Key issues in CRM software failures

I attended a town hall meeting today on IT failures specifically targeting CRM. The key items mentioned about the failures all related to not It and non-software issues. Some of the key items that I took away included:

• Software comes with the vendors version of best practices. This may not be your company's view of best practices. Converting to their best practice could hurt your results.
• For CRM in particular, attempting to get information on what your best salespeople do is a problem. If you ask them what they do, so that you can copy it, then watch them, you will find that they don't practice what they say. This is true of other professions, but it may not have the same impact. Most of what people do is done subconsciously. That's why what they say and what they do is different.
• Many IT projects fail because they try to do too many things for too many people. This increases complexity and increases opportunity for failure.
• Because of the defined complexity, the application becomes difficult to navigate and decreases productivity and sales. It's better to make it simple.
• There is too much emphasis on training vs. education. Training tells you how to do it. Education helps you understand why you should do it and how that will help to improve performance. There was another question related to how much training should be provided vs. making the software intuitive. Would anybody play games if they required you to attend a full day training session?

Those were my key takeaways. You can check for more on Twitter at #ITfail.

Business Software - Buy first, pay later

Does anybody remember the old Fram oil filter commercial "pay me now, or pay me later"? It describes a situation where, if you don't change your oil and filter in your car on a regular basis, you will pay maore for it later, by having to buy a new engine.

The same thing applies to buying software. It has gotten very easy to buy business software. Just download it. It is easy to use. There is no effort to install. Most business managers will buy first, then investigate later. This can be a waste of money, time and effort. You may get some value from it, but you can get a lot more, if you plan for it. In addition, the cost of implementing new business software goes far beyond the price of the software. There are many other hidden costs. Check out my articles at www.thevirtualcio.ca for more information.

The problem comes with the changes to your business: the process, job definition and training. If you aren't prepared for that, you will lose in the end. Your productivity will go down. Your costs will go up. You may not get any value from the software.

By doing a little planning up front, you will understand the total costs, understand exactly what benefit you will get and how you will get it and minimize the lost productivity.


We have all heard the old The problem with not preparing for what you will do with software that you buy.

Software training like gaming software

There is a change coming in business software. It's happenning in web based solutions, but has been around for a long time in games. How effective it is for business is another question.

Games are designed with training in mind. When you start playing a game, they give you a simple problem. As you succeed at the first level, you get a bigger challenge. Each level gets more difficult. There are two benefits to this:

• First, you are not exposed to the complexity of the full game. In effect you learn by doing.
• You get a feeling of achievement as you pass each level. This creates an interest in going to the next level

Business software traditionally has not done this. Because the software comes with the software supplier, he provides training. There is an assumption that people will remember this blast of training and that common training is adequate for everybody. It not only assumes that everybody learns at the same pace, but it assumes that every business is the same. Learning through a fire hose does not work! Every business is different, every person has a different learning process, and every person has a different job. The learning process should be like what is delivered by gaming software. Learn a little at a time, learn only what you need, see some success and go on to the next step.

Self learning is available in web based applications as well. Many of the products that are delivered over the web are easier to use. We can see that in individual products such as Amazon and eBay.

Is that good enough for business? Do we just wait until the software suppliers deliver a more innovative way of training business people?

There is one more compliation in business. In games and in many of the services like Amazon, there is one process and it is defined by the software developer. The software developer defnes the goal and the methods of achieving success. They program this into the game. They are in total control. Services such as Amazon may be more adaptive, but the supplier is still in control of the game.

Business is different. The software developer develops an automated process, but the business is in control of the game. The business has their own set of goals, their own business process and will try to adapt the software to support the business process. The software supplier is not in control. He doesn't know how the software will be used, so he can't build a self training approach.

Many businesses buy the software and assume that installing the software will address their problem. After the fact (time and money), they find themselves dissatisfied with the results. They didn't know that they had to provide the goal, the vision of how to reach that goal and the process that the software has to be applied to.

I'm sure that we will solve this problem some day. But for now, we need to focus on the process and a better method of training staff to learn the software.

Installing software means creating chaos

Many business owners decide to buy software in order to improve their business. They often assume that this is all that can happen. However, no matter how small the software product is, they are making a major change to their business that has implications on their business operations.

A software program is an automated process. The developers have defined a business process and chosen to automate it in a specific way. This means that when you implement the software, you are making the following changes to your business:

• You are changing the way you run your business. It is unlikely that the way the software developers have chosen to automate the process is exactly the way you currently run your business. Do you understand how things will change?
• You are changing people's roles and responsibilities. Since the business process is changing, the job people do will change. Roles and responsibilities will change. Do you understand how people's jobs will change?
• You are changing the tools (the software) that people will use to do the job. They will be uncomfortable with the new software and won't know how to use it properly. The training that is provided will not help a lot. Most training for business software is like drinking through a fire hose. What impact will this have on productivity? How long will it take to recover?

