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August 23rd, 2016 by

Mark PeroneIn my last article we took a journey to a company implementing new CRM software. Fast forward a few years and many of you have walked this next path we are wandering down. On this imaginary (or may be not so imaginary) trip you realize your managers are once again using spreadsheets to collect and analyze sales data and your users are frustrated with the amount and frequency of information they are required to provide. They are asked to use CRM and enter data into the many spreadsheets and email requests they receive from different departments.

This is the scene in the majority of CRM deployments. Why?

bigstock-Back-view-of-businessman-drawi-50087996

Fully developing a CRM Solution has 4 parts:
Strategy, People, Process and Technology
Once an organization gets a good sense of its people and assigns roles within the CRM implementation team, the next phase in the Balanced Scorecard Approach to Customer Relationship Management is a serious look at how the processes within the contributing departments line up. The majority of our focus helps organizations bridge gaps from where they are today, to where they want to be. Before we can truly get a solid return on investment, by streamlining work flow and making tasks easy to complete within a given job task silo, some observation is needed. Let’s talk about process orientation in The Simplesoft Solution.

Process: Activity to Progress
Fundamentally, CRM is a group of people processes captured in a familiar environment. By design, the CRM environment is acted on by multiple perspectives such as Marketing , Sales, Customer Service and Accounting. The successful CRM driven organization will take a comprehensive inventory of what happens in a sequential order. This allows a company to capture activity that supports progress.

First Steps: Know the strengths and weaknesses of your workforce. Once you decide who is going to be in your work groups and an impromptu assembly line starts to establish itself. Aligning people by job task for practical efficiency isn’t the simplest of change management exercises, but it is the most effective way to evolve progress without squandered activity. By assigning people similar duties, each person should start to depend on the information presented by the person preceding their job task. This creates a natural course of accountability and helps you stay more focused on comparative job task analysis.

You might consider outside help with the breakdown of organizational activity to guide process orientation. Because our products have intelligent flexibility native to their functional workflow, nearly any company can adapt current workflow into our software solutions. Built into our software suite is the unique perspective of the user from varying organizational silo’s accessing our solution. The Simplesoft Solution is positioned to leverage the activity of your company from the top down or bottom up.

What this means to you: System use for every representative level in your organizational hierarchy is provided a place at the enterprise software table. We have high level big data visibility down to work in progress insights to orient standard users on predetermined key performance indicator dashboards. Many of our clients have found the starting point for CRM implementation is mapping out organizational processes.

Mapping out your process
What pain points in your business processes does Infor CRM need to fix? (Defined Progress)
We recommend mapping out the flow of each step in your current organizational processes to help define how they will be managed in Infor CRM. This presents a collaborative opportunity to gain clarity on how well your processes are currently working. Additionally, your group will identify how Infor CRM can improve efficiency, often by removing duplication of effort and applying greater process automation. Simplesoft can provide a wealth of expertise to support re-engineered work-flow by utilizing Infor CRM functions to elegantly organize and achieve your defined goals.

Look for more articles in our series “The Rear View Mirror” and learn more ways to improve CRM adoption from Simplesoft Solutions. We will focus future articles on each pillar of Strategy, People, Processes, and Technology.

If you need help upgrading to Infor CRM v8.3.0 or Mobile 3.4.0, let us know! We can assist in a minor capacity or provide all the technical heavy lifting.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland CRM Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OH | Charleston, WV | Charlotte, NC

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June 6th, 2016 by

Come with me on a journey to a company implementing new CRM software. The size and industry of the company do not matter for now. As the scene opens, employees are gathered for training on “new” CRM software, all talking to each other wondering what their co-workers might know. The training instructor enters the room. As the training progresses, the employees are looking at each other trying to understand how this is going to work for them. Some brave souls in the training session begin to voice their concerns. “What, this isn’t going to work. They expect me to do all that with every single call?”

