标题: Nucleus research for ACT! 5 [打印本页] 作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:32 标题: Nucleus research for ACT! 5
After go-live, make sure users are conforming to the new processes Just because you’ve installed new software doesn’t mean the users are going to actually adopt it on a daily basis, as intended. It requires discipline to prevent them from falling back into their old habits. Don’t allow them to return to manual paper based systems or their familiar old Excel tools. Make sure you do your part to train and provision the end users. Provide everyone with books on how to use ACT! or whatever other teaching and incentives they need. As one user put it: “They are not taking their Excel spreadsheets and typing into it and e-mailing it to marketing or sales management. That’s not accepted.” One way is to make sure they are compensated through the ACT! application. Remember, also, that the system should be making their lives easier. You should demonstrate the value of the application to the sales force. As one user noted: “If it’s helping them, they’ll do what they need.”作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:32 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
FINE TUNING TIPS In talking to ACT! customers, Nucleus discovered that after initial deployment, successful implementations required additional procedures to get the most from the application. All systems have their nuances, and the better users and administrators understand them, the better chance they have of getting the best return on investment from their software. Stay on your technical toes Just like all applications, ACT! isn’t a static thing. Users’ needs change, glitches are discovered, patches issued, and the vendor regularly releases upgrades. It’s easy to fall behind on bug fixes – including security, access control, data integrity and performance patches. Always stay ahead of the technical curve, which also will作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:33 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
help you get the most from your investment. End users also might be downloading software on their PCs and laptops that might be incompatible with their work applications. They might also start toying with the system. Don’t find out the hard way what to avoid – down time means lost money and lost opportunities. Pay attention to known technical glitches by checking the ACT! Web site. Talk to other ACT! users about their experiences. Also, keep internal staff as trained and up to date as possible in the intricacies of the system.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:33 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
When doing an upgrade, treat it as if it were a new version installation. Don’t assume one version of ACT! is identical to the next. Different versions of ACT! can present different challenges. For instance, one user implementing to a Web-based version of ACT! had to upgrade the workgroup server. Everyone also had to upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 to 7 to boost performance. However, in this company, IT staff still had to do manual patching and troubleshooting as well, which took several months to complete.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:33 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
ACT!: not just for contact management The primary purpose of ACT! is to be a core contact and customer management application that holds customer data for easy retrieval. But, the software’s usefulness doesn’t end there. For instance, one user created several special tabs that hold various types of data about customers beyond basic sales information. This includes full client account data — such as information on a contact’s spouse, their investment history, the number and types of accounts held, and even their sales forms attached for quick access. It also lists birthdays, all accounts opened on a given date, and it can also be used to do mass mailings. ACT! can be used to help create accountability and see which units in a company aren’t being productive. Activities such as marketing campaigns can be tracked and measured. It also automates customer follow-up processes so that nothing slips between the cracks. In fact, for some users, ACT! provides a core operational application. For one customer, “It’s a daily management tool.”作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:33 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
Go beyond the reporting capabilities in ACT! One of the most essential benefits of CRM software is the ability to do forecasting for sales revenues. Companies need as much actionable forecasting data as they can get in an easy-to-digest format, such as a dashboard. ACT! has its own internal report writing feature, but can also embed third party reporting tools if needed. Go to management and see what specifically they want measured and then fine tune the metrics embedded in ACT!. For instance, you can configure the opportunities list around very specific criteria, such as by probability of close or by a date range. Additionally, this can be without necessarily needing technical support.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:34 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
One user expanded the reporting beyond just essential customer-related information. The reports included information about the devices customers were using in the field and the last contact with those customers. Don’t hesitate, if need be, to export data to other systems for reporting or other tasks. To ease such processes, ACT! links directly up to Microsoft desktop applications such as Excel. One customer said they rarely use out-of-the-can reports, but rather export the data from ACT! to Excel to slice and dice information for long-term trend spotting. “ACT! is great, but you can’t manipulate it like you can Excel,” as one user noted of the ACT! business intelligence capabilities.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:34 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
Protect the family jewels A sales application is not always seen as a company’s backbone the same way as an accounting system is. Nevertheless, for the sales department, lack of data availability or actual loss of data can be catastrophic, resulting in down time and lost sales. A couple of users said that because ACT! is mission-critical, or essential to the company, it’s necessary to do complete data backups. Preferably, the company will replicate with a server that is at a different location than the primary server, in case of a major environmental disaster, that regrettably, might take down the main ACT! database. As one customer put it: “As with any critical data, it is important to backup the ACT! databases daily, and I would recommend having a well-defined plan to restore the main and remote databases.”作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:34 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
Treat customer management like a marriage Consider your company’s interaction with ACT! to be a long-term relationship. The application’s scalability and flexibility will allow it to remain the contact and customer management system of record over the long haul. The longer you use it, the greater your return on investment will be. With that in mind, keep finding new ways to exploit ACT! and keep it relevant for your ever-changing needs. “It’s an evolving process. It’s a fluid system. We made progress the first year when we loaded in the leads, and that was a huge accomplishment. Then, the second year we wrote custom reports. Now, we’re putting in training and procedures in place so that if I leave, someone else can inherit the system. It’s a long term commitment with you and your consultant.” “We have 45 people and 18 of those are regular ACT! users. It’s a very customised system and customising it is easy to do. So it can grow as you grow.”作者: Rex 时间: 2009-4-18 17:34 标题: Re:Nucleus research for ACT! 5
CONCLUSION Nucleus found a single repository of customer information is potentially an invaluable asset in a company. Properly installed, maintained and exploited, ACT! can function as a mission-critical sales tool. As one user put it, “Our customer list is the most important thing we have and ACT! has given us tremendous improvements in it.” ACT! can also serve as a stepping stone to educate users in basic sales processes. If the company grows and needs to expand to more users and requires more reporting, compliance, marketing, customer service, or other features, users might consider upgrading to a more sophisticated and feature-rich CRM application. In the meantime, ACT! offers a relatively quick and easy way to support basic discipline around customer-facing processes, while boosting reporting and productivity capabilities. Customers reap all these benefits without the potential risk of a more complex and costly CRM application.
