Examining ROI: How an Agile Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deployment Sped Innovation, Smoothed Long Term IT Strategy

Editor's note:  This is the first in an occasional series that will examine specific examples of how Microsoft Dynamics customers and partners are challenged to identify and measure the return on investment of their implementations.  If you would like to share your views on the idea of measuring ROI with Dynamics products and tell your company's or client's ROI story, please contact us for consideration.

If you want to convince those senior executives that a Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation can pay off, you need a well-planned ROI strategy.

And that ROI should be determined by your business objectives and what you want your system to do. But whatever ROI you decide you need, you must have the metrics determined to measure it before you start the CRM implementation. The metrics, along with clearly defined goals for the system, will guide the CRM process and enable you to measure the success of your project.

"We work with a company to identify what the metrics are to drive adoption," said Mike Rogers, VP of Business Development and Marketing at Microsoft partner Customer Effective. "If companies focus on their goals and getting adoption, the ROI will come naturally. The failure is if you don't identify your metrics and understand what is going to make your implementation of CRM successful."

Upfront planning

Rogers said the initial reasons for implementing CRM should be clearly identified because, as the implementation progresses, you have to look back at those ROI metrics you identified early on.

"If you lose sight of that during a six-month implementation, you have to go back and look at the most important things you need to accomplish ...