Welcome to Ascendix Technologies, Inc.

Ascendix follows a structured approach to solving real business problems by focusing on three key areas of the business; the people within the organization that are impacted, the processes that these people work with that define their jobs and work environment, and the technology that is put in place to automate these processes. With those three components constantly in focus, there are several stages that a traditional project life cycle will go through from project kick off to completion which are outlined below.

Project Team Training - One of the first tasks from our project kickoff is to identify the members of the project team. We highly recommend an in-depth involvement from key members of the user community. Prior to conducting any project definition or discovery, we put these members through a day of training on the system as it comes "out of the box." This allows us to greatly enhance the effectiveness of the design sessions, as we then learn to "speak the same language" much more quickly and avoid using time during discovery and design for product training.

Discovery and Analysis - The phase of the project where we are gathering information relevant to the scope and deliverables of the project. We will seek to obtain examples of the data we will migrate from your Opera system, and drill down on the details of the deliverables of the project. We analyze how to best implement the needed features and functionality in your system to maximize the principles we have already discussed: 1) benefits to the customer 2) benefits to the user and 3) benefits to executives/management.

Design/Prototype - We then take the items from our discovery and analysis sessions and begin the blueprint of your system. This process details the scope of the project by mapping out the enhancements and customizations to be made to your system. For larger or more sophisticated projects like this one, we will also build prototype views and functionality for review with the company project team to help build a conceptual model of the system.

Development/Configuration - As the system blueprint is finalized, we begin developing your system. Development entails modifications to views, workflow, business logic, reports, security, filters and much more.

Quality Assurance and Testing - To ensure the system meets specification and is free of programming errors and omissions, we submit the system to a continuous quality assurance process. Phases of QA include both internal Ascendix processes and acceptance testing and review from ABC Company project team members.

Training - Organized administrator and end user training classes may include classroom training at Ascendix centers or on location at ABC Company.

Deployment - Final deployment of the system to servers and end user computers will occur after project team review and acceptance has been completed. We also recommend the deployment of a test/prototype system earlier in the project lifecycle to help identify potential issues that we may encounter during project "go-live."

A Roadmap for Success

Ascendix has been designing and implementing front-office software systems that support CRM strategies since 1996. We have approximately 120 customers using systems from 4 leading front-office software manufacturers. We have learned from successful implementations, and even more from implementations that may not be considered so successful. The factors leading to success or failure are not always so obvious. While it is quite popular to attribute blame to the brand of software, industry experts are starting to discover that the software brand may be as low as 4th or 5th on the list of the most common reasons CRM projects fail.

So in CRM, what is success? From your perspective, what factors will make this project a success for your company?

Positive ROI or increased sales?
On-time and on scope delivery of your software?
How well the system operates and how much your users actually use the product?
Reducing customer churn?
Growing revenue within the existing customer base?
Increasing the new customer acquisition rate?
Success in CRM, including factors leading to ROI, may be difficult to define if your goals are not established and your baselines not set. Critical success factors will actually differ from company to company. If determining success is important, we must first define success factors and if applicable, set the baseline measurement. Factors Predicting CRM Success (In the Order of Importance)

1) Customers should benefit - This is the single most important predictor of the success of your CRM project. While a simple and obvious idea, a sobering number of so-called CRM implementations are not actually intended to benefit the customer. For example, the primary goal of the system may be for internal cost reduction, decreasing employee headcount or to simply gain visibility of employee activities. If your goal is to reduce customer churn and/or increase revenue or satisfaction per customer, it will be much more difficult to do it through a system that does not include strategies that add value directly to the customer.

2) Users should benefit - The system should be designed so that it adds direct value to the person using the system. While also a very simple and obvious idea - again, many systems are implemented without taking the interests of the end user to heart. Training should focus on how the system will benefit the user directly.

3) Executives and Managers should benefit - Usually most CRM projects focus or emphasize the benefits to the management staff rather than customers and users. While extremely important to the success of the system, it is least effective if the first two factors are not given primacy. That being said, it is still a critical factor for success and must be given priority.

Coupling our experience and information gathered from industry experts, we have formed a short list of items that we believe will add risk to the implementation of CRM.

Lack of "buy-in" and participation from key management- Executives and managers have signed-off on the project and moved on to other important issues. Without participation from their management personnel, users will perceive the system is optional and not a management priority.
Lack of input or participation from the business/user community during the design phase of the project- If the project is completely driven by the IT department, it is more likely that end users will fail to see the value of the system.
Failure to follow a design and implementation process- Without a process for discovery, definition, design and implementation, the project will lose predictability in all areas; scope, budget, timeline and deliverables.
Lack of Training and Support for End Users- In a budget-conscious implementation, training is usually the first area to cut. Many CRM industry experts have observed that this is a critical risk factor and our experiences support this observation.