI Metrics provide objective data as to the effectiveness of your strategy. Second, they provide early warning signals if the plan is not working. This would allow you to catch problems early before they threaten the project's success.
CRM solutions that deliver relationship intelligence count among law firms' most strategic assets. But CRM is not just a technology ' it is a business strategy. Deriving maximum ROI from CRM necessitates a comprehensive plan that incorporates firm goals, specific business problems and applications as well as processes and culture. The closer a CRM initiative is tied it to people, the more involved they are willing to be and the greater impact they will feel from it.
A CRM solution should be designed to incorporate many of those elements out of the box, so that firms don't have to radically change how they work today to derive tremendous benefits. And where they do have to change, the CRM solution should make it transparent enough that the change is still not jarring for end users.

In an article entitled What's Hot and What's Not in Law Practice, which appeared in the December issue of Marketing the Law Firm, CRM (customer relations management) was listed as the second 'hottest' technology in the 'Marketing Strategies & Tactics' section. The comment that followed was, '[b]ut there's a lot more involved than just having the right software: It must be used.'
Not only is this true ' but it poses an interesting question. What exactly does it take for a CRM system to become successfully used within a law firm?
CRM solutions provide enormous benefits. The relationship intelligence that some of these systems deliver reveals the unique and complex connections between people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise. Access to relationship intelligence empowers lawyers to leverage who and what they know to uncover new business opportunities, differentiate from the competition and bolster client retention.
But CRM is more than a technology; it is a business strategy that impacts every facet of the law firm ' from business processes to culture. Therefore, understanding the interrelationship between CRM technology and the firm's overall CRM strategy is critical to ensuring successful use.
We have worked with hundreds of organizations on their CRM initiatives and have come to recognize certain attributes that are excellent predictors of success. Those include:
Strong leadership. CRM is not simply an IT or marketing initiative, but a firm-wide effort that should be spearheaded at the highest levels of management. The firm's leadership must take ownership of the CRM initiative, communicate its and then lead by example.
Alignment of marketing and IT. The marketing and IT departments play an integral role in the project's success. If their interests are not aligned properly, they will be working at cross-purposes, which can ultimately blunt the effectiveness of the CRM initiative.
Sufficient resource allocation. Firms ensure the success of their CRM initiatives by carefully studying the total cost of the project beyond technology acquisition and allocating sufficient resources to effectuate their plan.
Openness to change. Firms must be willing and able to undertake any changes determined necessary to execute on their strategy.
Education/training. Firms must provide adequate education and training on the technology, process and cultural changes.
Focus on data quality. High data quality is crucial to successful CRM implementation. Firms must focus on these issues in the selection of CRM software and in dedicating internal resources.
Moreover, technology, people, processes and culture are all essential attributes in the most successful CRM initiatives. How do these elements come together to result in a strong technology implementation? Below are some of the critical success factors:
CRM vision. The client-focused firm has a clear picture of its unique value proposition and what the client-centered organization looks like. In addition, the firm will also exhibit strong leadership in communicating this core vision throughout the firm and gaining buy-in at all levels.
CRM strategy. The CRM strategy provides a client-facing road map to help the firm deliver on its business goals. Its purpose is to help cultivate and maintain a loyal, long-term client-base. Marketing the CRM system to internal users and clearly communicating how they will benefit from it are also critical. A thorough understanding of the requirements of the user community is essential to do this effectively.
Because of the ever-evolving nature of client relationships, a CRM strategy is an ongoing exercise that changes over time. As a result, the CRM initiative could potentially be an overwhelming undertaking unless it is approached in manageable portions. The strategy should therefore include tactics with realistic and achievable milestones that provide value along the way. This allows firms to maintain a strategic perspective while incorporating milestones that provide incentive and motivation for those participating, and real value to the firm.
The Client Experience
Many firms fail to incorporate real-world client experiences, perspective and feedback into their CRM planning. Firms should go beyond their own beliefs about the client experience and actually make efforts to ascertain data directly from the client.
Collaboration. Consensus and buy-in are crucial. A firm must also ensure that the internal compensation and incentive structure is in alignment with the firm's overall strategy.
Processes. Firms must examine their existing processes, discard those that do not align with the CRM strategy and implement new ones that conform to it. Automating current broken processes is not effective.
Relationship intelligence data. The above analysis will also yield valuable clues as to the types of data users require. Understanding the data you need and where it comes from, therefore, will be critical to the success of your overall initiative.
Technology infrastructure. Once the above steps have been taken, firms will then be in a much better position to understand the technology infrastructure required to support their CRM strategy.
Metrics. Metrics are essential to help measure the project's ongoing success and ROI Metrics provide objective data as to the effectiveness of your strategy. Second, they provide early warning signals if the plan is not working. This would allow you to catch problems early before they threaten the project's success.
CRM solutions that deliver relationship intelligence count among law firms' most strategic assets. But CRM is not just a technology ' it is a business strategy. Deriving maximum ROI from CRM necessitates a comprehensive plan that incorporates firm goals, specific business problems and applications as well as processes and culture. The closer a CRM initiative is tied it to people, the more involved they are willing to be and the greater impact they will feel from it.
A CRM solution should be designed to incorporate many of those elements out of the box, so that firms don't have to radically change how they work today to derive tremendous benefits. And where they do have to change, the CRM solution should make it transparent enough that the change is still not jarring for end users.