You're facing conflicting views on CRM customization needs. How do you align your teams for success?

Begin by understanding the specific business goals and objectives that the CRM customization should support. Organize workshops or meetings with key stakeholders from different departments (sales, marketing, customer service, etc.) to gather their input on what they need from the CRM. Establish milestones and timelines for each phase of the customization process. This helps in tracking progress and ensuring timely delivery. Clearly communicate the vision and objectives of the CRM customization to the entire team. Conduct training sessions to familiarize team members with new features, functionalities, and workflows.

Basado en mí experiencia, puedo decir que la alineación de expectativas, objetivos y metas de un proyecto se puede lograr al apegarse y conocer bien una metodología de implementación de proyectos híbrida entre cascada y scrum donde se usa cascada para la fase Análisis y diseño: As Is en donde el equipo consultor conoce los procesos del negocio e identifica puntos de dolor y luego un To Be el equipo consultor diseñan los procesos en el CRM en mi caso Salesforce. Ambas sub fases se documentan en el Business Blueprint y debe ser revisado, alineado, corregido y cerrado por el cliente y será la base para la fase Construcción donde se personaliza la herramienta.

I follow these steps to define if you need a customization using any CRM: 1) Once the requirements are documented, validate if there is already an out of the box functionality and/or and add-on within the CRM to meet the requirements. 2) If an add-on if available, validate the licensing cost, if the customer can paid for the add-on use the add-on, 3) validate if there is an alternative in the marketplace or via a third-party vendor, 4) If none of these options are available, then use configuration and customization but be sure you low-code/no-code when possible and declarative/metadata design to make the functionality reusable. 5) use rapid design and/or proof of concepts to show the functionality to the business users.

We need to demonstrate to the business users how the capability works through quick design or proof of concepts. Following the below steps to determine whether you require any CRM customizations is crucial: 1) Verify whether the CRM already has an add-on or out-of-the-box capability that satisfies the criteria after the requirements have been documented. 2) Verify the license fee of any available add-ons, and if the users can afford them. 3) Finally determine whether there is a better option accessible in the market or through a third-party vendor.

CRM customizations are investments. Investments should be aligned with and mapped to business imperatives and ROI. Consider employing a business value mapping framework: Business Imperative -> Enabling Capability -> Outward Impact [with metrics]. Developing business value maps collaboratively with stakeholders builds trust and promotes transparency on how decisions are being made.