Assignment4 gan jeremyfinal
- 1. Jeremy Gan #0499467 Strategic Change Management Final Assignment 21st Dec’ 2013 Executive Summary The primary value of mobile customer relationship management (CRM) is the ability to access and update business-critical information while employees are on the move. However, change cannot occur instantaneously. Thus, it is essential to prepare for that change and to have as many personnel on board as possible to usher in a new beginning. The most critical component in implementing a mobile CRM solution is to understand users’ roles, information needs, and daily tasks and then pinpoint the use cases where having a mobile CRM solutions can drive practical business value. Finally, sustainability of that change would go on to underline the legacy and the success of this change implementation.
- 2. Company Background The primary role of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is to make Chicagoland the most business-friendly region in America by enhancing members’ success through aggressive programs in advocacy, member benefits and services, and actionable information. Serving as ―The Voice of Business‖ since 1904, the Chamber leads aggressive public policy and business growth initiatives through meaningful events and programs to inform, engage, and connect all members to each other and the community. Need For Change The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is a 109 years-old organization that withstood the test of time. However, the fast advancement of technology has rendered some of the practices and software usage at the Chamber obsolete over time. In order to continue the excellent growth rate to support and serve all businesses within the Chicagoland area, the Chamber needs to improve and upgrade its Customer Relation Management (CRM) system to keep up with new leads as well as member retention in order to continue to be one of the most successful regional chambers in America. The need for a mobile CRM system is due to the fact that CRM is arguably the strongest and the most efficient approach in maintaining and creating relationships with customers. CRM is not only pure business solution, but also ideate strong personal bonding within people. Development of this type of bonding will drives the business to new levels of success. Considering that the Chamber is a B2B organization, once this personal and emotional linkage is built, it is very easy for any organization to identify the actual needs of members and help serve them in a better way. Ultimately, most organizations have dedicated world-class tools for maintaining CRM systems into their workplace and the Chamber should also be apart of that forward thinking trend. However, mobility has become a key corporate priority. In particular, the ability to use handheld mobile devices to support customer-facing workers like sales contacts and customer service activities in the field has clearly moved beyond its previous status as a specialized ―nice-to-have‖ option and into a ―must-have‖ tool today. The emergence of high-speed broadband connectivity, smartphones, and tablet devices with enormous computing power and longer battery life, along with increased employee adoption of touchscreen devices in every sphere of life are all trends that serve to liberate IT from the desktop. Further, considering that a new and younger CEO is currently in place within the Chamber, the call of change (timing) cannot be any better. Type of Change Transformational. The Chamber has grown significantly (upwards to over 1,500+ members) through the years. The growing demand for customer management has made the current CRM system insufficient to cater to the needs. Upgrading from the current CRM system by adding a mobile arm would be a transformational change since this change would immediately change and impact the way in which an employee interact and
- 3. keep track of members details along with time-sensitive information. Further, the mobile CRM solution would provide additional tools and features that will significantly alter common practice and will require substantial amount of training to fully utilize all available features. While laptops may be adequate for mobile customer-facing employees, they’re also expensive, bulky, and not the most portable devices available. Moreover, it would require wifi connection that may not have constant connectivity or GPS support for location awareness. This is why a mobile application instead offers a greater way to send and receive time-sensitive or location-specific information when that data is most valuable and most likely to be accurate and complete. Case For Change Implementing a mobile CRM solution will directly affect all Chamber staffs in the way in which everyone interact and deal with existing and new members. More specifically the marketing team that manages new and first year members simply because documenting new leads and creating value for first year members will be key to the long-term growth and success