These three changes will create chaos in your business. Your choice is whether you create CHAOS 101 (the basic version) or CHAOS 701 (the PHD version). Through proper planning, design of the process impact and appropriate training, you can ensure that you minimize the impact.

refer to chaos 101 vs 701

Increase productivity with new software

I have often mentioned the productivity that is lost in a business when new software is installed. This is caused by two things: People are uncomfortable with the software; they have been forced to consciously think about what they are doing. This slows them down.

At a conference yesterday, I was reminded that games don't work that way. When you start a new game, you enter at a simple level. As you gain experience at that level, you begin to get more comfortable. Once you pass the first level (you are now comfortable), the complexity increases. The complexity and knowledge that you need increases at each level.

Unfortunately, business software doesn't work that way. When you first get to look at new business software, you get to see all of its complexity. You have to figure out what you don't need, so that you can ignore it, and focus on what you do need. Most people never get to use more than 10% of the functionality, even when they are very experienced. This makes people uncomfortable and slows them down.

Training doesn't help. You get one to five days of feature blast. Most people remember very little of this firehose training.

Let's assume that the business software industry is eventually going to get it, and provide a learning approach to their software. What does a business do in the meantime?

The solution comes in planning.

1. If you have defined your business processes before you went to to buy the software, you know what you want the software to do for you.
2. Use that to identify the training that you need. Ensure that people understand the way the new process will work. train them on the functions that will make the first phase work.
3. Once they become comfortable and productive, you can go on to phase two. Do the same thing again. Define the new steps in the process. Train people on these new features.

Not only don't companies go through a phased approach, they often never get to phase two. The first implementation is so traumatic, they never get to exploit the real functionality of the software. The next time that the business needs to improve, they assume that their current software doesn't do it and they go through another forklift upgrade.

Simplicity Increases Software Value

I just read a book about simplicity, and, although it has nothing to do with Information Technology and Business Software, it describes perfectly the problem that most businesses have when it comes to IT.

In some ways, technology is simple. This is the way most people who work with computers every day would probably describe it. In some ways, it is simplistic. Software does whatever you tell it to. It can sift through tremendous amounts of data very quickly, but it has a set routine that it follows.

When it comes to implementing new software, we have two groups of people involved. The ones that know the software and the ones that don't. To the ones that know, it is simple. They are cmfortable with it. They work with it every day.

To the ones that don't, it is confusing and frustrating. It is confusing because there are so many options. Most of them are of no value to you, but until you know that, they are still an option that you have to choose to ignore. Then when you try to do something, it doesn't work the way you think it will and you encounter a problem. This gets you frustrated.

In order to help you overcome your frustration and confusion, many technicians will simply shrug and say you have to learn. Others follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). They try to dumb it down. This misses the point completely. It assume that the people learning are stupid or slow. This is not the issue! The issue is that the software is showing all of its options (read complexity), and the users have not yet developed filters to ignore all of this complexity.

The answer is to help new users learn. You don't do it by firehose training. You help them to develop filters. Instead of KISS, you need MISS (Make It Simple, Stupid). This meets the person doing the training needs to do it in a way that helps the new learners. Give them the information that they need to do the job. As they do the job, they will learn to ignore what is not important (develop filters) and encounter less confusion and frustration. They will also become productive much more quickly. The problem is switched from the learner to the trainer.

How do you help people develop filters, learn only what they need to do the job? You start with the business process. Then look at what parts of the software help doing the process. Some parts are more important than others. Some can be delayed until later. Train only on what's needed. Just in Time.

Four steps to success of software projects - Step 4

The last step of the project is what is normally viewed as the project. The difference here is that the project as defined in many organizations as the imlementation and set up of the software. The project must go much further. No value is delivered by implementing software. The value (new business outcomes and benefits) is delivered by the new business process.

The software is simply a tool that allows you to perform activities more easily, perhaps do some that you couldn't do without it.

I won't emphasize any of the normal implementation activities here, as most software suppliers will provide the details, and most technical staff will know what to do.

What I will emphasize are the things that are normally not done and why that must change.

Recognizing that the software is simply a tool and that the process delivers the value, the approach to training must change. Most software training is like drinking through a fire hose. You get too much information too fast for you to absorb. In addition, most of the information is of little value, especially at implementation time.

