Your constituent relationship management (CRM) system can be one of the most impactful pieces of technology your nonprofit uses. It helps you create an infrastructure to centralize your constituent data and also allows you to track the goals and successes of your fundraising, volunteer, marketing, and program efforts.
But the truth is technology is constantly changing, and your organization's needs are also changing. At some point, your organization will need to optimize or change CRMs. If a CRM change is on the horizon for your organization, there are some critical things to consider before shopping for your next system.
The questions below can guide you in creating the vision and strategy you'll need to implement a new CRM. While it may seem laborious and time-consuming, doing your pre-work will pay off in leaps and bounds when your new CRM is ready to go live.
1. Who will use the system?
First and foremost, you need to understand the CRM users and their needs. This will drive everything from licensing to system administration and maintenance to user adoption, training, and change management. Understanding the users will also inform the features and functionality the system must have.
For example, if the users are field staff, your CRM will likely need a mobile access option. Taking a user-first approach will set you up for success.
2. What does your data look like?
In addition to users, you also need to consider your data. Where does the data live now? What governance and processes do you need to implement to ensure data quality? Are there any security considerations for any of your data? What decisions will the data inform? And, to make those decisions, what types of analytics do you need? These fundamental questions will guide the type of CRM you need, providing insights into the features and architecture required. Thinking early about your data will also give you plenty of lead time to clean up and archive data that is not critical for your new CRM.
3. Does your CRM need to talk to other systems?
Increasingly, users demand a seamless data landscape. Bringing together disparate systems is one of the top motivators for moving to a new CRM or enhancing an existing one. Pushing and pulling data to and from other systems is a requirement that may determine what CRM system you select. Do your homework to know if there are out-of-the-box solutions for the integrations you need or if you'll need to build something custom to perform the necessary integrations (and then budget accordingly).
4. What is your budget?
For most nonprofit organizations, this might be the first question they tackle—or the first roadblock they experience. Budget is almost always a driving factor in technology decisions. When reviewing costs, consider both immediate and ongoing costs. Consider integrations, ongoing licensing and system maintenance, training staff needed to run the system, and the actual cost of moving systems, whether internal staff time or a contract with a partner. Carefully plan your total budget so that when you start shopping for a new CRM, you make decisions with this in mind.
5. Who will own the system?
Implementing a new CRM is a good opportunity to define the rules of the road that will govern that system. But unfortunately, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the technology will run itself.
At the organizational level, you should determine a governance structure. For example, I often recommend a governance committee representing each user stakeholder group (accounting, fundraising, etc.). This committee reviews issues, requests, and opportunities (such as newly released features or upgrades) and develops the strategy for the system. They will also identify and define best practices and escalate any critical risks before any risk could cause an operational stand-still.
Your CRM and how you use it will constantly evolve, so you must assemble your crew for steering the ship before you set sail. This governance committee can also be critical in reviewing and selecting your new CRM and in the launch process.
6. Do you have leadership buy-in?
To do this, write up a plan or create a PowerPoint presentation showing that you have thought through these key questions. Outline your vision, strategy, and roadmap. Engage leadership in decision-making and keep them informed as the plans for the new CRM evolve. Coach leaders on how to talk about the change and tee them up to do so. Visible leadership buy-in is invaluable for user adoption. Long-term success relies on leadership involvement.
7. Do you need to re-engineer or design any business processes?
Before you decide to change CRMs, be sure you have evaluated the key processes the CRM will handle. Your processes should be tech-agnostic. Work to remove platform-specific language from your processes. Define your processes using your terms and find the technology to meet those needs. Ensure processes are defined before introducing a new technology that could influence how things work.
Your business process should help define your technology needs—not the other way around. Working on business process improvement before launching your CRM migration will help keep your search clearly defined and the launch timeline on track so your team will not have to pause to review and decide on processes.
8. How change-resistant is your organization?
Take a look at your organization as a whole. How do folks handle change? What has been successful in the past, and how can you learn from that? Are there any critical stakeholders who may attempt to disrupt the change? Has your organization undergone any other significant shifts recently?
Think specifically about those responsible for key components or processes in your existing system. Ensure these individuals are brought on board early and engaged in the process. Provide them with training on the new CRM so that they can quickly become experts in the new system and feel secure. Making a change without these folks on board could leave them feeling vulnerable about their job, and therefore are at risk for impacting the new CRM launch.
9. What type of learners do you have?
You'll need to engage users early and often in the change. Identify the learning style of your organization, specific teams, and individual users. Be sure to develop and offer training materials that meet users where they are. Appeal to different learning styles by providing materials in various venues. And do not wait until the new CRM is ready to go live to provide training. Early training sessions can build excitement and engagement. Your reward for this hard work will be user engagement, user adoption, and system success.
10. Who will implement the change?
Do you have the skills in-house to change CRMs, or will you rely on a partner to work with you? Think about what specific skills and traits are essential for your selected partner. For example, do you need someone who knows nonprofit speak or has handled fundraising implementations? You may also want to consider issuing an RFP or interviewing potential partners more informally to ensure you select the partner with the most knowledge and cultural fit for your organization. Change is not easy, but if you build out your team, it will be easier.
You'll notice that this list of considerations does not include a timeline. Timeline is necessary; however, prioritizing a timeline could put unnecessary pressure on your organization to move too quickly through the important strategy and planning stages. Instead, your CRM strategy and vision should come first, using the key questions outlined above for higher adoption and overall success. Then, using this strategy to decide which CRM you will use and how you will implement the change, you will define the timeline, launch phases, and other necessary implementation and change management–related details.