of those businesses along with the membership retention rate within the Chamber. The success stories from the Chamber throughout the years have centered around the introductions made between members through the Chamber and how that have impacted bottom lines and added significant business values through those introductions. However, these introductions made are often time unaccounted for due to the inefficient historical conversation documentation. With a mobile CRM solution, documenting leads and timesensitive information could be done on the fly between short waiting period – this could potentially rectify and help reduce searching and correlating members and to foresee members needs effectively and increase business. This will also document and back up success stories with facts and figures that could serve as testimony to prospective members. Prospective members are also key to the ever-growing list of members within the Chamber. The Chamber soar to new heights when it managed to hit the 1,500 members mark en route to becoming one of America’s most successful regional chamber. Nevertheless, that 1,500 mark was achieved back in 2007 (over 6 years ago) and the Chamber has since hit a barren run with new members and retention rate cancelling out annually. Implementing a mobile CRM solution will immediately replace the old ineffective practice with a new modern documenting system that will help deal with the existing members as well as acquiring new prospect. In terms of benefiting the retention rate, if the members are satisfied with the services provided at the chamber, they will naturally be loyal and will remain in business forever resulting in increasing membership base and ultimately enhancing net growth of the business. Adding a mobile CRM solution will also revitalize the ―traditional‖ company culture at
- 4. the Chamber. Perhaps one of the strongest aspects of CRM is that it is very cost-effective. The advantage of decently implemented CRM system is that there is very less need of paper and manual work which requires lesser staff to manage and lesser resources to deal with. The technologies used in implementing a CRM system are also very cheap and smooth as compared to the traditional way of business. Furthermore, all the details in CRM system is kept centralized which is available anytime on fingertips. This reduces the process time and increases productivity. This will certainly go on to promote lean operation within the Chamber as well as challenge all existing staff to remain competitive and aggressive in being the voice of business in the Chicagoland. It is imperative that a mobile CRM solution is put in place as soon as possible to modernize the Chamber current state because a strong chamber within Chicagoland is vital to foreign and local investment as the Chamber represents businesses and lawmakers who could get things done within Chicagoland. Thus, the ability to fully organize all the relationships and connection between the chamber and businesses in Chicagoland will be key not only to members, but the long-term growth of the city of Chicago as well. Vision For Change The vision is to have a mobile CRM solution in place that can cater to all members need and keep up with new leads that will in turn become members of the Chamber. This CRM software reinforces the organization’s commitment to go the ―extra mile‖ in an attempt to please its members and keep them interested and involve. While in the era of big data, it can be hard to make sense of every bit of data, make sure everyone knows about every interaction with every customer, and ensure that every action is followed up, accurately and on time. Nevertheless, by helping businesses cope with ever increasing customer demands, CRM reduces complexities in both processes and communications. In a nutshell, having a mobile CRM solution in place could represent the backbone for the Chamber to enhance the level of member satisfaction. Design Focus The focus of the design requirement efforts will primarily centered around organizational constraints, boundary conditions, or ―must haves.‖ The proposed idea is to have a mobile CRM solution in place to sync and link up with existing CRM infrastructure to enable the marketing team at Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to better utilize and manage its members to ensure maximum value in Chamber membership for all members. With that, it is imperative to consider the following factors. Factor #1: Tablet PC A mobile CRM solution would require all marketing staff to have a tablet with 4G capabilities that will allow staff to assess key data wirelessly remotely. To standardize effort and reduce development cost, it is vital that a standard tablet model is selected. Furthermore, considering that existing CRM infrastructure is built upon the Microsoft framework, it would be the Chamber’s best interest to procure a Microsoft Windows 8.2 operating tablet instead of the more popular and conventional iOS or Android operating tablet.
