Functionally, the new CRM system had to record and classify new clients and manage the existing client base so that staff could retire their contact list spreadsheets. Clients needed to be tagged with multiple data elements including business sectors, subsectors, countries, and regions.
Opportunities for exports and investments needed to be recorded, managed, and updated with progress reports and records of success or failure. Quality measures and KPIs needed to be stored so that they could be retrieved and updated easily without having to go to a separate system.
As a top priority, the system needed to be simple, provide full visibility of activities across the organisation, and support the storing of key data in languages other than English.
The initial goal was to implement a single CRM across all 11 countries so that all 160 staff could use the same system instead of disparate systems and methodologies.