CRM Business Case Template

CRM Business Case Template

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  CRM Business CaseTemplate Purpose The purpose of this tool is to help you design a Business Case for an investment in a CRM (customer relationship management) solution. A Business Case is a formal management communication document that provides an opportunity overview, key success factors, assumptions & decision-making criterion, business impact analysis, sensitivity analysis, risks, contingency plans, and action-oriented recommendations. How to Use this Template Complete the following sections with your project team and/or stakeholders. Cut & paste this information into a document that reflects your corporate image, and deliver your Business Case to senior executives interested in sponsoring the project. Title Page [Insert Company Name or Logo] Business Case – (insert project title) [Insert Completion Date] Completed By: [Insert Project Manager Name] Completed For: [Insert Project Sponsor Name]
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  Table of Contents 1.Executive Summary 3 1.1 What Problem does this CRM Business Case Solve? 2. Opportunity Overview & Key Success Factors 3 2.1 Opportunity Overview 2.2 Project Purpose 2.3 Project Scope 2.4 Project Schedule 2.5 Key Success Factors 3. Assumptions & Decision-Making Criterion 7 3.1 Assumptions 3.2 Use-case Scenarios & Options 3.3 Recommended Decision-Making Criterion 3.4 Information Sources & Research Methodology 4. Business Impact Analysis 8 4.1 Cost/Benefit Analysis 4.2 Qualitative/Intangible Business Benefits 4.3 Required Resources for Implementation 5. Risks & Contingency Plans 10 5.1 Key Risks to Mitigate 5.2 Contingency Plans 6. Recommendation 12 6.1 Action Plan
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  1. Executive Summary 1.1What Problem does this CRM Business Case Solve? Provide a brief description of the problems that this CRM business case was designed to solve. Consider cost-savings, revenue growth, increased customer satisfaction, better product management, higher retention, employee growth & development, or pain-points for your organization.  Customer satisfaction: de-centralized customer information is causing frustration for customers and staff where information is not accessible or can be easily lost  Cost-effective marketing: inability to conduct e-mail marketing to targeted customers and prospects hindering opportunity for revenue  Time savings with manual labor: staff is spending time on repetitive, manual tasks that can be automated  Revenue growth opportunities: managers’ inability to see staff performance makes it difficult to manage and grow revenues  Long sales cycle: sales are hindered due to difficulty in collaborating amongst staff on sales deals  Productivity: outside sales staff are unproductive when they are on the road because they have to call back to the head office to get customer updates and manually produce sales field reports weekly 2. Opportunity Overview & Key Success Factors 2.1 Opportunity Overview In this section, put a positive spin on the solution you are recommending. Document your vision of the impact your solution will have on the organization. Write from each key stakeholder perspective: senior management, sales, marketing, customer service, IT, finance, and operations. For example:  Senior Management: better visibility into sales, customers and staff performance
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   Sales: greater ability to forecast sales accurately, monitor and coach staff based on performance and collaborate on complex deals  Marketing: reduction in budget and greater ROI on customer marketing and lead nurturing  Customer Service: improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, ability to measure staff performance and customer service levels  IT: simple, affordable solution that enables us to keep our data in-house and integrate it with other applications (website, accounting) 2.2 Project Purpose Provide a description of how this project DIRECTLY relates to business goals and objectives. You need to obtain buy-in from your project sponsor, and projects that clearly fit organizational goals are more likely to be supported. 2.3 Project Scope Additionally, document what is in scope for this project and explicitly state what is not in scope. If you are planning on a phased approach, provide a summary of what each phase will look like from your perspective. Consider how many departments/stakeholders will be involved; then, document them. For example: CRM software typically entails centralizing of client data and processes for staff in sales, marketing, customer service, and executives. Our project will be implemented in phases, with staff training included in each phase. Phase 1: Consolidation of client data and profiles from all sales staff current records (from Outlook, Excel spreadsheets, paper-based old files). Information capture standards will be implemented for handling of profile fields, notes, and documents. Staff will be provided access to customer records with the software installed at their desks (or laptops) and on mobile smartphone devices (where applicable).
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  Phase 2: Collaborationand scheduling: Staff will centralize collaboration on customer- facing issues in the CRM system. To assign follow-up tasks (customer call-backs, etc…), staff will utilize the manual and automated task assignment. To schedule meetings with customers and other staff, the calendar will be used, including tracking which products are being pitched in those meetings. Phase 3: Sales opportunity management & Customer service case management: Sales department and Customer service department will simultaneously start using their respective modules to track sales and service cases. Sales management will map current sales processes into the system, and train staff on utilizing the system to move prospects through each phase of the sales cycle. Customer service management will log post-sales calls in the system to track, assign and resolve issues. Phase 4: Email marketing: The marketing department will be able to profile customers and prospects, create target lists, and use built-in email marketing to market back to our list. Marketing will determine a schedule of communications and promotions per target segment. Phase 5: Executive dashboards and reports: Reports will be created, based on management needs to monitor customers, sales, and staff. Reports/dashboard KPIs may include: Opportunity Pipeline, Win/Loss Analysis, Lead status, Case Assignments, Overdue Cases, Email Marketing Response, and others.