This is the scene in the majority of CRM implementations. Why?

Infor CRM Project Meeting - Simplesoft's Balanced Score Approach to CRM

Have a Vision and Know Your Processes to Maximize CRM Utility

The most important part a decision maker can play in any software implementation is to make sure all stakeholders are considered in the CRM decision making process. Requiring the organization to document its day-to-day operations is a critical step in making sure all stakeholders and their current processes will be supported by any new enterprise software. There are a number of qualifying questions all company leaders should be asking regarding the way business is being done today.

Questions to ask as you develop a CRM implementation Strategy:

  • What perspective are you considering when planning for an implementation of an enterprise software solution?
  • Are all employees aware of the contribution they make to the greater good?
  • Is the entire organization properly accountable to what and how work is done?
  • Are you ready to renew your understanding of workflow and can you carry the flag in the crusade to develop a revised definition of your organization’s day-to-day operations?

By choosing a new CRM solution, the course of business will change forever for all employees.  Yes, ALL employees. Whether directly acting in the CRM solution or using information contained in the system, organizations are forever changed when consciously reorganizing customer information under a CRM. Involving frontline users in the definition of software requirements and even in the selection process will improve the ease of implementation and adoption. The idea of implementing a CRM, after all, is streamlining employee interaction with customers and developing a detailed method to study your customer relationships. Specifying who will do what, when, and why are the precursors to generating a process orientation.

As a tenured Infor CRM channel partner, Simplesoft Solutions has driven business solution implementations and training for companies large and small. Throughout our 20+ year history, we have determined a company’s vision statement for CRM is the first step to comprehensively defining the framework for the entire solution. We work with our clients using a Balanced Scorecard focusing on four pillars of Strategy, People, Processes, and Technology. Proper planning and implementation in all four areas is key to strong CRM engagement.

Look for more articles in our series “The Rear View Mirror” and learn more ways to improve CRM adoption from Simplesoft Solutions. We will focus future articles on each pillar of Strategy, People, Processes, and Technology.

If you would like to discuss upgrading your system, or to see a free demonstration, please contact Simplesoft Solutions.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland Saleslogix Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OHCharleston, WVCharlotte, NC

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March 10th, 2016 by

Teri Unger will be conducting quarterly web training sessions for Infor CRM Technical Administrators called Tips, Tricks, and Tools. This blog article chronicles one of her tips from the February session. She created this summary, Teri’s Tips,Trick, and Tools – February Session for your reference. Plan to attend the May session by registering here.

TIP: Default Groups

Applies to: New or existing users

Platform: Web/LAN

Benefit: All detail pages (entities) in LAN or WEB build based on a group.  When entities have defined groups that are SMALLER in record count this significantly decreases the page load speed since a smaller set of records has to be loaded before the page can display.

Notes: Always set the groups to a smaller set, like a MY group or latest.  The ‘ALL’ groups should be avoided.

The main considerations for most users will be Account, Contact, Opportunity, Lead, and Ticket.

All users, including admin, should have entity groups defined.

Users can set their own in Tools > Options > Lookups & Groups. Admin can set groups in the Administrator program under each user profile.

LAN user:

WEB user:

Caveat: web users MUST set their own default groups as it is stored in a web configuration file within the web client.  This means that the settings are LOGGED-IN user specific. Notice that the default for a new user comes in with the ‘ALL’ group selected.  This NEEDS to be changed!

ADMINISTRATOR user profile:

Open a user profile > Client Settings tab

These settings ONLY apply to a LAN user.

If you would like to discuss upgrading your system, or to see a free demonstration, please contact Simplesoft Solutions.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland Saleslogix Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OHCharleston, WVCharlotte, NC

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April 28th, 2015 by

Infor CRM Xbar is dependent on specific URLs in the settings and configuration.  If you make any change to the web client URL for Infor CRM, you will have users reporting their Xbar or Outlook is no longer communicating and getting an error.  This issue will appear even when the user can still log in to the web client due to a web page redirect.

