Brendan Hancock

Always build CRM tools towards the improvement of business driven KPIs. Decide what you want to measure and visualize that in a reporting model that demonstrates an uptick in revenue, customer satisfaction, engagement efficiency, employee productivity. Each org will have different reporting requirements, the trick is to make sure those dashboards and reports are meaningful to outcomes.

Most global enterprises have multiple CRM systems and for good reasons: language, latency, regulation/compliance, currency. Virtually no global organization can run on a single CRM instance, so consider compartmentalizing CRM initiatives in business units, geographies, languages... etc.

I advise putting business needs, requirements and KPIs first. An executive stakeholder should drive CRM strategy towards business outcomes. A CRM system should drive MEASURABLE revenue, profitability, customer experience, visibility of customer touch points, and ease of interaction with your organization. Don't fall into the trap of letting technical needs outweigh the business. Don't build any CRM system before you define what that system should accomplish.

I think there need to be clearly defined roles and responsibilities and how you staff your CRM will likely break down into project/implementation phases. You will want strong and qualified CRM project resources for your implementation who have had multiple deployments in their background (likely an integration services provider if you don't have in house system integrator experience). As you consider post-implementation phases, you will also need to bring on internal-admins, trainers, change management resources. These post-implementation roles may be 1 or Many people depending on the scale and complexity of your CRM system. CRM systems can range in complexity from a rolodex to a spider web of complex integrations. Staff accordingly.

I learned early in my career that nobody would set boundaries for me. I worked too much, too late, too often and I burned out on more than one occasion. I make sure to take care of myself and my family first which means I don't compromise on sleep, skipping meals, working after hours, being constantly absorbed by work on my phone etc. At the end of the day, we work so we can live, thus don't live to work.

First thing is to keep calm and assess how to resolve the issues you are being presented with. There is almost certainly more than one solution to a problem and its in your best interest not to jump to a conclusion too quickly. Try to empathize with the people you are speaking with, change management is a solid discipline that begins with keeping cool.