Case Statement:
The client is a global company and they have decided to implement “Salesforce” as a new tool instead of the already existing tool, across the group. Suggest an approach for implementing the new tool within the organization.
C: Since I do not know much about the tool “Salesforce”, can you please tell me more about it?
I: “Salesforce” is a tool that is used to record the details of a client, the lead generated and the key contacts. It is a lead management translating tool that is used by sales representatives of the company.
C: Thank you! Is there any advantage the client would have by using “Salesforce” over the existing tool and why is it better than the existing tool?
I: The existing tool has become outdated which arises the need for a new tool. It has become a highly complex tool due to which our operational costs have increased, and the sales representatives must focus on delivering the best customer experience. However, there is one disadvantage of the new tool - Earlier the sales representative used to take 3 minutes to record the details of the lead. The new tool will take 6 minutes. Then why should the company implement the new tool?
C: The way I would see it is, this con would be outweighed by the numerous pros that the CRM tool would provide a sales representative. For example, when talking to a potential lead, a sales representative might want to send customized email/ message to the lead, schedule an appointment and be reminded about it or even want to update the conversation he/she had with the lead ‘on the go.’ So, time investment in the initial phase would result in saving more time in the further lifecycle of the lead.
I: Good. Now that you have a decent context of the use case, we should move towards the approach. How will you convince the sales representatives to use the new tool?
C: Sure. My approach would be to first understand the ‘change’ in detail. By this I mean, exploring the current state in terms of how the work is done, who does the work, how is it monitored and what would the new CRM tool change in these areas.
I: Okay! Then what would you do with this information?
C: First, I would communicate the gravity of the change to the leadership of the client. Then, I would create a change plan which would cover the timelines for the following elements-
Communication plan
Training plan
Documenting new roles and processes
Creating training content
Assessing current skills of the employees and readiness for the skills required for using the new tool
Delivering training to employees
Deploying the new tool
Monitoring and sustaining the implementation
For convincing the employees on using the tool, I believe that we will have to create a communications strategy that clearly informs them about its benefits followed by comprehensive support to develop capabilities to use the new tool. Also, it would be beneficial if we could have some employees with us from the starting and they could be our ‘change agents’ for the project.
I: What do you mean by change agents?
C: By change agents, I mean the more influential sales representatives across geographies who can be the first ones to use the new tool. These employees can help us deliver our message of benefits of using the tool and can thus help us drive adoption.
I: This sounds like a plan! How will you identify these change agents and convince them?
C: I think we would have to take the help of the leadership and their line managers for this. While communicating the gravity of this change, we can make a request to them to nominate change agents and we can specify the time commitment that would be required from their end. We can then have a meeting with them and explain their role in detail.
I: You mentioned something around readiness of the employees. What do you mean by that?
C: We would have to focus on what the employees need to be able to adapt to the new tool. It would go beyond their will to identifying the new skills they to learn, the revised process they need to be aware of and the technology changes that would happen.
I: Overall, are there any concerns that you can think of while following this approach?
C: I feel that the above approach is rigid. If we could add the learnings from our own implementation in the plan and make it iterative, we would reap better benefits.
I: That is an interesting insight. We may close the case here.
C: Thank you.
Background Information:
Client: Operates in Europe, US and India in the retail industry
Number of employees: 3,000 in US, 5,000 in Europe, 10,000 in India
Case tips:
Ask clarifying questions about the details of the company. If any new software is to be introduced, get details about the features of the software and why is it better than the existing one.
Follow a structured approach, right from planning the change to executing the change in the organization.
