Implementation Services
Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Salesforce.com can tremendously improve workforce productivity, and customer satisfaction. However, implementing these types of applications properly can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive for an organization without prior experience. With our many years of experience, we deliver implementation services quickly and cost-effectively. Here’s what we do:
Office 365 Implementation
Forceworks is a partner with Microsoft Online, and is ideally positioned to help you take advantage of Microsoft 365. Forceworks can move your on-premise Microsoft Exchange email to the cloud and provide a collaborative email and productivity environment for your company. This service provides your staff access to email, calendars, contacts and documents. We can even integrate Office 365 with your existing environment or create a hybrid solution–moving some users to the cloud while supporting on-premise access for others. When you are ready to start using Office 365 we can provide the professional help you need to setup and configure your new system so you can start collaborating and increasing productivity sooner. We provide fully managed services of the following:
- Defining requirement for email
- Defining requirements for SharePoint
- Implementation of required DNS changes
- Implementation of Exchange Online
- Migration of legacy Exchange Data
- Implementation of SharePoint
- Migration of legacy SharePoint Data
- Internet bandwidth testing
- Administrator and end-user training
CRM Implementation
Forceworks is a partner with Salesforce.com as well as Microsoft Dynamics, but obtaining a Customer Relationship Management solution that optimizes business performance requires more than just the selection and installation of the right software application. It also requires planning and configuration to map the functionality needs of the business to that of the application. It requires training users and administrators and the migration of legacy data. It may even require some level of integration with other applications and possibly application customization to meet unique business requirements.
Forceworks assists our clients in achieving the most value from their CRM solutions by applying a coordinated series of best practices through all of the stages of their system deployment. These general stages are defined below:
Defining the specific business requirements, and designing a detailed implementation plan that meets these requirements, is crucial to the success of any business system deployment. To accomplish this, Forceworks conducts various activities such as executive workshops, system walkthroughs, and conference room pilots that allow us to identify inefficiencies in the existing systems and processes, mission critical functions, system inputs, system outputs, existing reports, application interfaces, and process dependencies. With this information we clearly identify immediate and long-term opportunities for improving overall business operations.
Projects lacking a proper requirements definition often experience iterative loops through the implementation activities as the project team attempts to hit moving requirements targets. Fixing the list of requirements during the requirements definition phase therefore represents a prime opportunity to manage the project’s cost and delivery date.
A successful system implementation requires effective planning, coordinated execution, and timely communication. To facilitate this, Forceworks establishes detailed project plans that identify specific tasks, responsible personnel (including client involvement), critical milestones, and timelines for each phase of the implementation project. The Forceworks engagement manager works closely with the client sponsor to review work progress, budgets, and schedules. By applying these systematic project management principles throughout the project, Forceworks can significantly increase the cost-effectiveness and speed of the overall implementation engagement.
Forceworks’ implementation phase engages a series of experience-driven practices that facilitate rapid and cost effective implementations. Implementation activities including system installation, setup and configuration, systems integration, data conversion, and software customization, are followed by comprehensive testing processes that validate transaction flows, and data integrity.
To aid in effective knowledge transfer and retention, custom procedures manuals can be generated to document business processes and user workflows. At the end of the implementation phase a “critical success factor” review process is conducted to ensure that all objectives and functionality requirements have been met.
Upon “Go-Live” day, system users are now ready to enter “live” transactions into the system. It is at this time that user acceptance of the newly implemented system is most critical. During this phase we will work closely with system users to minimize the challenges that users face when using the new system. Forceworks makes sure that end-users are comfortable in performing their everyday system functions. During this time we also monitor and optimize the performance of the system under live conditions and assist resolving any unanticipated system issues that may be encountered.
Our commitment to our clients does not end when we complete an implementation project. To ensure our clients maintain their competitive advantage by staying at the forefront of technology, Forceworks conducts advanced training courses, ongoing system maintenance and upgrades, annual system reviews, and periodic users group sessions. We also provide on-site support, and extended hour help desk support services that give our clients the ability to obtain maximum value from their CRM investment.
Brand Integration
At Forceworks, we are strong believers in brand consistency, you might even say we are fanatical about it. Of utmost importance are the public facing areas: marketing website, client login areas, customer portals, eCommerce, any area the public has access to. In our opinion these areas should all share the same look and feel. This goes way beyond simply slapping a logo on, but rather incorporates all aspects of your corporate branding. Colors, fonts, sizes, proportions, relationships, etc., all need to be configured for a truly integrated customer experience. Forceworks’ has the expertise to insure your brand consistency throughout.
