But there’s no reason the technology that enables a customer-centric culture has to be hard to use. But frankly, CRM technology has often been a bear to work with.

Most CRMs take a complex piece of technology (encompassing marketing, sales, support, contracts, quoting, etc.) and combine it with a clumsy, click-happy user interface. That’s a recipe for disaster.

With today’s launch of Sugar 6.0, Sugar has taken a “good enough” user interface and made it exceptional.

Sugar’s new tagline with the launch is “CRM Made Simple”, and they’ve clearly targeted the user experience. I’ve been using the new Sugar interface for several months. In short, it’s incredible.

The best improvements?

1. A shortcut bar that places the most common actions persistently at the top of the page and opens an overlay without moving you to another screen. For example, if I’m looking at a project status screen and receive a call from a customer, I can click the “Log Call” shortcut, input my notes and save the call without ever leaving the project screen.
2. Hovering your mouse over Tabs brings up specific actions for that tab. For example, when I hover over Accounts, I see options to create, view and import accounts as well as a list of the accounts I’ve viewed most recently. This keeps the screen clean while still putting countless tools a single mouse-action away.
3. Global search returns a results list from the entire system without making me leave the screen I’m looking at. It’s so brilliant and simple I have no idea why I’ve never seen it in a CRM before.
4. The new look is snazzy. A little bigger and a little bolder is a little easier on the eyes. Clearly Sugar has been paying attention to what Facebook and other leading Web 2.0 companies are learning about user interfaces.
5. Upcoming native support for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberries. Native mobile integration is going to be a “must have” in the very near future.

I’m excited about the quality of this update from Sugar. As business-technology consultants we like to stay technology-neutral and realize we risk our own reputation when we commit to a piece of technology. Based on Sugar 6, we made a good decision five years ago when we brought Sugar into our technology stable.

If you’re considering a CRM project or would like to see Sugar 6 in action, feel free to get in touch with us.

If you have opinions about Sugar 6, feel free to leave a comment below.

Waterfall development goes through distinct stages, with requirements gathering in the first stage. In the waterfall method, a group of decision makers think, imagine, script and whiteboard how the system might be used. These working sessions create a set of requirements for the application. After the requirements are set, the waterfall method flows down to future stages of development, testing and deployment.

In contrast, agile development breaks a project down into small stages. Each stage tackles a small area of the application, gathering requirements, building, testing and then putting the growing application into the hands of users. This process allows requirements to emerge over time, as users and developers learn together exactly what the application needs to accomplish.

Waterfall development assumes the requirements of a system can be fully predicted and codified before any development begins. Agile development assumes requirements only fully emerge during the process.

Waterfall development aims at a stationary target. Agile development aims at a moving one.

So which method is best?

The Stacey Matrix below is a helpful tool for evaluating a potential development project.

Waterfall development works best for simple systems, when there is a great degree of certainly regarding exactly what the application will do and there is a high level of agreement within the organization regarding those functions. When systems are complicated, complex or chaotic, waterfall development is increasingly likely to fail. When the system has many users, complicated uses, the need to evolve over time, or there is disagreement over requirements, agile development can guide the process toward a successful deployment by breaking down the overall project into simpler sections.

So why does evaluating a project matter?

Waterfall development lends itself to off shoring. Once requirements gathering is complete, the development company can “disappear” to develop the application. There are few reasons I can think of to engage a domestic waterfall development firm that offset the significant increase in cost over off shoring.

But agile development requires an engaged, local team. In complex scenarios off shoring leads to failed projects and sunk costs. We’ve seen complex, off shored projects in need of rescuing time and time again. The fault is not usually on the off shore firm, but on the method used.

So before you engage a development firm, check the Stacey Matrix. Is this a simple project with low complexity and high agreement that could be off shored? Or does the complexity of the project make a local, agile team (like Highland) the right choice?

Do you know how secure your business information is when you connect to wireless Internet in your hotel or at the airport or hook up to free WiFi at a cafe? It can be very risky, but there are a few simple ways to protect yourself, your company and your clients. In a recent article about information security, Chris Drake from E-Commerce Times stresses educating yourself and your workforce about the best methods to keep yourself safe from hackers. He offers these suggestions:

For Wireless Internet Connections

• Stay off the free wireless Internet. If you do use it, go through a secure VPN connection with the latest encryption methods.
• Subscribe to a mobile broadband service and use the mobile Internet access card.
• If you are not using your wireless connection, turn it off. This will help regulate when you are actually connected.

