Better than a trip to the doctor’s office: What a CRM Health Check can do for you.
Imagine a time after go-live: the dust has settled, fires have been extinguished, and users are just really getting back to work. Every day brings a new challenge – a report to be manually assembled, questions of data accuracy, acknowledgement exports to be merged by hand, and a new query request every 5 minutes.
Or perhaps a time just before transition, where anxiety floats through the halls and spreadsheets grow exponentially with planned improvements and processes to be defined. A time where questions like ‘are we on track for this move?’ (maybe) and ‘is this how everyone feels?’ (yes!) are on everyone’s minds.
A Health Check is a chance to gauge team readiness, evaluate user needs, reprioritize efforts, boost morale, and so much more. Often overlooked in the software implementation process – it’s benefits cannot be overstated.
Today, we’re going to talk about the Zuri Group methodology for performing a Health Check. We’ll explore what a successful Health Check should include and talk through healthy outcomes.
A Health Check is a vote of confidence.
Possibly the most easily overlooked aspect of the Health Check is the signaling it provides to the larger organization that their feedback is valued. A Health Check provides a space for users to openly discuss pain points, with the understanding that the issues raised will be communicated to leadership. It reassures users that they are not being left behind to struggle.
A Health Check is an open discussion with users.
At the most basic level, a Health Check is a discussion with system users that results in an assessment about the present state of things, and what should come next.
Held just before a system transition to asses readiness (or sometime after go-live in response to lowered productivity), a Health Check typically consists of three to four days of discussions spread across various user groups within the organization and led by two to three of our solutions specialists.
Those involved on the organization side range from special events planners, board members, and frontline fundraisers, to database administrators and SQL developers. The sessions generally consist of an informal discussion beginning with the simple question: What can you not get done today that you could before?
From these discussions, we discover gaps in reporting, outline potential changes to business processes, validate or reevaluate frustrations, and explore the pain points of users and their internal constituents. Our solutions specialists are on hand to facilitate and to assess the level of effort, viability, and long-term value of requests for changes to configuration or customization of the system.
A Health Check is a chance to reprioritize.
The final output of a health check generally includes a written assessment of findings compiled by our team. In it, we summarize the most commonly requested functionality, changes, points of anxiety, suggested business process changes, data hygiene issues, quick wins, and a matrix of projected levels of effort to resolve each item (with our assistance, if desired). With this breakdown, leadership is informed and empowered to prioritize improvements and advocate for investment in critical areas of functionality.
While we do cover a lot of ground during a Health Check, there are some things we don’t do.
A Health Check is not a sales call.
While the written assessment delivered at the conclusion of most Health Checks is often used as the basis for additional work or consultation, the Health Check itself is not performed with any expectation of additional follow-up. We have delivered both extensive follow-up reports packed with feedback and simple emails affirming that clients should simply stay the course and to call us if they need anything.
A Health Check is not a defense of legacy systems.
In any large software transition, there is going to be at least a minimal compromise in functionality. The goal of the Health Check is an honest assessment of needs based on a conversation with users. It is vital to our process that we minimize system negativity in any direction and remain future oriented. To accomplish this, we acknowledge shortcomings in the new systems and the strengths of the legacy system so that we can move towards a future where the opportunity of the future is fused with the practicality of the past.
A Health Check is not an assessment of overall project or implementation success.
Our Health Check will not score your implementation success or delve deeply into the particulars of your system selection, timeline, budget, etc. Our solutions specialists are focused on the needs of users and management and provide insight and guidance on how your organization can meet those needs in the most effective way possible.
We have helped hundreds of organizations successfully transition to new systems – from system selection, through implementation and beyond. We have seen firsthand the power of the Health Check, and that’s why recommend it to the organizations that we work with.
Ryan Motkowicz is a CRM Consultant here at Zuri Group specializes in post go-live stabilization, providing users with the tools and training necessary to becoming proficient in BBCRM after transition. His understanding of the way that advancement systems are used in day-to-day operations drives his user-centric approach.