Why Isn’t This Automated?

In today’s business environment there is strong expectation to have automated systems that cross departments within an organization - ease of access to information and being transparent is deserved and expected.

Take, for example, buying a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for a sales and marketing team.  I have recently had conversations with a couple companies who are in growth mode and are considering a new CRM system.  Both were using basic versions of an old legacy system, combined with some other free document management tools like Google Drive or DropBox. Meanwhile, their sales teams were practically begging for something more than their current mess of cobbled-together systems.

From a user’s perspective, this change should have taken place months or even years ago, and the lack of automation is holding back business.  Introducing a new piece of software seems easy enough, right? There are hundreds of systems out there. All we have to do is a little research, make a decision and purchase a system. The ideal scenario might go like this:  Buy new system.  Plug it in.  People use it immediately and love it!  You become everyone's hero.  As many of us know, it rarely, if ever happens like this, and there are many factors to keep in mind before introducing a new system to an organization.    

Where disconnect usually occurs is in the details of execution. For instance, what about choosing the right partner or consultant to implement the system?  Vendors don’t always do this, and more often than not, it is too difficult to implement a whole new system in-house.  What is the level of involvement you can expect form the partner during and after the implementation versus hiring and/or training an internal administrator?  What about on-going training?  What about infrastructure enhancement, security and permissions?  What about additional or supporting systems and integration points to existing systems?  What is a realistic time frame, and of course budget, to complete the project?  

And beyond the new system itself, what about the little nuances and processes that are currently baked into your business and dependent on your technology?  How do we account for those, how do we measure and document the processes that need to change versus those that can’t or shouldn’t change? How do we then account for telling an entire team of sales professionals that they will need to change the way they currently work?  For those who have gone through this, it’s similar to being the catcher for the javelin team.

So next time you throw your hands up in disgust because some process that should be automated isn’t, take a deep breath and consider what actually may need to go into making that change.  Maybe it’s time for you to raise your hand and offer to take the lead.