If you are an Infor Cloud customer your URL has changed or will be changing as they re-brand Saleslogix to Infor CRM.   If your Xbar has stopped working and your URL information has changed this may be the culprit.  The web client OLD URL will be accessible for 14 days after the change utilizing a website redirect.  Xbar will not function correctly with that redirected URL.

For cloud users that were recently migrated to the new URL, you were sent an email informing you of that change to connect to the website along with some desktop manager and Outlook connector changes.  These too are impacted by any URL change, but the one item that was missed as part of the integration changes was the Xbar configuration.

When you first installed the Xbar you were shown the initial log-in screen for Xbar.  But what if you need to change the URL information and its not showing like the initial login screen but you are getting a connection error?  By clicking on the SETTINGS button on the Xbar (highlighted yellow below) you can open the configuration settings and review the URL’s used by Xbar.

The published changes for the cloud customers are as follows: (http or https)

o   If your current URL is: yourcompany.saleslogixcloud.com
o   Your newly changed URL will be: yourcompany.crmcloud.infor.com

ORIGINAL LOG IN SCREEN FOR XBAR:
The Service URL field will be the link you use to connect to the web client with the /slxclient replaced with /sdata
The Client URL field will be the link you use to connect to the web client with the /slxclient

If you would like to discuss upgrading your system, or to see a free demonstration, please contact Simplesoft Solutions.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland Saleslogix Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OHCharleston, WVCharlotte, NC

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October 23rd, 2014 by

A few years ago I wrote an article on cleaning dirty data in your CRM system, See link for details on Dirty Data cleaned Dirt Cheap.  http://community.saleslogix.com/t5/The-Saleslogix-Journal/Dirty-Data-Cleaned-Dirt-Cheap-Guest-Blog-by-Paul-Hansford/ba-p/9974. The gist of the article is that data management needs to be a sustained activity that is accomplished over time and not a one-time event.  CRM Data management is like technology compatibility in the sense that it is an ever moving target.

Data does not have to be perfect all the time, but does need to be fit for use in your sales operations cycles. Even if your CRM platform is backed up, updated, and managed on your behalf, your data management is an area that needs to be maintained and included in your CRM strategies.    A CRM tool is the central repository for the lifeblood of your business – sales.  When your business is using your CRM tools (Mobile, Web, Social etc) well then it becomes a tool where dashboards, data lists, reports, become a way to help your teams win the heart of your customers.

What is clean high quality data?

The top five characteristics of high quality data are:   Accurate, Complete, Consistent, Unique, and Timely. These items can all be addressed with a system usage guide (user policy document) to ensure that everyone knows what is expected.

Data are of high quality if “they are fit for their intended uses in operations, decision making and planning.” (J. M. Juran)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_quality

Practical Steps to help your situation

  1. Establish usage guidelines for data entry (intelligent naming conventions)
  2. Confirm your integrated system are not creating data issues (E-mail, Social, ERP/Accounting, web)
  3. Confirm your imported data, is compared either before or after, and has not creating duplicates
  4. Assign a Data Steward (DS) to help advocate and educate on data compliancy
  5. Use the proper built in tools and 3rd party tools to assist
  6. Use experienced consultants to give you the jump start you need

We’re entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.   Tim O’Reilly

If you would like to discuss upgrading your system, or to see a free demonstration, please contact Simplesoft Solutions.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland Saleslogix Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OHCharleston, WVCharlotte, NC

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October 21st, 2014 by

If you don’t have a Sales Process, may I ask what’s the hold up?

Last week we had a training session during the Heartland Users Group event that involved implementing a custom sales process and using it to create a custom web dashboard.  Infor CRM™ (Saleslogix) allows custom processes to be created with as many tasks for each stage that is required to fulfill the sales process defined by your company.  We, at Simplesoft, are not an advocate of a particular sales process, but we do enable you to utilize any sales process by showing you how to use the Saleslogix tools.

