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Business Milestones

The first month of the project will involve the analysis of requirements. The development of the project requirements will include both the design requirements, functional, and non-functional requirements. All stakeholders will be invited to provide their views on the design considerations during the needs assessment phase of the project life cycle. In the second month, the system analysis and design will be undertaken. During design and analysis, all the recommended items and ideas that were discussed by stakeholders will be taken into consideration with the purpose of developing a prototype. Moreover, a consideration of the functional and non-functional requirements of the project will be undertaken. The needs of all end-users will be analyzed and incorporated into the final design. Moreover, all the necessary specifications will be identified in details in order to examine the features and operations that will effectively meet the functional requirements of the proposed CRM system. Finally, the third month will entail implementation, repair, and maintenance of the project. As part of the implementation process, a training and development program will be launched with the purpose of familiarizing end-users with how the system operates to support all their needs. An organizational change management program will be implemented as part of efforts to introduce employees into the new culture and system of operation. The operations and maintenance exercise will be actualized when the end users will fine-tune the system, identify inefficiencies, and address them in accordance with their needs.

Root Cause Analysis of the Business Problem

The organization has been facing various problems that require an urgent intervention. For instance, customers have been complaining of long lines that take a while for the organization to clear before they are served. In addition, the company has come under sharp criticism for failure to pick calls or address the orders of customers who are located in remote parts of the country. Members of the public have also raised concerns that customer’s queries are never addressed in most cases, and when they do respond, they take days or weeks (Rahimi, 2017). As a result, the organization has been falling out with some of its most loyal consumer groups, who have played a role in improving its sales volume. In the last five months, the company’s sales volume has declined significantly owing to reduction in customer confidence. In light of the above, it is important to implement CRM technological systems in order to regain the lost customer trust and confidence. By implementing the CRM project, the organization will succeed in its effort to attract and retain both customers and talented employees who operate in the customer care department.

Reason for Solving Business Problems

The business problem should be solved so that the company can gain sustainable competitive advantage. The CRM project plays a critical role in attracting and retaining customers, who are the most important stakeholder groups. Business organizations seek to establish a high international presence. As such, corporations currently compete on a global market. This makes it impossible to avert the free transfer of goods with the support of protection laws and different obstacles and regulations (González-Benito, Venturini & González-Benito, 2017). Consumers have a wide choice, because they are increasingly becoming more aware, sensitive, demanding, and searching for new and better products. The proliferation of internet technologies has made customers to be more conscious of the buying decisions that they make on a regular basis. As a consequence, technological tools such as customer relationship management technologies and systems to promote customer loyalty and boost an organization’s sustainable competitive advantage and brand image.

Scope of the Project

The objective of determining the project scope is to establish an agreement between project team members and stakeholders on the desired expectations of successful CRM solutions. One of the leading problems that the CRM project may encounter is to discover early in the planning and design phase that there is unclear or poorly designed project scope. As such, there are various areas of the project that will form part of the CRM project scope (Garrido-Moreno & Padilla-Meléndez, 2011). For instance, project team members will be focused on key areas that improve customer experience and satisfaction. Examples of such activities will include: designing the organization’s website, subscribing the firm to leading social media platforms, providing customer chatting and querying systems, and installing security control mechanisms for the project. As part of the implementation process, the project team members will identify the key functional areas that should be incorporated into the CRM, and the non-functional requirements.

Risks Associated with the Project

Requirements risks are the potential for losses owing to the project’s requirements themselves or the management process. There are various risks that are associated with fulfilling the aforementioned requirements. For instance, the project may have conflicting requirements that may derail the process of implementing the entire system. A case in point is access to the system, which may be authorized only to people in the customer care department while the user interface may allow all employees to enter their hours through activity codes.

Project Planning (Cost and Schedule)

References

Garrido-Moreno, A., & Padilla-Meléndez, A. (2011). Analyzing the impact of knowledge

management on CRM success: The mediating effects of organizational

factors. International Journal of Information Management, 31(5), 437-444.

González-Benito, Ó., Venturini, W. T., & González-Benito, J. (2017). CRM technology:

implementation project and consulting services as determinants of success. International

Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 16(02), 421-441.

Rahimi, R. (2017). Customer relationship management (people, process and technology) and

organizational culture in hotels: Which traits matter?. International Journal of

Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(5), 1380-1402.