- 5. Factor #2: Modern Features Lead, opportunity, and prospect management. Mobile sales representatives need access to company information in the field, but mobile solutions can also improve productivity by making it easier to collect and transmit information back to the head office. Scheduling. Staff will have access to simplified view of appointments and meetings scheduled throughout the week detailing which existing or prospective members to visit. Each meeting should be represented/classified under different symbols to correlate and differentiate the accounts for meeting preparation purposes – existing member, membership level, prospective member, etc. Facilitation of approval workflows. Mobile devices also support managers across operational groups in sales and marketing to complete workflow approvals in near real time, speeding the decision-making cycle. Analytical dashboards and alerts. The top management might demand access to dashboards to track business results while they are on the move. Thus, push-alerts feature to have alerts be pushed to them instantly for quicker and better decision-making would stimulate quick-reply. Integrated customer self-service. Members also want to be able to interact with the organizations they do business with through the increasingly ubiquitous personal mobile devices as part of their mobile lifestyle. This includes the ability to use mobile devices to register products, locate stores, create support tickets, and receive value-added services and incentive offers. Strategy To Develop Future State Design In order to build a product/system that will best fit the purposes of the marketing staff, it is imperative to co-create with them to ensure that we truly understand the customer’s (marketing staff) needs in a way that leads to the creation of a system that will appeal and essentially add value in a risk-reducing approach. However, decision-making about when and how to deploy mobile solutions is becoming ever more complex due to the fast-accelerating timelines for the release of new types of mobile devices and applications. Despite the high interest in enterprise mobility solutions, three corporate constituencies — business executives and decision-makers, IT executives, and employees — each have specific and sometimes conflicting goals and requirements driving their mobile device and application initiatives. Problems such as business execs focus mainly on increase in employee productivity while IT executives might want to control the fragmented corporate mobile environment. And finally, the ―users‖ (staff) might want the flexibility to bridge work and personal activities with a BYOB kind of deal. As such, in order to cater to all needs, customer co-creation (#8) from design thinking
- 6. would be utilized to further complement the appreciative inquiry technique to ask and explore the correct avenue on what to focus on, what to study and seek an understanding of. A technology change manager will oversee the overall design of the process. It is essential to have an experience change manager to execute the implementation of a mobile CRM solution because it will require a flurry of architecture and backend knowledge to design the mobile CRM solution (essentially an app) that will sync with the existing CRM system in place. This will also require someone who understands the organization well enough to facilitate ideas and thoughts from the target group within the organization. Both external content expertise (Microsoft mobile CRM designer) along with an in-house IT personnel to coordinate the synchronization between the current Microsoft CRM system in place along with the new mobile CRM system (technology change manager). This is partially also due to the lack of human resource and talent in-house to successfully implement such a system in-house. Both groups of personnel will be required to work together through the initial design phase to relay the future state and hash out the infrastructure before soliciting the thoughts of the users (marketing staff). The timetable for the entire phase should take approximately 6 months (overestimate) to lay out the infrastructure, gather appropriate data from user, implement recommended features, along with rolling out on all tablets. Using the 5-D cycle from appreciate inquiry will help transition the organization forward through each phase Potential Impact of Desire State Potential impact of the desired state could occur at the early stages concerning budgeting. Implementing a mobile CRM solution will first and foremost require a large sum of budget to purchase the necessary hardware and supporting equipment. Building the infrastructure that can support both online and offline work will incur additional cost as well. Furthermore, implementation process which includes training, added IT personnel to support the new equipment, hiring consulting firm to consolidate data will continue to balloon the cost. However, these costs will be justifiable through the recruitment of new membership at the Chamber. With more members, the network across all verticals will be expanded and this will eventually lead to more business transactions and interaction between all members. Ultimately, with more success story, it will only allow the marketing team to share more success stories with prospective members that eventually will benefit the Chamber as a whole. From an organizational perspective, it will be difficult to focus this entire change operation on the marketing department alone because this could potentially cause chaos within the organization. Thus, a prioritization rating should be implemented. Eventually, all staffs from all respective departments will benefit from having a mobile device handy. Nevertheless, at this moment in time, due to tight budgeting, it is pivotal to focus on the group that will produce the most significant results that will add value towards the
- 7. organization to 1) justify the implementation of the mobile CRM solution, 2) ensure that further investment can be made into this change. Change leader should consistently communicate the advancement of the change effort with the President, VP of Finance, VP of Marketing to keep all stakeholders in the loop. Transparency will be key to the success of implementing a change that could potentially downsize the number of staff required over time. With that in mind, the VP of Marketing will have to work very closely with the change manager to ensure that his/her staffs involved in the change will be vigilant and make sure they keep themselves updated throughout the process so that when it is time to effectively make the change, they would be ready to perform at optimum level. A new hiring structure should also be put in place for the future of the Chamber with improved criteria and prerequisite to ensure that any new employee of the Chamber would have some sort of experience and know-how in regards to utilizing a mobile CRM solution that promotes lean operation. That is, perhaps some one with a technology-savvy background who will be willing to progress along with technology to help the cause at the Chamber. Finally, the President and VP of Finance will be required to stay in form to make sure that the change is carried out smoothly in a timely manner without over budgeting. Ultimately, it’s about results and what these changes bring to the organization. Roll Out Plan Having a specially constructed ―project team‖ will ensure the support and representation from each business units that will be affected through the implementation process. Thus, the presence of each representative will help ―smoothen‖ the implementation process by allowing each leader to manage the behavioral and mindset change of their respective business unit. A proper manageable timeline will also be pivotal to the success of the implementation process because all technology projects need a strict schedule to guide the implementation process. Although implementing a CRM solution has become much easier and quicker thanks to Cloud solution – software as a service (SaaS) – that significantly reduced the implementation time. However, a proper scope and definitive prioritization initiatives will still be required to meet all expectations from each business units. Key stakeholders in particular need to define key requirements the solution required to fulfill and group all requirements into phases based on priorities. Monitor and Course-Correct Implementation Quick wins will be important to the overall attitude (adoption) and success of the implementation process. Thus, launching a pilot program as soon as a working prototype is ready by involving limited amount of people early in the mobile CRM project to really understand their needs in terms of the user interface and build support for the solution will allow users to quickly point out what is needed to be changed and what should be included if not already.