A defined sales process with specific tasks and timing can increase your closure rate and decrease time to close.  Making that sales process user-friendly is the key to buy-in from sales reps.  That’s where Saleslogix can help.

Initiate the process by defining your goals for each Stage and Step in the process.

Does the sales rep need to send a standard email then follow-up with a phone call 2 days later?  You can schedule that in Saleslogix and it takes the guesswork out of the task.  Include a template with a rollover activity set up directly in the process.  The user just selects the contact; the rest is done for them.

What has just happened?  You have regulated the communications to the customer.  The history is recorded in Saleslogix.  Everyone that touches that account knows which contact has received what communication, and what steps are next.  In other words, control.  If you do not have a user-friendly sales process then your processes are only as good as your salesperson. And this is just ONE step in a sales process.

Enter those processes into the Saleslogix tool in the Architect or the LAN client.  Create as many as you need to fulfill your sales strategy.

Release the Sales Process to users.

Here is a sample sales process with Stages and Steps:

Measure and refine.

On the other end of the process is measurement.  Setting a process in place with specific steps is critical but measuring the success of that process is essential for improving.  You can measure the Saleslogix sales process with the Web Dashboards.

The web dashboard is a tool that utilizes filters. As you build a dashboard widget you choose filters to either group or define the widget display.

With a custom process you have to create a new filter for the dashboard so that the web client will display it on the dashboard widgets.  There are a few steps and we recommend you open the standard (Stages) filter under the Saleslogix Entities to review the settings. Notice: This is not a recommended task for everyone. This is written for experienced developers.

  1. Open Application Architect
  2. Project Explorer>Entity Model>Packages>Saleslogix Application Entities>Opportunity>Filters
  3. Open the STAGE filter and review settings.  Take note of the ORDER of the stages in the current sales process. Review the properties of the filter (‘Analytics Description’ , ‘Available for Analytics’ = True)
  4. Right-Click on the Opportunity Filter folder and ‘Add New’
  5. Enter the fields as needed (similar to the STAGE filter)
  6. Save the filter and you should see it appear in the list under opportunity filters in Application Architect.
  7. Once your items are entered and ready, you will need to do a ctrl build/deploy for the changes to be released to users.
  8. Troubleshooting tips: If the new filter is not showing on your widgets then clear the cache on the browser and/or reset IIS.

If you are interested in more information on Web Dashboard and Sales Processes, please contact us and we will be glad to assist you.  The information included in this blog is not intended to be a complete step-by-step process as each dashboard and sales process is unique to each business.

If you would like to discuss upgrading your system, or to see a free demonstration, please contact Simplesoft Solutions.

Remember to check our CALENDAR and register for free training, demo sessions, and the Heartland Saleslogix Users Group Events.

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Dayton/Cincinnati, OHCharleston, WVCharlotte, NC

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May 10th, 2011 by

Click on the Mobile image to view a Sage SalesLogix Mobile Quick Tutorial.  Be a master in minutes!  Simple to deploy and easy to use.  Call us if you need help.

If you would like to learn more tips or have a CRM topic you would like us to write about please contact Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. in one of our Cincinnati/Dayton (OH), Charleston (WV), or Charlotte (NC) surrounding area office locations:

Dayton, Ohio Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: (937) 885-1204 x 3204
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Ripley, WV Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
710 Random Rd.
Ripley, WV 25271
Phone: (304) 521-2387
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Charlotte, NC Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
3635 Eastover Ridge Drive
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: (704) 910-3872
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

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April 18th, 2011 by

shutterstock_47340328

To prevent data inconsistencies in Sage SalesLogix we recommend you document the business rules around your usage of CRM.  We have created what we call a QCard (quick card) to record the practical application of Sage SalesLogix to your business processes.  For example, take the Account screen and teach your users how to make changes to pick lists as your relationship with this Account evolves.  Don’t you hate it when you receive mail or email from a company you have been doing business with for several years and they treat you like you are a brand new prospect.  Those kind of mistakes can be eliminated if you will tie the usage of Sage SalesLogix to your business processes.

