SmartThoughts's goal is to find an "Exact Fit" for our clients customer relationship management strategy. Simply stated, we engage our clients in a consultative approach that continues through post-implementation. To the end, our main focus is geared towards helping our clients succeed. If we cannot help a customer achieve their overall objectives, then no one wins in the transaction. Granted, business objectives vary,but most of the time our clients are exploring a change because they require one or all of the following: a need to reduce their costs, a desire to increase their revenue or margins, ability to leverage their cost of capital, increase productivity, improve quality, and improve customer satisfaction. We acknowledge that implementing a new tool may not be the right move for every organization. Therefore, we keep an option open to tell our clients that this may in fact be a waste of our mutual time. This is a perfectly acceptable option as long as we take the time early on to establish the business case for the initiative and alternatives for doing nothing. That noted, below is a brief outline of our typical steps in our mutual exploration to find an "Exact Fit" for our clients: 1) Analyze requirements and business objectives: Initially, we will meet with your team and go through a business process review to assess your overall strategic objectives. Typically, on the initial visits, we will center our time determining the current environmental challenges and reasons why a project makes good business sense. In fact, the initial meetings will be centered on assisting your team in analyzing what any solution needs in order to deliver a solid Return On Investment that is quantifiable. The bottom line for all of us will be to determine if a project is a good investment to make for your group at this time. In these meetings, we mutually explore with the champions of the project, the shared outcome of a solution that truly meets our clients needs today-whether with us or someone else. You know the challenges of your business, and we are experts in business automation. Together, we will work together to find the right reasons to move forward. If agreeable, we will then set up a series of meetings to interview all pertinent players in the project. End users, Executives, and Managers will all need to be a part of any unified effort to find a solution. Our team will be charged with asking the hard questions, prioritize your needs, and documenting the project requirements. 2) Product selection review: Business automation software is not one size fits all. We are prepared to help you consider all of the appropriate alternatives. Again, we have comprehensive and independent third party data on many solutions for this space. Therefore, we are prepared to help your team develop a consensus on any solution(s) that best fits your business objectives. Many times, it will become quite apparent after a couple of meetings what solution(s) will meet your business objectives. If that is the case, our consultants will recommend a solution(s) which is apparent and proceed to the next step. If it is not apparent, we will schedule a series of meetings with your team and our counselors for a more thorough product selection review to be performed. 3) The recommendation: After our selection review and due diligence, we will share with your team the alternatives that were considered. Your budget, timeline, data conversion, legacy systems and other specific requirements will all be taken into consideration with your team. This is a group meeting (SmartThoughts and the Project Team) designed to review all the unique features of each solution under consideration. The final demonstration of solutions will be set up at this time with one product left standing as the clear choice to meet the overall project objectives. 4) Plan to implement your solution: A well-run project is like a symphony orchestra with all the players working individually and with different roles but as part of a cohesive team. After the final recommendation, we will help your team find the best route to implement your chosen solution. We understand that software development is complex. As a result, we will continue our work with your team to determine the phases, tasks, timelines and responsibilities relating to the development and implementation of your system. As a team, will agree on communication processes, milestones, contingency plans, testing procedures nd all of the other issues relating to successful project management. Each phase of the project is defined by deliverables that allow us or your trusted partner to validate the success of the work that has been completed and the appropriateness of proceeding to the next phase. If we do not have the implementation expertise in house to adequately meet the complexity of any engagements, we will either recommend the manufacturer or another trusted business partner to do this critical step. Our involvement can be as simple as making a recommendation on a solution provider to helping with the selection of a business partner. It's your choice at this point, and we our there to facilitate as needed. 5) Monitor & Adjust the Implementation Plan : There has never been a software project or implementation that did not require some level of course correction or modification along the way. SmartThoughts during our implementation process use a formal and agreed upon procedure to identify progress, problem areas and scope changes. Further, we use a formal and agreed upon communication process in order to ensure a clear understanding by all of the project stakeholders. To be sure, our mutually selected implementation partners will share in this philosophy. 6. Ongoing Support : SmartThoughts is not done after the sale. We will continue to be your trusted customer advocate along the journey to your destination. We encourage your team to keep us informed and let us know what needs to be done to help tweak and help along the continuation of your CRM initiatives. SmartThoughts is your long term business partner for your “winning customer strategy”!