SaaS-based CRM implementation proposal for International Market Centers

CRM Proposal

Started at Section 1 for the sake of clarity)

BUDGET and FINANCIAL TIME CONSTRAINTS

Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and for the International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC), the ability to stabilize and grow their tenant business is essential to attaining and growing profitability. Today IMC is experiencing an exceptionally high level of churn in its two primary types of leases, the permanent lease which ranges from 3 to 5 years and the short-term, highly volatile lease that lasts an average of just 6 days. This exceptionally high level of churn is attributable to the fact that four separate legacy, non-integrated CRM systems are being used for managing customer relationships. The bottom line is that these factors are causing IMC to lose sales and profitability quickly and urgent action must be undertaken from a CRM standpoint to stabilize tenant renewals and improve the conversion rate of lease and buyer prospects.

After evaluating over a dozen on-premise and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM applications the decision was made to pursue one based on the latter platform given its lower initial start-up costs, lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), in addition to the ease and speed of customization. These four factors make SaaS-based CRM the best possible CRM selection for IMC. Those vendors responding to this RFP will need to provide evidence of being able to support SaaS-based applications on a multitenant model, with their pricing and overall budget estimates reflecting the cost advantages of this technology platform.

Second, all vendors participating in this RFP must also provide a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis that is comparable in scope to those provided by leading cloud computing vendors, in addition to the one provided by Software Advice found here: http://www.softwareadvice.com/tco / . Software Advice provides a generic TCO calculator for evaluating on-premise vs. SaaS system implementations, and it is advisable for vendors participating in this RFP to provide a detailed analysis of how their SaaS CRM systems deliver significantly greater financial value over their on-premise systems. This is required to determine which SaaS-based CRM vendors have the greatest command of the economics of cloud computing, incorporating those factors into their business model.

The planned CRM implementation for the International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC) will not exceed $160,000 for all software licenses and initial contract fees, integration and legacy data migration services not exceeding $480,000. IMC projects that integration and legacy data migration services will be conservatively stated at 3 times the initial software licenses and initial contract fees based on industry standards observed throughout the CRM enterprise software industry.

1.1

BUDGET and FINANCIAL

The following are the costs associated with the proposed CRM implementation for the International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC). Those vendors bidding on the new CRM system need to provide password-protected access to accounting dashboards that provide cost component data in real-time to IMC, along with quarterly reviews of cost analysis relative to budget.

1.2

COST COMPONENTS

Variable Costs

The following are variable costs associated with the planned CRM implementation for IMC:

System Integration Planning and Development Costs. The proposed CRM system architecture is heavily reliant on integration to property management, billing and account systems. As the complexity and scope of adapter and connector complexity is dependent on development expertise, extent of data source commonality and availability of Application programmer Interface (API) support with the selected vendor, costs in this area are considered variable. The proposed CRM system must also integrate with Microsoft Office, specifically Word and Excel, so that specialized documents including leasing contracts, sales and leasing quotes, analytics and stakeholder-based reports can be produced.

Cross-CRM Legacy Systems Integration Planning and Development Cost. As IMC is currently supporting four separate legacy CRM systems that are not integrated today, additional cross-CRM legacy systems integration planning, development and testing will be required. These costs will be variable based on the extent of customization, testing and validation required before being put into actual production-level systems.

Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) estimation and workflow development for core CRM functions included in this RFP. These include lead management, pipeline management, company and contact management, notes and details support across all CRM applications and customer relationship data analysis (both current and historical). Process workflows will also need to support the following as well: deal and scenarios management; lease proposal generation, reviews and approvals; lead generation and contract management; and lease revisions.

Fixed Costs

The following are the fixed costs of the CRM implementation for the International Market Centers, L.P. These reflect the decision to pursue a SaaS-based CRM system over one that is entirely on-premise based:

Project implementation costs for each phase of the project

Change Management Planning and Implementation

Training Programs for Each Group of Stakeholders

Administrator Support and Servicer Training

Software Licenses for each of the Cloud Components and the Application

Platform-as-a-Service (Paas) licensing

SaaS-based CRM application licensing

Mobile Device Licensing

Time Constraints

As the International Market Centers, L.P. is experiencing a significant amount of churn in both short- and long-term leases, it is imperative that a new CRM system be completed within eight months. This must include integration of the four legacy systems and integration of core enterprise systems as well.

1.3

PROPOSED PROJECT BUDGET

2.0

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

The International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC) CRM project includes legacy CRM system integration, enterprise-wide business process re-engineering (BPR) to better ensure the most critical processes become more customer-centric, and the launch of a state-of-the-art SaaS CRM application suite. The implementation plan includes definition of project phases and milestones that reflect legacy CRM integration, legacy data conversion, and extensive training on the new system as well. As IMC continues to experience significant tenant churn which is depleting profit margins, the company is also becoming more transaction-centric. This can be seen from the statistics provided in other sections of this RFP, which implicitly reflect the company becoming more transaction-oriented and less focused on relationships. A strategic priority for this project is to create a more unified, 360-degree view of the customer to further strengthen renewal rates on leases and lead to greater levels of profitability.

As this is a software-based project, there are four main phases of this development. These include the Design, Development, Testing and Deployment. As IMC is primarily in a services-based businesses that are heavily reliant on stakeholder perception of quality performance and support, each of the phases and milestones will also include a scorecard showing performance and when applicable, feedback from stakeholders. The majority of software projects fail due to a lack of continual feedback from stakeholders. Using an agile-based approach to managing this project is essential to keep it centered on the preferences, unmet needs and requirements of stakeholders.