When you implement, you are using a new set of tools in an unfamiliar way. therefore your staff will be less productive, uncomfortable and frustrated. This is normal! Your goal, then, is to get them productive as quickly as possible. You can't do that with firehose training! What you can do is tailor the training.

You know how the process has changed. You did it in step 3. You know what part of the software is required to perform the functions that are critical to productivity. You went through that in step 3 and the early part of step 4. So you want to develop a specific set of training to have people understand how to do what they have to do every day.

Hopefully, the software that you have chosen has the capability of doing much more than just those early activities. Once the software is stable, people are more productive and comfortable with their new environment, you can look at the software again with a view of exploiting more of its features.

Exploiting the capabilities is often overlooked in many organizations. The pain of implementation stretches for months and nobody ever goes back to look at what more can be done. This is another area where value is lost. You have bought software that has tremendous capabilities, yet you never go back to gain the value that is waiting. Most software is significantly underutilized.

One of the biggest opportunities is taking advantage of the information that is now available. Most managers spend most of their time looking for information to make effective decisions. This new software should be capturing a lot more information that you had before (otherwise, why did you install it?). This information is a valuable resource.

The four key elements of this phase are: software tool, training, information and expand.

Technology value through Focus and Will

Years ago, I went on a course that presented three steps for achieving results:

• Focus
• Will
• Capability

I read about cultures that achieved great things. They lacked the skills or capabilities to move forward, but had the focus and will. They eventually developed the capabilities.

The same is true of technology. I see many small business owners that are frustrated wth technology. They don't have the interest and abdicate their responsibilities to others who are comfortable with it.

I understand the frustration that these business owners have. Most technology based solutions are presented as technology solutions in their own right and not as business solutions.

When a business decides to buy software, they start with a business problem. As solutions providers, we jump right in and assume that the software is THE solution. The business peopl lose interest, because they don't care about the technology. They care about their business problem. This is the way it should be.

The three words listed above offer the solution to the problem.

Focus: on the business problem, not on the software. What problem are you trying to solve. If it is important to your business, keep this focus. Don't get distrated. When the software supplier tries to teach you everything about the software (fire hose training), resist and get them to focus on the features and functions that will help solve your problem.

Will: This will be painful. The technical support people will try to get you away from your focus, to get their approach and become technical. Resist. Maintain your focus. Learn what you need to know to succeed at solving your problem.

Capability: If you can maintain your focus, you will learn what you need to know. You don't have to be a technician. You need to understand how to manage technology so that it helps your business.

Getting Business Value from Software Training

Learning to use new software can have a big impact on software productivity. Your goal in getting new software is to make your employees more productive. That may not always be obvious, because you may be using the software so that you don't need as many staff, but you still are getting more productivity. You get more work done with fewer people.

Most organizations don't think of that when they buy new software. Training is considered to be a necessary expenditure, but not critical to success of the project.

On the contrary, it may be the most critical element. If you are looking for a productivity boost of 25%, but actually get a reduction during imple,mentation and for 6 months after, you are losing a lot of the benefit that you expected, even if you gain that 25% later on.

Part of that may be due to resistance to change, peak workload issues, and new staff, but I believe that most of it is due to poor training methodology.

Most software training follows the firehose approach. It's like drinking from a firehose! You get a crash course on the software features and functions, but very little context. By context, I mean the standard WIIFM (what in it for me?). Unless I understand how I will use a function, I am not likely to remember much about it. Many trainers may try to put context around it, by showing how it would be used, but that context may not apply to your organization.

When you buy new software, you typically are buying a new way of doing business (you don't want to do it the old way or you wouldn't have bought it!). This new way is a change in your business process. If the context that the trainer is providing is based on the new process and your people don't understand it, the context will be meaningless.

The solution is to start with the business process, understand how the software will help to improve the business process, then to provide training with this new context in mind. You employees will have less confusion, you will get less resistance to the change and your employees will become productive much more quickly.

Why not Experiment with Software during a Recession?

Most of the software that we use in business today far exceeds our normal business usage. Even with normal office products such as Microsoft Word, most of us use very few of the features. Even though I have been comfortable with computers for many years, and always work with multiple products at the same time, I use very few of the functions. I only expand my use when I have a problem and need to do something that I have never done before. Even then, I often use the products and features that I am comfortable with.

This works just fine if I only have to do something once. It isn't worth the time and effort to learn new products and features, when I can do the job faster with the tools that I currently have.

Most businesses are using much more complicated software these days Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software coordinates data from many different parts of the business. These products are designed for many different businesses and provide functionality to support them all. Any single business probably uses a very little percentage of these products. Luckily, many of them are modular, so that you don't have to buy all of the components. However, the complexity still exists.

