Conducting a CRM system and process audit

How do you recommend conducting a thorough audit of our CRM system? Where should we start, and what should our audit strategy include?

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I'm a little unclear about what you mean by your CRM "system." Do you mean the CRM software or the processes that you are using to define CRM, or both? Why are you thinking of conducting a system audit? For what purpose? Are you doing it to see if you have what you need to implement a customer or CRM strategy that you've recently redefined?

For example, if you audit your CRM processes, you are doing a thorough examination of whether or not the business processes you're using are the best fit for your customer strategy, regardless of department. For example, if you save $40,000 annually using a specific financial process that at the same time causes some distress to your customers, you have to start with customer value and make the decision about how important that CRM process is for its good (cost savings) vs. its bad (customer distress) effects. In other words, the core strategy for all CRM systems should be their impact on customer value.

This is just an overview of conducting CRM system audits. For a more thorough answer, I'd have to know what you mean exactly by "CRM system" and what purpose you're doing the audit for.

This was first published in August 2007

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