??Save your business from a CRM integration meltdown.

Your CRM should be recognised as the backbone of your business.

When integrating a software module into your business IT ecosystem, you should be examining:

How does this fit my CRM?

Can I import the data?

Can I perform the software modules actions and use its features directly from my CRM?

What do I have to do to get it to do all of the above? What are the costs, time and resources required to do that?

A new integration should have a team accountable for making this happen, is it your internal team or a CRM partner? Identify each of the roles and set a plan for following a process. If something goes wrong with your existing data, it could be costly to your business operations. Do you have a disaster recovery plan?

A CRM should provide a single location to activate business processes from multiple channels.

You should be able to integrate a social media tool into your processes, and your organisation should be able to follow projects and receive notifications on any updates. Everything you do as a business digitally should have interaction with CRM otherwise it’s not reaching its potential.

Many CRM projects are unsuccessful as they fail to account for data AND process integration. This leads them to have multiple unconnected systems which create bad reporting systems, low user adoption and fragmented data processes.

As I always tell our customers: Test test test. When we’re looking to integrate software into a CRM, we go through a robust testing and documentation process that we continuously refine.

Will adding this integration knock out other software modules in the CRM?

How does it synchronise?

Are all the features working as intended?

Nothing we produce goes to a live production instance until everything is painstakingly tested. No stone unturned. Our customers deserve no less.

A few recommendations...

If your CRM project isn’t getting off the ground, examine what systems your business currently uses and how it interfaces with the new CRM.

You may need specialists to develop connectors between the systems, but larger CRM systems such as Dynamics 365 will integrate easier with larger external systems such as LinkedIn or ClickDimensions, compared with developing a bespoke integration. Either way, get certified consultants on your team, you will save yourself some sleepless nights.

Have clear and specific requirements. This will stop you trying to add more and more to your integrated system, leading to overrun schedules and budgets.

Document everything. Code, processes, changelogs and everything else. People leave organisations all the time and without documentation, their knowledge is lost which is potentially disastrous.

Assess the limits of your current system. Adding another plugin or system may push your solution to breaking point, consider hardware limitations such as RAM and bandwidth.