Newport CRM

Salford Visit

2009-09-11T15:00:00.000+01:00

The visit to Salford yesterday proved very informative. Many thanks to Sandra for hosting us, and also to Lorna from Coventry for allowing us to pick her brains about matters that were both CRM and non-CRM related .

The discussions highlighted how far we have to go, but also reinforced that our thoughts to date have been along the right lines. We were also alerted to some of the obstacles we may have to tackle, and were pleased to hear that Salford had identified a variety of ways to resolved different and conflicting issues, which gave us some hope that perhaps we to can "understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity" (Niccolo Machiavelli) and turn both to our advantage in order to take the project forward.Have a good weekend.

Lee

Visit to Salford

2009-09-11T10:14:00.002+01:00

Lee and I made the 7 hour round trip to Salford for a very good meeting with Sandra from Salford Uni and Lorna from Coventry Uni.

Sandra was very welcoming and gave us lots of food for thought around CRM techinical implementation as well as a delicous lunch. We asked lots of questions, made oodles of notes and got a feel for Agresso/Dynamics with Sandra giving us a demo.

It was really useful to be able to chat to a couple of other JISC project teams and find out where they are with things.

Onwards!

2009-09-04T10:59:00.000+01:00

Kerry has compiled a list of ten organisations that we would like to speak with about their CRM Policy and procedures. They range from SME's to large multinational companies in the private sector, charities and voluntary organissations in the social sector through to local, and local authorities and central government organisations in the public sector. A draft list of questions has also been compiled. Once the questions are finalised they will be added to our project website, which is also currently under construction, and any interesting insights will be reported on this blog.

In adition to the above, I am currently organising train tickets for me and Kerry to travel up to Salford next Thursday to discuss the CRM project and exchange ideas. We will comment next week about our day in Salford.

Workpackage 1.....

2009-08-27T11:25:00.000+01:00

Lee is off on holiday this week which sadly hasnt meant I can sit back and relax! Instead I've been getting on with the first of our work packages which is the desk research. I've identified a good list of organisations we want to approach to find out about their CRM strategies, policies and procedures. The list includes charities, public sector and commercial companies and there is a mix of those we work with already and those we want to and a good size/turnover mix too. So hopefully its quite a strategic list.

Now I have to finish working out what we'll ask them.

And then the hard part...getting them to talk to us!

Kerry

2009-08-20T09:45:00.000+01:00

Kerry and I have had Microsoft Visio installed in order to create the process maps that will be developed to obtain a better understanding of the CRM processes currently in use across the University. In the meantime, I have been giving some thought to the other aspects of the project that will need to be tackled in order for it to be a success. Mainly, once the policy and procedure are written what are the factors that are likely to hinder its adoption? As Machiavelli stated

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in introducing a new order of things; because the innovator will have for enemies all who have done well under the old conditions and only lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new”.

Given the various internal influences that can determine the success of the CRM policy and procedure I am considering using Pascale and Athos’ 7s framework as a basis to identify and consider the different aspects of the organisation that will have an both a direct and indirect impact on the project's success.

Getting started

2009-08-03T13:39:00.000+01:00

The project start up meeting in Birmingham last week was really useful. And now I'm starting the all important blog. I've also set up our first internal steering group meeting for the project. We just need to finish the slightly more complex project plan now!