1. Build the Right Business Case
Weigh both SaaS & traditional on site solutions against criteria more comprehensive then just costs. Depending on your business model, consider differences in business benefits, flexibility and risks when comparing your different deployment options.
In order to understand the total cost of SaaS CRM… you should include license fees, internal labor implementation costs, professional services fees, user training expenses, mobile & offline/online system access, industry-specific functionality, storage capacity fees and premium help desk support.
Two other areas to consider are whether the SaaS vendor’s technology will allow a company to migrate to an onpremise application in the future & the viability and long term prospects of the selected SaaS vendor.
2) Negotiating the Right Contract
Protect yourself from these contracting pitfalls.
Hidden costs when the amount of data and transactions increase on the SaaS application, so too with the cost of the overall deployment
Unexpected Service Outage Most SaaS SLA contracts have 99.5% guaranteed uptime built into the SLA but few contracts include planned maintaince windows into that uptime and few users track actual uptime. Users generally shoulder the responsibility for tracking & requesting payouts (and service credits) themselves. Just make sure you are aware.
Declines in customer support Initially the customer support is good, but over time the quality of support you could get support from senior level and key developers may decrease. Again, just be aware.
Obscure disaster Recovery procedures Make sure to do due diligence around disaster recovery prior to signing the contract
3. Follow the Right Implementation Approach
Typically SaaS solutions are easier to implement then on premise offerings but customization is more limited. However whether you are implementing and administering a new CRM SaaS solution, rely on the vendor or use a vendor’s third party professional service partner “successful implementation and integration requires that you follow sound practices” Define your objectives before you begin the rollout, take a step back & reconfirm the critical business objectives that the CRM SaaS solution will support. Build a team.. an executive sponsor, a steering committee that includes a user group representative, a CRM SaaS solutions administrator, and a CRM SaaS vendor development consultant. Define the time line upfront that outlines the major tasks, milestone dates and accountability for implementing the solution. Configure the solution for user relevance to the specific needs of the users in your organization.
4. Adopt The Right Data Security Procedures
One of the most common fears of adopting a SaaS CRM programs is security is management. Require data protection guarantees and compliance with industry standards. Insist that SaaS vendors provide details about security levels of data centers, disaster recovery capabilities and how data is protected. If your applications are hosted by a third party, get your hosting provider to detail its security and redundancy capabilities and conduct a site tour to verify its claims. Be sure to define role and access rights. Establish vendor data integration conversion & exit blueprints.
5. Establish the Right Support Structure
SaaS Solutions usually have easy to use point & click tools so that business users can set up & configure solutions with little technical knowledge and minimal specialized training. However, a clear governance structure is still required to make sure your organization achieves the benefits intended. Decide how SaaS will be managed, who will be responsible for meeting IT standards, where the support resources come from and how IT works with third party providers. In addition, the support staff needs to be clearly identified for users, help desk and training & support offered & backup procedures established – just as companies would with its in house system and support procedures.