Use the Right Hardware and Software

• If possible, use a “travel only” laptop that contains only the basics and not all your work history information.
• Access your email through the Web instead of through physical software.
• When you are done on the Internet, clear your browser history.
• Store everything on an approved network instead of on your local harddrive.
• Type in passwords instead of having your computer remember them.
• Equip your mobile device with “lojack-like” software. In the event of loss or theft, you will be able to wipe out the contents on your device.
• Install antivirus software on your laptop.
• Require two-factor authentication to access your system

Drake also cautions to always keep your belongings with you at all times. It only takes a minute of turning your back or leaving the table, and your laptop could be hacked or stolen. Thieves and cybercriminals look for any opportunity.

Don’t assume that your boss or the IT department have everything covered. Know what methods you have in place to protect yourself. How valuable is your company’s information to you and your job? Can you afford to take chances?

Most businesses don’t have the need to maintain a full-time lawyer, HR administrator or CIO. Typically these roles have either been outsourced or simply neglected.

In the last few years, this approach has changed, moving from “outsourcing” law or technology advice to retaining “virtual” advisors.

The change in wording is more than mere semantics; it reflects a change in focus. Outsourcing work focuses on the vendor. Your legal questions, HR needs or technology plans go into the queue of a company that performs the exact same actions for a hundred other businesses just like yours. Virtual assistance focuses on you and provides unique, on-demand assistance. A virtual advisor gets to know you and your business, providing expertise as an informed, long-term trusted advisor.

At Highland, we believe in the virtual model. While most small to medium size companies invest in IT-either full time staff or an outsourced firm-very few have the need or resources for high level technology planning in a full time CIO. As specialists in business technology, we provide the benefits of strategic technical thinking in a virtual role.

The benefits of long-term planning, disaster preparedness, and aligning technology with your business goals are immense. A virtual CIO gives business leaders confidence that IT is driven by business thinking and frees them to focus on other core tasks.

I don’t praise the value of a virtual CIO because it’s one of our services. Virtual arrangements are the smartest way I know for businesses to fill out their expertise. Highland retains a virtual HR department and a virtual lawyer. We practice what we preach.

Are there other specialized roles you’ve seen work well as virtual advisors? Have you experienced key benefits or drawbacks from this model? Share your comments below.

A few years ago, everyone would have been wondering if someone was sneaking in a bit of World of Warcraft over lunch. Normal office work just didn’t require that sort of  processing power.

Not anymore. Widescreen monitors with high resolutions are graphically intense, and fancy new website technologies like AJAX (that allow you to interact with only part of a webpage without refreshing the whole page—think Facebook, Gmail, Zimbra) can tax a PC graphically as well.

So our sluggish PC got a major graphics upgrade, in the form of a GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI-E 2.0 Graphics Card.

I admit that’s a product name with gamer written all over it.

And be warned that getting the sleek, foreboding black and green box into your office might gain you a couple of curious stares. A backpack or a paper bag could be called for.

But even though the graphics card market still clearly targets the PC gamer, office PCs supporting large monitors or working in web applications can see a big productivity boost by using graphics cards with significant memory and processing power. Plus, the prices have dropped substantially in the last few years, and are easily under $75 for a good card.

So put some gamer gear to work in your office. You may be surprised at the difference.

Every now and then I like to browse the websites of other technology companies. Recently, as we’ve been putting the finishing touches on a brand new website launch (coming in June!), I’ve been doing it a lot more.

While I’ve come across sites both great and terrible, I have noticed a discouragingly common trend. Many technology companies are overly specialized in a particular type of technology.

The most common example is Microsoft, of course. Legion are the IT companies who display their “Microsoft Gold Partner” badge and the long list of Microsoft certifications their staff holds. Such specialization is a good thing if you need assistance with a piece of Microsoft technology. However, if you were to approach such a company with a business problem to be solved or goal to be achieved, you would undoubtedly receive a Microsoft-shaped solution.

