Page 207 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes Step 8: Technology

On Premise vs. Hosted

One of the fundamental decisions that you will need to consider is whether to opt for a traditional
on-premise packaged solution or consider outsourcing the management of the solution to a
suitable vendor.

The decision is often not straightforward and can depend upon many issues ranging from views
on data security to internal resourcing, and whether skill sets exist internally to manage such
solutions.
As the complexity of solutions can grow as requirements become more sophisticated, some
businesses may feel more comfortable initially in outsourcing such solutions. However others
may feel the overriding consideration is protecting data assets behind their firewall. In such
cases, companies need to be careful in selecting vendors who will provide ‘safe handling’ of
their prized data assets.
However, one consideration which is often overlooked is whether businesses are likely to need
the flexibility at some stage in the future to migrate the solution from a hosted to on-premise
model or vice versa. As businesses acquire knowledge and new skills (e.g. in digital marketing)
they may wish to take more control of these processes.
Ideally businesses should seek out vendors with experience of both hosting and on-premise
deployments.

Marketing Suite or ‘Niche’ Tools

In the relatively recent past IT departments in most mid and upper tier businesses often felt they
had the capability to take tools from a number of different suppliers and combine them together
effectively.

Such an approach is becoming more challenging as businesses seek to blend in data from digital
channels. Not surprisingly both the chance of successful implementation and time to implement
can be impacted given the greater complexity of handling different types of data more quickly
and moving data across platforms.
So how complex is your project, how skilled are your existing IT teams, and what priority does
CRM have in the overall remit of IT? Single supplier relationships are often favoured where
data management, data enrichment, and integrated CRM applications can all be sourced from a
single vendor.

Technology Platforms

No one wants yesterday’s technology so make sure you have evaluated the latest technology
and look for this in your suppliers. Watch out for ‘vapour ware’ though and ensure that your
requirements ask for case studies as well and thorough demonstrations. Ask for product
development roadmaps.

Check that this technology fits with your IT strategy and can be integrated with back office
systems. Define how the interface will work and that usability is suitable for your business
users.

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