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  2.4 Project Schedule Followingis a sample project schedule that you can customize further: Project Milestones Deadline 1. RFP Delivered to Vendors January 1, 2012 2. RFP Question Period Ends February 15, 2012 3. RFP Close Date February 31, 2012 4. Conduct Vendor Evaluations April 1, 2012 5. Award Contract to Vendor April 30, 2012 6. Phase 1 Deployment & Training May 31, 2012 7. Phase 2 Deployment & Training June 30, 2012 8. Phase 3 Deployment & Training August 20, 2012 9. Phase 4 Deployment & Training September 30, 2012 10. Phase 5 Deployment & Training October 31, 2012 2.5 Key Success Factors Key Success Factors are the most important items that need to work for you to ensure project success. Examples include: adequate budget & resources, skill sets, time to do the project amongst other priorities, project sponsorship. Key Success Factors Justification 1. Budget Budget is required for software, consultation and training to ensure success of the project and staff take- up 2. Sales, Marketing, Customer Service Management Buy- Management buy-in is required to In ensure the system meets the needs of the department and ensure staff take-up
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  3. Executive sponsorship To ensure system and project is aligned with corporate goals and to communicate with staff 4. Resources Time will be required of management for detailed business analysis and sufficient IT resources will need to be allocated on an ongoing basis to ensure success 5. Insert KSF #5 Why is this critical? 3. Assumptions & Decision-Making Criterion 3.1 Assumptions List all the assumptions you made when creating this business case. Some examples of assumptions include: costs, savings, incremental returns, pricing, volume, or resource requirements such as expected consulting costs. 3.2 Use-Case Scenarios & Options Contrast and compare various options, such as “Do Nothing”, “Conduct a Pilot”, “Conduct Full-scale Implementation”, “Build Internally”, or “Buy”. This section should provide assurance that the business will not fall apart should it be decided that moving to your recommendation is not feasible. Your goal is to economically justify your investment to generate returns. 3.3 Recommended Decision-Making Criterion This section is useful for proposing the decision-making criterion that you believe a senior executive should consider when making a decision. The idea is to make it very easy for your sponsor to agree with your proposal, given that you have already completed the majority of the required critical thinking. Following is a prioritized list of proposed evaluation criterion:
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  1. Revenue andcustomer benefits 2. Cost-savings through productivity 3. Management performance insight 4. Time to deploy 5. Cost 6. Customer SLA from Vendor 7. Integration with Existing systems 8. Experience with our Industry 3.4 Information Sources & Research Methodology Where did you go to learn more about this opportunity? Are your sources of information credible? What process did you take to do the research? Some examples include: vendor discussions, whitepapers, analyst firms, Google searching, conferences, peer-to-peer networking, consultants. 4. Business Impact Analysis This section will outline the costs and benefits of the proposed initiative. Both quantitative and qualitative (intangible) benefits need to be documented here. Additionally, providing a “High/Low” adds an element of sensitivity analysis, which provides both a conservative and optimistic outlook for your proposed initiative. 4.1 Incremental Cost/Benefit Analysis Determine the projected incremental costs/benefits over a 3-year period. Insert your cost categories, a description of each, and a high/low estimate for each. Divide total benefits by total costs and multiply by 100 to obtain a %. Complete this worksheet for each use- case scenario, and/or project option.
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  Cost/Benefit Analysis Worksheet ProjectCosts Incremental Costs Description High Low Software Licenses Consultation & Implement Maintenance Training Total Costs Project Benefits Incremental Benefits Time saved on Automated administrative duties Increased field staff # Hours productivity Increased inside sales staff # Calls productivity Increase in revenue Increased win ratio Decrease in sales cycle time Increase in sales deal size, customer lifetime value Reduction in directing marketing expenditures Faster service response and resolution time Decrease in customer churn Increase in loyalty Total Benefits % Benefits/Costs
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  4.2 Qualitative/Intangible BusinessBenefits What are the qualitative or intangible benefits that were not captured in the cost/benefit analysis worksheet? (Customer satisfaction, brand awareness) 1. Improved customer relationships 2. Time saved and greater visibility for all staff with closed-loop relationships and centralized information for sales, marketing and customer service 3. Greater management visibility into operations & performance 4. Insert Qualitative Benefit #4 5. Insert Qualitative Benefit #5 4.3 Required Resources for Implementation What are the required resources in terms of budget, staffing, consulting, or other expenditures related to moving forward with this business case? For example:  Budget, per section 4.1  Staff Resources: IT database administrator & business analyst – X hours/week  Management in Sales, Marketing and Customer Service: commitment to cooperate with IT on business requirements, training and rolling-out to their staff 5. Risks & Contingency Plans This section will outline the key risks that need to be mitigated and provide contingency plans for each identified risk. Risks include: lack of end-user adoption, project over- time/over-budget, technical risk, and senior management commitment. 5.1 Key Risks to Mitigate 1. Lack of management commitment adoption 2. Lack of end-user adoption
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  3. Technical risk 4. Insert Key Risk #4 5. Insert Key Risk #5 5.2 Contingency Plans What is the contingency plan for each of the preceding risks? For example: To ensure commitment of managers in sales, marketing and customer service departments, there will be a virtual committee/team formed for customer relationship management (CRM). This team will be led by X. His/her job will be to identify specific business requirements for the system, ensure two-way communication with staff, identify training requirements and measure benefits gained. To ensure buy-in from staff, the committee will be responsible for establishing a communication and change plan with a phased implementation. Management will also communicate upcoming changes with staff, highlighting the benefits of the system to staff and customers. After each phase of implementation, the group will gather feedback from the staff to incorporate updates or changes in the next phase Technical risks will be mitigated by ensuring our current IT infrastructure is compatible with the system, including e-mail, mobile devices, back-end systems (i.e. database, accounting, inventory), etc.
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  6. Recommendation What isyour proposed course of action? Insert your recommendations here. 6.1 Action Plan 1. Approve budget 2. Approve staff resource allocation to project 3. Approve formation of CRM management committee to proceed with managing and reporting on the progress of the project. 4. Action Step #4 5. Action Step #5