If you need help converting business processes into action in Sage SalesLogix or you want to conduct some refresher training for your teams, give us a call at 937-885-1204 x3204.

Use this Link to a sample Qcard to document your own usage guidelines.

If you would like to learn more tips or have a CRM topic you would like us to write about please contact Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. in one of our Cincinnati/Dayton (OH), Charleston (WV), or Charlotte (NC) surrounding area office locations:

Dayton, Ohio Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: (937) 885-1204 x 3204
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Ripley, WV Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
710 Random Rd.
Ripley, WV 25271
Phone: (304) 521-2387
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Charlotte, NC Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
3635 Eastover Ridge Drive
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: (704) 910-3872
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

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December 23rd, 2010 by

There are so many ways to lookup information in Sage SalesLogix and I just want to point out a few of my favorite quick ways to find things while I am working.

1.  I use the % wildcard to look things up quite often.  This is very helpful when you don’t remember the exact spelling or you don’t remember the complete name of the company but you know one word.  For example, if I lookup under Account using %green, I am going to get:

SLX Wildcard Lookup

2.  Another lookup that I use frequently is looking some one (Contact) up by first name.  I use the Lookup>Contacts>First.

SLX First Name Lookup

3.  On any of the main screens, if the field caption raises up when you put your cursor on it, it is a lookup.  For example, the Main (phone) caption will allow you to look up someone by phone number.

Phone number lookup

These are examples of one value simple Lookups. SalesLogix also has advanced Lookups (multiple value lookups) and a full query builder for creating more complex queries.  I hope you learned at least one new quick tip to find Accounts and Contacts in SalesLogix.

If you would like to learn more tips or have a CRM topic you would like us to write about please contact Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. in one of our Cincinnati/Dayton (OH), Charleston (WV), or Charlotte (NC) surrounding area office locations:

Dayton, Ohio Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: (937) 885-1204 x 3204
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Ripley, WV Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
710 Random Rd.
Ripley, WV 25271
Phone: (304) 521-2387
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Charlotte, NC Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
3635 Eastover Ridge Drive
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: (704) 910-3872
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

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November 15th, 2010 by

Back in September, we published a blog providing you with a preview of OnTheGo, the SalesLogix mobile solution for iPhone and Android developed by the team at Net@Work. In that post, we also alluded to the fact that Sage would be addressing iPhone and Android platforms through the development of a shiny new HTML 5 browser based solution. Well we are happy to report that we’re getting increasingly closer to the release of that product, and thought you’d like a sneak peek!

The delivery of the HTML 5 client is expected before the end of the calendar year 2010, and should provide SalesLogix users with an effective, zero footprint model for accessing their data remotely. We’ve been able to test the look and feel of the new product on a variety of devices, including the iPad, and have been more than satisfied with the results. This new SalesLogix access point should be a welcome addition to the family of products, especially as Sage puts more focus on the web based client and more fully develops the SData strategy. (Click to expand the image)

There’s no word just yet on the pricing and licensing model, but we expect it to be in line with the current pricing.

For more information or for a demonstration of this exciting addition to the SalesLogix family, please feel free to contact us at 937-885-1204×3210, or email us at sales@simplesoft.net

If you would like to learn more tips or have a CRM topic you would like us to write about please contact Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. in one of our Cincinnati/Dayton (OH), Charleston (WV), or Charlotte (NC) surrounding area office locations:

Dayton, Ohio Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: (937) 885-1204 x 3204
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Ripley, WV Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
710 Random Rd.
Ripley, WV 25271
Phone: (304) 521-2387
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

Charlotte, NC Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
3635 Eastover Ridge Drive
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: (704) 910-3872
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net

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