Forthcoming CRM-SLRM Call for Funding
Next week we will be releasing a CRM-SLRM Call for Funding with two components:
- Customer/Partner Relatiosnhip Management (CRM) process improvement pilots
- Student Lifecycle Relationship Management (SLRM) pilot projects
This call is also under JISC’s emerging theme of Relationship Management, which explores the links between the entire student lifecycle (from prospective student to alumni to employee) and interactions with business and community partners.
The CRM component represents Phase 2 of the BCE CRM work , which will put into practice the CRM Self-analysis Framework developed in Phase 1 (see www.nottingham.ac.uk/graddschool/crm)
CRM is positioned within the BCE programme stream ‘Enhancing Knowledge Management’, which aims to support institutions in developing sustainable systems and ICT strategies for management and exploitation of their knowledge assets, enabling the following benefits:
i. Integrated management and exploitation of business critical knowledge assets for enhanced BCE;
ii. Easier reporting and more informed and resource-efficient strategic decision-making;
iii. More effective management and promotion of resultant knowledge/expertise, offers and related business and market intelligence.
As a whole, the BCE CRM work has the following objectives: To enable institutions to map, manage and optimise partnerships and relationships on an enterprise-wide basis, focussing on the strategically important ones;
- To provide institutions with support and guidance on CRM processes, systems, risks and benefits to enable financial savings and operational improvements;
- To encourage institutions to consider the longer-term benefits of more integrated/interoperable models.
Here’s some further information to bear in mind when reading the Call.
As the JISC 2007 CRM study by the KSA Partnership noted, CRM is often viewed as a panacea to solve a range of problems, the roots of which lie elsewhere. The study concluded:
- that both CRM deployment and the CRM functionality used across the sector was generally underdeveloped;
- the importance of cross-institutional business process review before procurement;
- that partnership relationship management (PRM) may be more appropriate for HEIs working with such a disparate range of partners;
- that there are largely untapped opportunities for cross-selling, relationship management, targeted marketing, strategic knowledge management and resource management.
The Study found that the lack of CRM development in the sector is typified by ‘islands’ of CRM with little connection, the main barriers being cultural (resistance to change), operational (multiple narrowly-focussed operations, multiple partner/client types), and procedural and system/data related (migration/change).
The study concluded that if business, employer and community expectations are to be satisfied, institutions need to take up the significant challenge of integrating client-facing systems into a consistent operation. The benefits of effective CRM are well-documented in other sectors but an optimum usage of CRM can help institutions:
- become more business-like and customer/partner-focused;
- integrate information, knowledge, resource & record management to enable improved strategic oversight, risk management, financial analysis, cost savings and operational efficiency;
- support, manage and connect knowledge transfer/exchange, alumni engagement and employer engagement[1]including facilitating the three way dynamic between institution, learner and employer;
- segment their customers, partners and markets more clearly to enable a more focussed, resource-efficient and effective marketing approach, particularly when linked to central marketing strategy;
- develop a stronger basis for articulation of offers and services and for the tailoring of these to specific client needs, enabling a managed provision of knowledge and expertise services (e.g. consultancy, continuing professional development) to targeted client and partners;
- provide clearer channels for engagement and communication for clients and partners, enabling more confidence in the institution’s management of the interaction and a sense that they are ‘valued customers’
- develop more accurate reporting of enterprise interactions both for internal benchmarking and quality, and for external reporting (HESA, HE-BCI Survey);
- develop better business intelligence, strategic management, supply-chain management and business cross-selling opportunities.
However, CRM processes and systems, if inconsistently used or implemented, can just as easily damage customer value as create it. The quality of the data is often the deciding factor in the success or failure of an implemented system. This is partly dependent on clear usage policies, procedures and protocols, which need to be communicated, accepted and adhered to, if the resultant information is to be reliable.
The message behind Phase 1, the CRM Self-analysis Framework is ‘look before you leap’; it’s probabaly best for an institution / department not to purchase a CRM software system until there is a clear, shared understanding of the precise business processes that the system will support, the ‘critical path’ within those processes and the policies which will control and enable the usage of the system.
Happy bidding, as they say on a well-known online service!
[1] See BCE Employer Engagement Pilot CRM4UNI http://www.sugarforge.org/projects/crm4uni/
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One Response to “Forthcoming CRM-SLRM Call for Funding”
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If my reading is right. Phase 1 to me suggests that Institutions should map their Business processes. Then review what interfaces are needed within a CRM system. This truly appears long winded and time consuming.
Why not adopt Agile principles and assert what a CRM platform must be able to support - such as user defined custom objects, workflow, triggers, drag & drop, role based access control, lists, views, extended certificates for security, SSO for integration, collaboration for knowledge management and document workspace, PRM etc. Also define key processes as action/state diagrams and then see which off the shelf CRM system can accomplish this. When all is said and done, one may also want start with such things as TCO, and ROI with CRM that is SaaS or one that on premise at each institution. In the latter case the cost of owning, managing and upgrading the associated infrastructure will have high TCO. I have my own biases, that point to the leading CRM SaaS solution from Salesforce.com. Features such as Apex language and Force.com platform enable institution administrator/developers to inject desired code and thus promote needed business logic that isn’t otherwise is not natively available. This means that one has programmatic control over what is essentially a SaaS platform. This is very powerful stuff.
Aside the functional and system part of the equation, how does one capture the advantageous position of the vertical that bce represents in negotiating with likes of Salesforce.
I have to confess I used to work at Salesforce, but that is not the reason I recommend this. Its just that such phased studies appear less then agile in terms of getting real applications and systems in the hands of the customers - the University administration and student body and in the process have higher productivity and reduce waste.
Sincerely,
Tarang