publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/192213
SLAYING THE CRM DRAGON XXXX •Mobile devices •Audit trails •API integration with Elite or other systems While there is no one right way to implement CRM, here are six guidelines that can help you get started: Identify your business goals. Without goals, you will not have a road map and you will be plowing through the vastness of CRM data in frustration. Engage your audience. Ask questions to determine what is important to your users. Then use that information to customize the software. Sell the benefits and be part of the solution. Be the technical expert. Understand how the system works from the technical and user points of view. Bridge the gap between these two perspectives. Bring in outside consultants if additional help is necessary. Anticipate problems. Understand logistics and the process of data-gathering, and then look for possible problems from the technical and user points of view. Measure your efforts. Identify a starting point then consistently check for progress or failures. You should be able to tell if your efforts are working or not. Educate. Write down the process, and make it easy for users to digest the data. If timing is an issue, target specific pain points and develop a simple process on how to solve the problem. Our immediate goals were to make it easy for attorneys and staff to use InterAction and save them time by automating repetitive tasks. We conducted pilot tests in small groups, which enabled us to address the different needs of different departments. This is when collaboration between marketing and IT became important because each department had different workload priorities. PEOPLE Introducing CRM is notorious for changing the culture of a firm. This is why the implementation needs endorsement from the shareholders or top management. Robust support gets the ball rolling by making it easier to involve different departments for data-gathering purposes. The shareholders' role is easy to define in terms of the firm's CRM efforts. Defining a role for associates might prove more difficult, due to a firm's BD culture and heavy workload. However, understanding these two groups based on their practice areas, type of clients, key contacts and workload can provide a good start on how to organize contacts and prioritize data cleanup. In particular, secretaries can be crucial in making CRM work. Secretaries played an important role in our implementation; we included them on surveys and in focus groups. Based on their feedback, we were able to come up with a training module that was focused on contact management. We also created cheat sheets to help them look for relevant data and help them ask their attorneys BD-related questions.