But what if Microsoft’s offering is actually inferior or overly costly for your business issue?

Nevermind. It all goes in the Microsoft box. The company is overly specialized, and can only see your business through a Microsoft-shaded lens.

I pick on Microsoft because they’re the 500-pound gorilla in the room, but the same can hold true for vendors across the board

This is not the Highland way. We believe that not all IT is built the same.

The necessary technology, disciplines and team dynamics are as unique as the solution itself.

Thus throughout our history we’ve determined to specialize in not becoming too specialized. Our team includes a host of individual specializations all bound together by a shared broad skill set and business-savvy.

We readily admit we’re not a “Gold Partner” with anyone, because our focus is on keeping business process–not technology–front and center.

As we’ve prepared to launch our new site, we finally made the decision to openly display the logos of technology we use, even on our home page. This is a first for us, but the time is right. Technology has evolved to a point where flexible, open-source building blocks are a growing part of both our hosted and development services. While we’re not “locked in” to any solution (we often change underlying technology when better solutions come along), we’re also committed to being transparent in what we do.

So look for our new website in June. And, more importantly, when you’re evaluating an IT solution, always focus on the business process.

If you’re looking for someone to fix your washing machine, technology certifications are important. If you’re tackling a business process, technology must always be secondary.

That’s how we see it.

That’s been the trend in all things Internet over the last ten years. Computers and connections are faster. Monitors have been growing bigger and bigger. Websites and web applications have been stretching into all of that new screen size and bandwidth to deliver big, fast, media-rich, interactive sites.

Now that’s starting to change.

Bigger, better and faster aren’t going away. But a rapidly increasing number of people using the Internet are trading some of that in for other values: mobile and accessible.

Tiny phone screens and modest tablet screens are going to represent a sizeable part of web traffic in the future. I have not always been a believer that the mighty PC and laptop would actually be supplanted for “serious” Internet use. But I believe now. It’s still early, but the trending is clear.

The numbers tell us the future is not here yet and won’t be for a while. Mobile phone views only account for 1% of all webpage views worldwide. However, 2009 saw almost 150% growth in usage, and that trend is sure to continue and intensify, especially considering Apple is currently exploding the tablet market with the iPad just as they did to the smartphone market a few years ago.

I admit I scoffed at the iPad at first. Then I saw one of our clients interact with a custom web app we wrote on one, and consider the implications of sending his staff into the field to interact directly with the program via the tablet. It’s a brilliant idea, and I think the most valuable type of early adoption of the mobile web. For most companies, the biggest impact of the mobile/tablet web during these early years will not be optimizing their external web presence for mobility, but making internal applications (custom, collaboration, CRM, intranet, etc.) fully available to staff on smartphones and tablets.

If you want to read some high-level thinking about the mobile web, here’s an excellent interview between Magento and Forrester’s Brian Walker regarding mobile strategy.

What do you think? Have you seen companies make good use of the mobile web internally or externally? Think the mobile web is a revolution or a fad? Leave your comments below.

The stronger your online presence, the more people there are looking at your website or newsletter or blog on a mobile device. Do you have any idea how it looks?

If not, go ahead and try it out. It’s usually not very pretty.

The bad news is that all of the attention, effort and resources you’ve poured into your website, newsletter, blog, e-commerce site, etc. amounts to almost nothing on a mobile device. Load times are so long and screen sizes are so strange that only the most determined mobile browser will be able to find the information they’re looking for.

The solution? Start providing mobile alternatives.

Making websites mobile friendly isn’t nearly as intimidating as it seems. Mobile screens demand a minimalist approach, meaning only the most critical information on your site(s) should come into the mobile site(s). Anything critical for a browser in the moment or on the go should be prioritized: location and directions, contact information, hours, what you offer.

Websites can be easily configured to recognize that a visitor is using a mobile device and deliver the mobile site instead of the normal one. Visit a site like cnn.com or espn.com on a PC and then on a mobile phone to see how this works.

A small amount of effort and a little time with a designer/developer can produce a highly functional site that will pleasantly surprise your mobile browsers.

After your website is ready, consider “mobilizing” some of your other online assets.