Implementing an extensive software product is a very painful operation. Everybody has to be retrained and becomes uncomfortable because they no longer can do their jobs easily until they learn the new software. As they become comfortable and learn how to get the job done, they typically stop learning about the functions of the software, even though there may be much easier ways of doing the job if they knew more about the software.

The reason they stop learning is that they are getting the job done. They don't need the extra features and don't have time to learn them because of business volumes. They may also not know how to start looking for additional features. Most software suppliers have a standard training package, that doesn't allow for investigation and/or experimentation.

During a recession, volumes are lower and employees may have time to learn, but don't know how to go about doing it. Where do they start?

I worked with one software company that was receptive to the idea of developing specialized training. I set out to see how we could get much more effective use of the software. I asked them to show us how we could get much better use as well as where they would not recommend it use. It worked very well. Our organization became much stronger for a number of reasons:

• It wasn't their first exposure to the software. They had all used it for over a year.
• They had a lot of questions, that they had been too busy to ask.
• We addressed the business problems and looked at how the software could be used to improve things.

This worked because the supplier was receptive. I have worked with other suppliers that weren't as receptive. Mostly this was because the trainers didn't know the software well enough. This may be one of the criteria. Judging the capabilities of your trainers may be one of the most difficult things.

Software reduces business productivity

People buy software to improve their business performance, but software initially decreases business productivity. Can a business afford this reduced productivity? During peak periods, maybe you can't.

Whether you currently use software to help you run your business or not, your initial step in introducing new software will be unfamiliar. You will start with a learning curve, learning how to do what you used to do easily. This will slow you down. At very least, you will have to make conscious decisions about day to day tasks. This will slow you down.

Adding to this productivity problem will be the complexity of the software. Most businesses use a very small part of a software product, probably less than 10%. With all of these features and functions, you will have to find your way through all of the features that you don't want, to find the one that does the job that you want. You often will try a feature that does the job, but another feature will let you do it more easily.

Adding to that complexity is the training. With all of these features and functions, it is impossible for a software supplier to train you on all of the features, so they restrict this training to the most common ones, or the ones that they think you will probably use. However, since they haven't worked with you to understand you business, they don't know what you need or how you will use it. Since most businesses don't have the time nor the money to provide extensive training, most organizations opt for the one shot deal, what I call "firehose training". The supplier provides their training program in a one or two day course. Since the training is out of context, little of it is remembered.

The net result is lower productivity, often for months, until people learn to become more comfortable with the software, starting to do activities subconsciously. Some will then experiment with new functions. In most cases, it will take months or years to become comfortable with the software. Some people will never experiment and never uncover the functions that could make them more productive.



talk about learning curve, complexity, training problems.

Computer Training and Support - Return on Investment (ROI)

Many businesses look at training as an expense to be cut whenever times are difficult. They also look at computer support in the same way. They don't get support unless they have no other alternative.

This article that I found talks about these two "expenses" as something that should be looked at as an investment. Although much of the content is worthwhile, the challenge is to show that benefit. Some of the recommendations in terms of in house support is something that I disagree with.

First let's look at training. A lot of the article talks about measuring the value of training. This is one of the BIG issues and is the primary reason why training is often cut when it is needed the most. How do you measure the value of training. The article talks about how much people have learned. Is this measurable? The real issue is that training is of little measurable value unless it returns something to the business. Generally, we know and understand very little about the capabilities of the software that we buy. There is plenty of opportunity to use much more of the software. But whether we know how to use it, whether we use it, and whether we get business value from it is the important question. If we start with the end in mind (getting business value), then we can get a return on our training investment. If we become more productive, if we get information we didn't have before, if we are able to increase revenues, then we have created value. This is how we get ROI! Training does not provide value! The results that we achieve by the training is what is important. You canlook at the article to see how you can make it happen.

The second area referenced is support. The article recommends that every small business find themselves a good computer support company. If the support company is proactive (fixes problems before they happen), then what you gain is increased productivity because you don't sit around with failing equipment. You also will get better performance and response time. You get better technical skills and don't spend your time on trying to hire capable computer technicians. Unless someone deals with computer support every day, they aren't good enough. Your son or the neighbour's son, who is great at games and social networking is not good at maintaining a stable environment. This savings will far exceed the cost of preventative maintenance.