- 8. Balancing the user request along with the key stakeholders specification will be a tall order. However, changing business processes require individuals to adapt to the new ways of working. Addressing people issues is expected to consume the bulk of the management’s attention. Thus, the priority should ultimately be the end user because even with a robust product, without a user friendly interface/features the user could see themselves using, the project will somewhat be doomed for failure. Monitor and Course-Correct Desired State Underestimating the human challenges would be rather unwise. Even though employees usually clamor for mobile devices, changing business processes would certainly require every individuals to adapt to new ways of working. Thus, the Chamber should focus its resources by tackling technical challenges (probably represent about 20% of the effort)and addressing people issues (consuming the remaining 80% of management’s attention). Training employees on how to effectively leverage a mobile CRM solution as a business tool is one of the most important steps during implementation. To help drive user adoption, the change leader will need a plan that includes a run through of all the features available, live hands-on situation in which the mobile CRM solution is in play, and hands-on session for users to interact with the system and ask direct questions immediately to ensure that the users understand what is expected of them, how they will be measured from here on out, and how to use the solution to accomplish those goals. CRM solution vendors also typically offer instructor-led training, custom training, or train-the-trainer courses to support frontline users, power users, administrators, and solution developers. Sending leaders to these training will nurture more ―experts‖ to help foster and support through informal learning and mentoring approaches. Success of the implementation of the mobile CRM solution will be determined by the increase in membership sales within the Chamber. In the past, the lost of leads and the untimely manner in which key business information are being processed has led to the stagnation of the Chamber. With the mobile CRM solution in place, there should be significant increase in terms of membership and introductions made between members. Further, productivity level should also increase considering work can be done on the go between meetings to upkeep and ensure all information of members are the latest. To monitor the success of the desired state, monthly reviews should be carried out with leaders of each business units – more specifically the sales and marketing team – to discuss the hurdles of the undertaking to better improve the mobile CRM solution in place because the longer the usage, the better the understanding of the interaction will be. Therefore, monthly reviews with leaders of each business units would be beneficial to the long-term success of the desired state. Establishing Best Practices Based on the implementation of the mobile CRM solution, an improved monthly quota will be put in place for the marketing team to track the effectiveness of having a mobile
- 9. CRM solution in place. With new features and capability to better service existing members and prospective members, membership sales and retention rate should increased to justify the cost spent on this new platform. Ongoing training should be conducted constantly (bi-weekly) in the early stages by change leader or representative from CRM vendor to tackle any questions any staff might potentially have as well as getting accustomed and making the most of every available features within the program. This will go a long way in improving the effectiveness of the change process. New System To Continuously Improve New State Reinforcing change by diagnosing any gaps that arise through the change would be crucial to the long-term success of this change. Creating an internal forum for quick trouble shooting and support will go a long way for the change manager to learn from feedbacks and provides constant updates on software among many things as part of the corrective action plan to solidify the change process and ensure that the organization continues to stay current with the ever-changing needs. In order to do so, the change manager and IT personnel would need to work closely with the CRM vendor to identify key features to constantly keep the software fresh and current and continuously educating the champions of the change process to keep all staff and users updated at all time. Finally, the success of a basic mobile CRM solution could be used as a springboard to manage future projects involving different departments within the organization – expanding the change process to all parts of the organization to upgrade from traditional practice to help the Chamber remain as the best regional Chamber within the U.S.