User adoption - A key yardstick for CRM success
"People" is a crucial element of any organization's IT strategy. Ignore their needs at your peril. Unfortunately in the quest to design the perfect system more importance is placed on the software package that is to be implemented, hardware capabilities required to run the dream package and process modification to achieve better business results rather than on end user inputs and buy-in for the new system.
What many companies forget is that for the successful roll out of any new system they need to have the end user buy-in because if the end user is not happy or comfortable with the way they will be operating in the new scenario then it will directly impact their productivity and hence the success of the new initiative will be compromised. Just like for the want of a horse shoe the battle was lost.
The results thrown up by a CRM survey done by Infosys in the second half of last calendar year show some very interesting points.
75% of Executives who mentioned that their CRM projects were fully adopted by their users said that their projects were within time and budget, 12.5% said that it was neither within time or budget and the balance said that it exceeded budget but was within time.
60% of Executives who mentioned that their CRM projects were partially adopted by end users also said that these projects were neither within time or budget. Only 20% said that it was within time and budget.
Not surprisingly 62.5% of executives who mentioned that their projects were fully adopted by the end users also strongly agreed to the statement that "their senior management considers CRM as a critical element for success giving it a high priority"
So end user adoption is also important to ensure that there are no time and cost overruns in your IT projects. Visionary leaders have understood this and have ensured that for any new system end users need to be taken into confidence right in the begining and their inputs must play a very important role in the design and development of this system.
