Key Questions To Ask About the Business Process Elements

Here is my follow-up to my previous post on Business Process elements for a full Business Process Review:

In determining functionality, key questions to ask about the business process elements that are evaluated include the following:

• Ownership—Is there clear responsibility, authority, and accountability for the success of the process invested within a functional group or groups?
• Integrity—Is the process consistent across time and within all units that use the process within the organization?
• Interfaces—Are critical interfaces between groups (internal), partners (external), and with customers understood and functional?
• Procedures—Have key process steps been documented and agreed upon by process owners and customer-interfacing personnel?
• Measures—Are performance standards and measures routinely used to determine the process’ success from both a company and customer viewpoint?

Each of these elements should be evaluated for individual business processes and the total set of processes targeted for a CRM initiative. Not all elements will have the same level of functionality. For example, the sales process within your organization may have exceptionally clear and authoritative ownership, but the interfaces between sales and marketing or customer service may be highly dysfunctional. The more dysfunctional elements create gaps that must be corrected before or during the CRM implementation.

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