CRM - August 2008 - (Page 28)

VENDORS AND USERS BOTH NOW HAVE AN UNPRECEDENTED DEGREE OF CONTROL OVER WHAT A CRM APPLICATION CAN LOOK LIKE. HOW SHOULD THAT POWER BE USED? by Marshall Lager hen business productivity and information accuracy are desirable goals, few things are more cringeinducing than a bad user interface. We’ve all seen them—whether it’s a flat, boring DOS prompt or a crowded, multitabbed application, one look and you just know nothing’s going to get done. Conversely, a good interface does more than let a user get the job done; it practically draws that user deeper in, compelling more input of data—and better use of knowledge—than a so-so interface would. The trick is, not everybody has the same concept of what an application interface should look like to meet those needs. Where one designer feels a sparse screen with toolbar buttons is the right approach, another prefers multiple tabs and contextual menus. Some expect users to learn a slew of keyboard shortcuts, while others act like the keyboard is passé. The graphical user interface (GUI) has led to more than a few rather graphic comments when usability doesn’t meet expectations. W design that supports the call center agent and the mobile sales rep,” he adds. Pombriant admits that there are good designs out there, and some bad ones too. “‘Bad’ might include Microsoft, which is trying too hard to make Outlook relevant to their customers and thereby extend its life,” he says. Good design, he suggests, might be found on the PDA, “especially from companies that have given up the idea of trying to cram all of CRM onto the small device. Instead, these vendors are trying to figure out what to leave in and, importantly, what to leave out.” On the other hand, he says, “great design might be coming from guys who have given up on the visual to concentrate on the audible. We could be at the point of diminishing returns where we’re not going to improve the visual interface a lot—for a while at least—but voice is a new territory.” According to his firm’s research, the cellphone, not the laptop, is the most valuable possession on the road, where salespeople—major users of CRM—do some of their most important work.“A UI that lets the rep dictate notes and kick off workflows is where I think we’re going. I recently saw Ribbit for Salesforce.com, which offers this UI and a developer’s [software development kit] for embedding voice into the UI. Now that’s powerful.” LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE Before beginning any discussion of what’s being done with CRM GUIs, maybe it’s worth asking why anything should be done at all. Not just CRM, but the entire software playing field has changed since the days when we first left the command prompt in favor of windowed environments. (See sidebar, “A Brief History of the GUI,” page 33.) “Isn’t it time to think beyond the visual design of a UI?” asks Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group, a CRM consultancy. To Pombriant, an industry veteran, the UI is one of the last vestiges of client-server architecture, where standardization of design was, well, standard. We’ve moved on; many CRM users these days don’t even use Windows-based apps because they desire mobility without relying on Windows Mobile devices. “Possibly the big design flaw is trying to make a single LOOKING INTO THE MATTER That said, there’s still a lot of innovation happening in the visual presentation of CRM systems, whether on mobile devices or desktops. But good UI design has to be more than just pretty pictures, doesn’t it? “Many CRM systems are designed by tech geeks who understand how databases work; therefore, the logic of how everything is displayed and the navigation makes sense—to a database guru,” says Edward Siegel, director of marketing for SuperOffice CRM, a system for small and midmarket businesses. “We have to remember that the users of a CRM system are not usually IT experts. They are salespeople, customer service reps, and other nontechnical users.” Siegel’s experiences as an integrator and businessperson have taught a lesson that many of his peers would agree with: “Any time spent learning a system or struggling to use a system is time that your sales force is not out selling,” he says. “This is Wouldja 28 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | AUGUST 2008 LO

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - August 2008

CRM - August 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Maximum Security A Code Win Doesn’t Blow Forming the Platform CRM on Twitter CRM Class Is in Session Making CRM Mandatory for University Administration Required Reading Cover Story: Calling it Quits Wouldja Look at That? 8 Enterprise Strategies That Stick CRM Searches for Search All Lines Are Not Busy UC: As Easy as A-B-C Even Contact Centers Have Room for Improvement Money Lying Around? Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - August 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.