However, I disagree with a few recommendations related to what should be done in house vs outourced. For inhouse support:

1. I agree that staff should maintain a list of all day-to-day problems. This is necessary to identify whether adequate support is provided and whether it is getting better.
2. I disagree with running of tape backups should be done in house. In house staff are focused on day-to-day production. They don't understand the implications of backup and recovery. When something goes wrong, they invariably do the wrong thing. I have seen many cases where backup fails and they are "too busy" to take care of it, or have a problem with testing recovery, but don't get it fixed. We now have remote backup services that can be monitored and managed by a supplier.
3. I disagree with handling all first level Microsoft/Desktop issues. Many problems are created by staff trying to fix problems. If the problems require fixes, they are installed improperly and your supplier doesn't know what was done. If the questions require a how to, the scope of the solution is based on the skills and knowledge of the person answering the question. The training portion of the article describes the problem here. Most of our staff don't have a good understanding of the software being used. So look for expertise and measure the results.
4. I disagree that strategic planning should be done by the outsourcer. This is a business issue! The business may not have the technical skills to define the technology strategy and they will need support for this. But they must define the business strategy. Their supplier can help them to identify the technology that will help to deliver it.
5. I disagree that the outsourer should develop the Disaster Prevention and Recovery plan. This is a business issue! Business recovery involves much more than technology. Only the business managers understand what is needed. The supplier can help to develop solutions.

The two issues identified are valid as well as a lot of their responses and recommendations. If you want to see the full article, check

Why IT Training and Support Makes Business Sense

Is there a difference between education, training and learning?

In most of my engagements with clients, they have been challenged with the implementation of software to run their business. A lot of what is talked about is that they lack training in how to use the software effectively. Although that may be true, what I find that is holding them back is learning, not training.

What I see classified as training is mostly "how to". This is how software suppiers provide information on their software products. This training is all about how to use their product. However, this is not what most businesses want or need. They want to know how to use the product to make their business operate more effectively. If they don't need a particular feature today, they don't need to be trained on how to use it. Since few software suppliers get into the business to understand their problems and what they are really trying to do, they can't give specific "how to" training. They have to provide what I call "fire hose" training (like trying to drink through a fire hose). This is very ineffective, since people don't understand the relevance of the features and functions, they don't remember much of what is presented.

People learn what they need to know by being open to learning. They are looking for answers and learn how to do things when they are looking for answers.

My view is that this is the purpose of education. We often talk about thinking outside the box. This is meant to say, don't always come up with the same solutions. Solve problems by thinking about them in new ways (outside the box). I don't believe that we can think outside the box. It is a box because we are operating within it. That is the pupose of education: to help change the size and shape of the box. I personally use many things to help change the size and shape of the box that I operate in. I read books on many different topics, most of them not in my field. I attend seminars by a variety of speakers. All of this helps to change the size and shape of the box that I operate in. That box is always changing. I enjoy anything that gives me one idea that changes the shape of that box.

In an engagement, I start by looking that my client's business. What is happenning? What kinds of problems are they encountering? How does their business process operate and how does their software support it? In asking these questions, I always find problems with the "box". Each individual is operating in their own box, not recognizing what is happenning in somebody else's box. This causes productivity problems because they are creating work for each other. By understanding their business process, I am able to help them learn how to make their business more effective, by educating them on the broader implications on their business. In many cases, they also are uncomfortable with technology. They don't know what to look for and are still suffering from the after effects of firehose training.

By helping them to see the big picture, they start looking for solutions. They start looking to the software and how it can help them. Initially, their lack of comfort with technology may prevent them from asking these questions. This is where support can help. I help them to learn how to ask these questions, and get answers.

Although there is some need for software training, I see much more value in education, creating the knowledge to open your mind to learning. Once the learning process has started, it can go on forever. It also involves personal ownership of the learning process, whereas training puts responsibility on someone else.

Problems with software training

When a business buys new software, they require training on the use of the software. Unfortunately, most of this is generic. They tell you everything that you need to know if you want to use all of the features and functions of the software. Most of this is forgotten by the students, as they return to their jobs and just try to get their jobs done. In addition, much of the online help is virtually useless, as you can find the information only if you know what you are looking for. The terminology is often totally foreign to business people.

I like to refer to this training as trying to drink from a firehose.

When installing new software, we need to recognize that people's lives are being disrupted. Everything they know (and love?) is changing. They don't know how to do their jobs anymore. They become unproductive and frustrated. Until they are comfortable in the new environment, they simply want to know how to do what they were doing with the new software. Once they are comfortable, they may be ready to learn new things.

We can't train them on what they need to know unless we understand their business, how it works and how the software is being used within the business. Even though the software is standard, every company uses it differently. So we should always start with the business process. What is it within this specific business? What is imprortant within this specific business? How will the software be used to address the process needs? Now train the staff to do that with the software.

We can follow up that training with a more detailed set once things are stable. This training should also be focused on how the business process can be improved by using more features and functions in the software.