Someone recently asked me for the reasons why CRM projects fail. As someone who is asked for advice when they do, and who leads successful CRM implementations, I wanted to share some reasons. In this occasional series, we will look at actual reasons for CRM project failures, and what lessons we can all draw from them.
A CRM will affect the whole organisation, which is the point, but that means that all the stakeholders must be represented from the early discussion onwards. Often I hear that the CRM implementation is being led by one department (often Finance or IT) and that means extra effort is required to ensure a widespread representation of views.
Very recently, a small charity decide to implement a CRM and the whole thing was driven by Finance, to the extent that the needs of Fundraising and other groups were not properly taken into account. After struggling for almost 12 months, the charity has decided to abort the project, with of course the wasted time needed to unpick everything, and yet more time when there is no sound platform to develop supporter engagement and journeys.
The issue is not that they were a small charity, or the choice of software. It was because one department led without consulting everyone else. Please don’t fall into the same trap.
If you are about to embark on a CRM implementation and would like to talk about ways to ensure success, why not book a free 20-minute insight call (available to TinoPai members) using https://zorva.info/free-insight-call/?