2.1

PHASES and MILESTONES

There are multiple milestones created in order to track the overall progress of the project throughout its duration, including periodic reviews of deliverables based on feedback from appropriate stakeholders. This is specifically done to ensure scope creep does not occur, or the project gets dominated by the most persuasive or demanding of stakeholder groups., Keeping all needs and requirements in balance is essential for this CRM project to meet highly targeted, specific needs.

Phase 1: Design

The goal of this phase is to define the scope of the CRM project including the requirements of key stakeholders, definition of the BPM and BPR project plans and workflows, legacy CRM and baseline enterprise system integration strategies, and the which specific metrics will be used throughout the project to evaluate overall performance. Also included in this phase are periodic meetings to assess project progress and also ensure accountability regarding performance levels is achieved.

Phase 2: Development

The specific deliverables during this phase of the project include BPM and BPR testing and completion of workflows, coding of legacy CRM integration system adapters and connectors, development and testing of enterprise system integration including JD Edwards financial reporting and analytics integration and the completion of CRM suite customization. This phase also includes the integration of the ten modules that comprise the foundation of the overall CRM system as well.

Milestone 2: Deliver Functional Requirements Document (inclusive of legacy CRM and enterprise software integration including JD Edwards, CRM module customization to IMC Requirements) - June 15, 2013

The goal of this specific milestone is get the initial system integrations completed, integrate the legacy CRM systems into a single system of record, also integrate enterprise applications including JD Edwards, and complete CRM module customizations.

Milestone 3: Deliver Detailed System Design Document -- August 1, 2013

The intent of this document and test results are to provide evidence of the legacy CRM system integrations working correctly, in addition to the enterprise system support including JD Edwards also functioning correctly.

Milestone 4: Complete Inventory of System Modifications -- August 31, 2013

All system modifications are recorded in this specific document in addition to complete inventories of system integration modifications, data conversions completed during integration testing, metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) of system performance criteria, and test of all CRM modules per the workflows defined by stakeholders.

Phase 3: Testing

The test plan will be used for completing this specific phase of the project, which will include stakeholder-based feedback and approval of specific modules each will use for completing leasing and tenant management tasks. The test plan and change management plan will be implemented during this phase, as each user affected by the system will need to thoroughly test and evaluate how the CRM modules(s) they rely on for their jobs are functioning.

Milestone 5: Complete Test Plan October 15, 2013

This milestone will be completed between July 15, 2013 and October 15, 2103 using the parameters and metrics as defined in the test plan, in addition to the analytics and metrics mentioned. This phase will also include several feedback sessions with key stakeholders to evaluate overall system performance and congruence to their specific requirements.

Phase 4: Deployment and Training

This is the most essential step from a change management standpoint, as the CRM system will be evaluated and tested by the stakeholders across the company. The two major milestones in this phase are the delivery of the system documentation and the delivering and implementing of the training plan, completion of acceptance testing and production system implementation and post-implementation review.

Milestone 6:

Deliver System Documentation November 1, 2013

The documentation will be delivered in electronic form and will be customizable by IMC to their specific requirements and needs. Videos will also be created and en entire library of documents for showing how the more advanced aspects of the system can be used will also be provided.

Milestone 7: Deliver and Implement Training Plan, Acceptance Testing, Production System Implementation and Post-Implementation Review 12/1/2013

These are the final stages of preparation for the system to be launched within IMC. All of these elements will also be audited by the stakeholders to determine their overall readiness and alignment to original project requirements.

2.2

ACCEPTANCE TESTING

The goal of this phase of the project is to completely test all possible scenarios of how the CRM system will be used prior to have it placed into production. Acceptance testing will also include the sign-off of each stakeholder and a thorough audit of all process workflows related to tenant support, lease management and support for leasing and payment transactions through the CRM systems to the JD Edwards system.

2.3

CRM SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

The actual launch of the CRM system will include delivery of the complete system, including documentation and all operating procedures, in addition to results of the audits of system integration performance. In addition to these items, the CRM System Implementation will also include the following:

Stakeholder list of future enhancement and product roadmap

Cut-over task list

CRM system module implementation schedule by module

SaaS Security Audit to the Platform-as-a-Service level

Launch of Help Desk to assist internal users of the CRM with customers and provide guidance on how best to use the system

2.4

POST IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION and REVIEW

The intent of this phase is complete a post-implementation process and review of all system modules and integration points throughout the entire CRM system. The project team responsible for the IMC CRM implementation will also provide a project evaluation in terms of costs, timeframes and constraints, and an analysis of best practices from the project design and implementation. In addition, a project improvement plan will also be provided and presented during monthly project and CRM system review meetings.

2.5

SYSTEM WARRANTY and MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

The intent of this task is to provide software and platform-level component warranty and maintenance support for the CRM modules and the implementation itself. Also included will be a procedure for ensuring the provider of the CRM system delivers 2,000 hours of service and support as part of the contract.

2.6

ANNUAL PRODUCT LICENSING and MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE

A three-year pricing schedule will be provided for annual licensing and payments, including a definition of the software upgrades and revisions to the adapters and connects for legacy and enterprise systems. There will also be a yearly review of pricing and contract amounts to adjust for price modifications made by the chosen vendor over each year of the contract.

2.7

ANNUAL PRODUCT FEE for the CONTRACTOR'S VERSION of the CRM SYSTEM

The chosen vendor must provide a free schedule for all modifications and additions to the system, including maintenance fees and charges as they relate to each module and component staying current with all releases across the vendor's product line.

2.8

PAYMENTS TIMETABLE

The following is the payment schedule for the proposed CRM system:

35% upon contract signing

10% until contract completion

25% upon successful demonstration of all system functions and integration points

30% upon successful audit and launch of the system across IMC

2.9

PROJECT SCHEDULE