Many organizations are finding out recently that their customer relations departments are not productive enough. As the CRM world is advancing, the complexity of solutions is growing in the organizational, technological and in the processes. This situation puts the decision makers in a confusing situation as to the best course of action needed to improve the current situation. As a response to these conditions, the SOLVER group, which leads the way in the field of solutions for sales and service organizations, is presenting a holistic approach for a solution to the varied needs based on the concept that "The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts"

The Solver group which is operating over 8 years among the largest organizations in the market, is a "Competence Center" with distinctive value added solutions to the world of customer relation as a complete basket of services based on in-house capabilities. Avi Freifeld the GM of the group, explains that this unique holistic approach comes into view also in Solver's team of experts: "Solver's team has a significant experience in project management, consulting, planning and business analysis of business processes, implementation of specific technologies for sales & service organizations, assimilation and operation. However the specialization and know-how are not the only requirements for these experts to work for Solver. A solver team member is also evaluated by other criteria  such as excellent customer service, accepting responsibility, meeting budgets and deadlines and most important daring and originality. Solver experts are not using intuitive
solution in sort of 'it seems to me that this is the right approach' but are using a controlled methodology that was developed in the group based on the understanding that only a wide view will result in a comprehensive solution and fully satisfied customer. Through cooperation and the provision of quality professional service, Solver's group is able to handle unexpected difficulties which arise during project implementation and resolve them while staying on target" says Mr. Freifeld and stresses that Solver is the only company in Israel which combines a broad strategic understanding with demonstrated long term vision and the ability to recommend the most suitable solution consulting ability backed by 100% satisfied customers.

Avi, how can you explain the wide spread lack of satisfaction in organizations from the performance and outcome of CRM projects?

An organization that comes to implement a CRM project is required to use several entities in order to achieve all the objectives it set up to do. Each such entity specializes in a different area and sees the problem from a different angle and point of view. There are consultants that specialize in Long term vision and strategic planning, others specialize in CRM technologies, others specialize in process reengineering, while other will offer know-how and expertise in change management. Every one of the consulting types mention here analyzes the problem from their narrow point of view and not from a broad holistic point of view of the solution. As a result, the customer who has no expertise in so many areas has to take the responsibility of integrating the array of solutions presented to him. None of the consulting parties takes full responsibility for the entire project, and as a result the customer finds itself deeply involved in the project allocating vast resources in terms of time and manpower. The project cost significantly exceeds the original budget, the ongoing operation is another reason for concern for top management and the bottom line is that the project is not meeting objectives and expectations.

So, what is the central point in such complicated issue?

"Solver clearly identified that the source of the problems in CRM projects, and by the way in many other projects, is because there is a large gap and lack of communication between the designing entities and the operating/implementing entities. Many tend to blame the failure of such projects in the fact that management was not involved enough. Even though this is a valid argument in many cases, it is defiantly not the only factor contributing to the failure or the partial achievement of the set goals or potential. I repeat and tell the decision makers in the organization that the multitude of consultants and suppliers is a major reason for failure. Only a wide view by one responsible entity will bring such project to a successful completion. In several cases I recommended that organization managers take the responsibility of the integrator on themselves as to not leave it to the "sectional approach" which so often results in long-term sorrow and regrets.

In a more detailed explanation, what is the undesired "sectional approach" for
organizations?

