Cisco Cisco Smart Business Portal White Paper

3. Keep it intuitive to ensure internal
acceptance and adoption

Whether a company is deploying a new solution to 5,000

users or 5, it has to be adopted to realize any business value.

Solving the adoption problem often boils down to one ques-

tion: Is the technology intuitive? That is, does it easily fold into

existing processes and “work the way you do?,” asks Pease.

Technology is intuitive if it doesn’t require users to take

extra work steps to include it in everyday processes. If a new

solution interrupts workflow, it’s a safe bet that it will not be

adopted. Integration with the tools already in use by employ-

ees also makes a technology more intuitive. Smooth informa-

tion flow also raises the intuitive bar. Adoption goes up when

a technology is able to give employees the information they

need, when they need it. For example, can shipping confi-

dently tell a most valuable customer when a package will

arrive? Can marketers use past customer behavior to spot an

unprofitable campaign before launch? Can sales reps access a

customer’s purchase history while on the road?

Converged voice and data helps SMBs spark adoption in

several ways. The telephone is already in widespread use

across the organization, so it’s intuitive to existing processes

and employees. “The telephone also is intuitive for cus-

tomers, who still choose it as their preferred interaction

medium” says Cisco’s Alexander. But IP is only half the equa-

tion. The CRM solution has to be intuitive and able to melt

into existing workflows. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is

designed specifically to ‘work the way you do” and to ‘work

the way your business does.’ This means being quick to

deploy, easy to manage and enabling consistent processes.

Having the look and feel of Outlook is a key component to

getting these done," says Microsfoft’s Pease.

4. Track performance

To acquire, retain and grow customers profitably, SMBs must

get smarter over time. At each interaction, a customer

provides the company with more insight into her needs

and preferences. This insight has to travel from the front

lines to a single, customer profile accessible to all customer-

facing employees. But any company, regardless of size, must

also track the performance of people, processes and work-

flows to determine how well they are meeting customers’

needs and delivering a satisfying customer experience.

Customer interactions happen across multiple channels

and departments. Performance tracking must also span the

entire SMB. Since a converged voice and data network ties

directly to both the telephone and a CRM solution, SMBs can

track performance across the organization. This includes

business activity and employee performance for an inside

sales team, call duration and first-call resolution in a contact

center, or accurate invoice tracking in billing. It also rolls up to

the management in the form of reports and executive

dashboards. This level of “informed management” provides

decision makers with timely and relevant information to act

fast on opportunities for improving efficiency or capturing

higher revenue from customers.

Conclusion: Turning Point

The arrival of converged voice and data could not have come

at a better time for SMBs. It is the customer’s world, and prod-

ucts alone are not enough to stay competitive or fend off

CRM-savvy enterprises threatening to poach an SMB’s

valuable customers. It’s time to up the ante by building the

customer-centric SMB over an IP-based network that ties the

telephone and customer information together. By combining

these formerly disparate systems, SMBs can build 360-degree

customer views and deliver a superior customer experience

that sends profits higher.

■

The Customer-Centric SMB: Increasing Profitability by Focusing on Customers

WHITE PAPER 2006

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., Return on Customer: Creating Maximum Value from Your Scarcest Resource, Currency/DoubleDay, 2005.

Return on Customer

and ROC

are registered service marks of Peppers & Rogers Group, a division of Carlson Marketing Group.

Accenture, March 2005. For more information on the study, go to www.accenture.com, 2005 News Releases,“Five Marketing and Customer
Management Capabilities Deemed Critical to Enhancing Performance and Customer Loyalty.”

Gartner Group

InfoTech,“CompTIA/IDC Convergent Technologies Research Study 2005.”