1. What does your newsletter look like when opened on a mobile phone?

2. Does your blog have an easy mobile format? (For some good examples of design, the gawker.com network does a great job of mobile blogs.)

3. Can your e-commerce site deliver a streamlined mobile buying experience?

4. Are your employees’ company web applications accessible on mobile phones (webmail, CRM, intranet, etc.)? Can this experience be improved?

There probably isn’t a near-term ROI for all of these projects. There’s a need to understand your customer base and target market and what opportunities are being missed. But mobile access is a growing trend, and more and more web browsing will be occurring on those tiny mobile screens. It’s better to be ahead of the curve than to be caught way behind it.

Have you had good or bad experiences “mobilizing” a website or online asset? Do you have ideas on a where mobile sites are particularly effective or ineffective? Share your thoughts below.

The University of Pennsylvania runs both Exchange and Zimbra. They have nearly 1,000 users on Exchange and over 6,200 users on Zimbra, and the same technical support team takes care of both systems and their respective user bases.

My primary complaint with Exchange is how time-intensive and difficult it is to support and maintain. Support and maintenance are entirely hidden costs at the point of purchase, and many unsuspecting buyers have been lured in with steep license discounts only to discover the ongoing costs were far more than they bargained for.

The data from Penn agrees. For Penn, supporting an Exchange user is over 9 times more time consuming than supporting a Zimbra user.

For 1,000 users, Exchange requires 3.2 full-time equivalent staff members to support. With over 6,200 users, Zimbra requires 2.2 full-time staff members to report. That’s right, 33% less time spent on support for six times the users.

When Penn analyzed the total cost of ownership for Exchange and Zimbra (licensing, hardware, maintenance, support, etc.), Exchange came out at $7.50 per user. Zimbra was under half the cost at $3.00 per user.

Adam Preset, an IT technical director at Penn, discusses their deployment:

Management puts massive amounts of time, energy, money, resources and excitement into a new CRM system. They’re giddy with the possibilities of sales forecasting, reporting, customer satisfaction, and all sorts of information that will help marketing and sales to be more effective.

The big training and launch take place, there’s a flurry of activity…and a week later 20% of the sales reps aren’t even using the thing.

CRMs don’t work unless sales reps use them. And sales reps won’t use them unless there is something in it for them. Entering call reports at the end of each day doesn’t exactly get a sales rep fired up, and there’s no direct line between that thankless work and the next commission check.

When deploying a CRM, you need to keep your end users in mind.

The system has to be easy to use and valuable for reaching the goals of the reps (not just the goals of the company).

Here are some ways we’ve seen it done in our work with SugarCRM:

Easy to Use

Make your CRM mobile friendly. There are other things I could say here (play nice with Outlook, make the CRM easily customizable, etc.), but the mobile access is so far and away the critical issue that it gets this space all to itself. If you have outside sales reps, chances are their smartphone is the primary “computer” they use day after day after day. Getting basic CRM functions onto the phone puts the CRM in the path of a sales rep’s daily rhythm and increases the chance of usage astronomically.

Valuable

There are several ways to make a CRM valuable.

1. Place valuable information in the CRM that reps can’t get any other way. Have inbound leads or pre-qualified leads assigned to reps in the CRM, so they have to log in to get them.
2. Place the entire sales process in the CRM. We’ve found quoting tools in the CRM to be incredibly valuable to sales. In two minutes or less a rep can have a nicely formatted PDF quote that can be sent directly to the customer. That’s a time saver and super valuable. For the Holy Grail, extend the quoting screens to a mobile device or (even better) an iPhone app. I’ve seen this done, and the ability to create and email a polished quote to a customer while standing right next to them is remarkable.
3. While we don’t always like it, you can also use a big stick. Some companies require CRM sales entries in order to receive commission for a sale. Consider the impact of actually enforcing this before going through with it.

Deploying a CRM that doesn’t help your sales reps won’t get used. No amount of cajoling, cheerleading, threatening or posturing will change that fact if the CRM isn’t easy to use and immediately valuable to your reps. Keep their needs front and center, and you’ll see much better results.

Have you seen other ways to make a CRM easy to use and valuable to sales reps? Add a comment below.