In general it can be viewed as a phenomenon in which implementation customer relation program is done by using several entities, of which some may have conflict of interests and where each entity is interested to lead the project in the direction where it has its expertise. As said without an entity with a significant broad know-how and experience in implementing multi-disciplinary projects, it is impossible to implement a project in an optimal way.
More specifically, the problem starts at the very beginning in the first stage of the project when organization are using consultants which defined themselves as experts in CRM strategy and knows how to do well a strategic plan. In large organizations, this expert is not normally involved in the strategic planning of the organization and therefore is not involved in the operational strategy of the organization. As a matter of fact CRM strategy is a part of the global organization strategy in implementing the business goals and objectives. As a result from the beginning there are no definitions of specific outputs and a definite vision.
It is important to understand that a definition of the vision is a result of several workshops of top management in which top manager sit together and define their customer characteristics and their segmentation, the objectives for these segments, customer desired experience and the desired business outputs from such process. At the end of such process a new CRM approach is defined and transformed into change management plan for the organization in several levels. In the organizational cultural level, in the organizational structure and the commitment of the managers and employees; in the operational level i.e. the work processes, supporting information system infrastructure. In some organizations the formation of the organization vision is done well and the outcome is an impressive birds overview picture. The problem is that this high level picture does not define the way to implement the vision. In most cases there are no dimensional outputs and measurable outcome to evaluate the process, so in most cases it is impossible to implement the road map of the vision. Without a definite road map, which serves as the anchor to the implementation of the project, there is an increasing sense of mistrust in the project among all participating parties. From many years of experience I know that a vision can not materialize unless there is a promoter, methodology and belief in the way its done.

This way most organizations arrive at the second stage of the project with a fundamental problem in stage one. In the second stage the implementing entity is not usually the entity who formed the vision. Now suddenly the focus is shifted to the technological aspects of the project. The consultant which was hired to implement the project is not usually too concerned about implementing the vision which was formed in the previous stage, and is now busy building the functionality of the system and managing the design of the computer screens that will provide the needed information on the customer. This is done while key elements in the organization vision are left out or transferred to company employees or outside consultants like process consultants and change experts. Needless to say that these experts are not synchronized between themselves and in most cases there is no one entity, which defined a definite finish line in this project. In the worst case the project crashes and fails, in the best case it ends up with certain improvement of certain processes".

So what is Solver's solution to this problem?

Already in 1998 when I managed the company "Missing Link" which was involved in providing technological solutions for sales and service organizations, better known today as Call Centers, I recognized the paramount need of organizations in an entity that can take the solution from start to end in the CRM world. As a result of that conclusion I decided in 1999 to establish Solver with the objective to provide a holistic solution with total responsibility. The ideological foundation upon which Solver was founded states that above and beyond the vision and the detail planning of the project, we need to provide the customer in a step-by-step process with the know-how to get the most out of its organizational and technological infrastructure and obtain a competitive advantage in the market place.
Solver is implementing the CRM concept with a variety of disciplines. As a result, our working methodology is based on a Top Down planning with a Bottom Up approach. This unique combination brings about a wide horizontal view already in the design stage. From our experience, the recognition that the well-defined vision is translated into practical organizational processes creates a high level of confidence in all involved parties when each involved party understands the objectives and what the necessary changes are in order to achieve them. This methodology allows the definitions of the most important and business justifications of the project as well as the risks involved. As stated earlier we give high importance to the continues responsibility from the design stage to the implementation stage, a fact that creates unified language and terminology between all parties involved in the project, a fundamental ingredient for success.

Which are the organizations that chose Solver as their preferred supplier?

Our customer list is long and includes different market sectors. I will mention few that are a representative sample: Poalim Bank(largest Israeli Bank), Mizrahi Bank, Visa CAL, Isracard (largest Credit card issuer), Klal Insurance, MALAM group (One of the largest IT firms) Bezeq International (Largest international operator), AMDOCS, MIRS(Motorola), Tadiran Ampa(largest appliance distributor and service company),Israeli POST, Social Security, Open University, Management college. Solver is also active abroad and among the projects there a large project at Vodaphone UK is worth mentioning.

In summary, what are the added values Solver brings to its customers?

First of all Solver creates a tight connection between the planning and the implementation, it brings a unique ability for delivery, build comprehensive rollout plans in a gradual development of processes and technologies; Rapid Prototyping according to the budgetary framework defined with the client; the innovation and daring approach of the group combined with the proven delivery of over 11 years in the world of CRM with successful projects in many sectors in the market. Our extensive base, experience and expertise in this field allows us to find already in the planning stage the justifications for the project and expose possible points of failure while offering solutions to these possible problems. Our deep understanding of the real customer needs and the way these needs are to be fulfilled. A company specializes in CRM is ought to be an example of customer service and full customer satisfaction.