The importance of proper governance for a CRM

The governance of CRM systems is a big deal.

CRM systems are excellent tools. But, as with so many other systems, the most critical success factor is not the platform but how it is implemented and maintained.

Therefore, after implementation, you need a proper governance structure to ensure the CRM stays as it should be.

Companies that lack this will find themselves having trouble with:

• Data Quality: without data entry and formatting guidelines, the data won't have the required quality level.
• Privacy and Security: some users may have access to data they should be allowed to see without well-set user roles and profiles.
• Compliance: managing customer data may break compliance standards without proper consent and GDPR implementation.
• Efficient Use of CRM: The CRM's workings can be jeopardised if anyone can access its settings. For example, someone might change a setting to fix their current problem while creating five other issues elsewhere.

Therefore, you need to ensure that your CRM's setup is geared for optimal use of the platform and, just as importantly, that it stays that way. 

To do that, you should pay attention to two main topics:

User Profiles

To establish user profiles, you need to create a clear policy that defines each user's roles and responsibilities and describes their access type. This policy should be communicated to all employees and regularly reviewed to remain relevant. Additionally, it is essential to regularly review user profiles to ensure they are up-to-date and that users have the necessary access to perform their work effectively.

By keeping your user profiles up-to-date, you ensure that the people who know the CRM best are also the only ones who can make changes that affect its performance and correctness. This means insufficiently trained individuals can't tamper with essential configuration settings.

Data Cleanliness

Data cleanliness consists of two things:

Field configuration: Make sure every field can only be filled in the way you want it filled by getting the formatting settings right. Try to keep free text fields to a minimum. This will also save you much data prep time when making reports and dashboards.

Data entry rules: Integrate your CRM with email and calendar to make data entry as automatic as possible. Keep manual data entry to a minimum and train the people who must do it manually using clear guidelines.

Your CRM will be much better if you focus on these topics during implementation and keep updating these policies later. Do you have any problems with your CRM that might be rooted in its governance structure? Or are you planning on implementing a new CRM, and do you want to get governance right? Fill in the form below, and we'll discuss how you can best implement a robust governance structure for your CRM.