In the past few years almost all major law firms have adopted client relationship management systems – commonly known as CRM – with more than 60% of the top 100 claiming to have implemented such a system. They have now become part of the legal IT furniture, earning a place in the standard set of IT applications alongside e-mail, document management and time recording. As the remaining firms rush to add CRM to their portfolio, there are increasing doubts about how effective these systems really are, and whether they have repaid the considerable implementation costs.

Such projects must be taken away from both marketing and IT – traditional sponsors of CRM – and instead be directly sponsored by the firm's senior management.

Furthermore, firms must recognise that technical excellence is only one component in a successful project. The design of the system is critical if it is to support the firm's business objectives. Much of a firm's contact database must be discarded, and replaced with accurate and reliable data. Most importantly of all, there must be a determination to examine current business processes and change them wherever necessary.

Unless all of these issues are considered during the implementation of a CRM system, it is likely to fail. The technology might work perfectly, but it will remain in a kind of computer purgatory, awaiting either relaunch or replacement.

CRM systems present an attractive proposition: better intelligence about clients and prospective clients, which provides the ability to win new business and increase revenue. There has been a considerable drive to market CRM systems over the past five years, spearheaded by Tikit with the InterAction system, and more recently joined by other new entrants such as Elite, Aderant and Pivotal.

Such systems appeal particularly to the more commercially-minded marketing and IT directors, who can readily perceive the potential benefits for their firm, and it is for this reason that most CRM projects are located within one of their departments. One of these individuals will often be the key sponsor for the project, and will become the principal evangelist for this new concept.

There is, however, a danger in this rush to embrace the CRM concept. Its key sponsors will typically work hard to promote the system, but support departments, however well respected they may be, are not at the heart of the business. Senior management, while liking the overall concept, will be wary of committing to a somewhat risky venture that may alienate their fellow partners. And with good reason – such systems have the potential to disrupt the way partners relate to their clients and important contacts.

Triumph of hope

For enthusiasts of the CRM concept, it is easy to assume that everyone else will see the benefits. A failure to define the key benefits, and to sell them effectively within the organisation, is often the result.

Sponsors of CRM, or any system for that matter, would do well to remember the three d's of successful persuasion: data (a description of the current problems and issues); demonstration (case studies indicating how CRM has been successful at other firms; and demand (requirements of their clients, and management pressures for increased revenue). An initiative of this magnitude will have opponents, and it is no good assuming they will go away. Their objections will need to be confronted, if they are to be converted from enemies into allies.

An island apart

Most CRM systems are designed by the marketing department. This seems sensible; after all, these are the people who will be the most frequent users of the system. But it could jeopardise the success of the project.

With the best of intentions, marketing people will add complexity to the design in order to meet their entire range of information requirements. This, in turn, will lead to demands for a great deal of information and increase the burden on all users of the system. But the success of the system, and the accuracy of the information contained within it, will depend on the willingness of partners and other staff to keep it constantly updated. They will only do this voluntarily if the system is easy to use.

In order to be successful, a CRM system needs to be designed around the diverse needs and requirements of partners, assistants and their secretaries. These groups represent the great majority of the system's potential users, and the system needs to reflect the way they each interact with their clients and other business contacts.

Most CRM implementations are managed by IT departments. They will be responsible for the operation of the system, and they possess the best project management skills. And it is, after all, a computer system.

But the technical aspects of CRM represent only a small proportion of the overall challenges. Of much greater importance are the business-related issues: high-quality data, a design based on how people work, and effective business process change.

Buying the dream

So who is to run the project? Like it or not, the project needs to be sponsored by senior management – and they need to take an active role in its overall direction. Marketing and IT are viewed as merely being support departments, and costly ones at that. Partners are unlikely to recognise a new CRM system as being essential unless it has been led by senior management. Particularly with respect to something as personal as client relationships, there needs to be a trust in the system and a belief that it has 'been designed with us in mind'.

CRM enables partners to work more effectively together and – in a virtual sense – to return to the days when all the partners could sit around a table together and compare notes.

The views of IT and marketing are, of course, important, but they should a lways be subordi-nate to those of the partnership. An undistinguished solution that is well supported and used will be more successful than an excellent system that everyone ignores.

Losing faith

A CRM system does not create contacts and relationships. These exist already, either in electronic format, on paper, or in the heads of the partners and other staff. The system is merely the means of uncovering these relationships and enabling information to be shared and used effectively.

In any firm there will be a diversity of information sources. There will often be an 'official' database: whatever system is currently used for central marketing purposes. This is almost guaranteed to be out of date and incomplete. In addition, there will be all the informal or 'unofficial' sources: Word documents; Excel spreadsheets; Rolodexes; a pile of business cards; a mobile phone; or a well-thumbed diary.

Some firms choose to keep all the data in the vain hope that it will get sorted out later. But in the real world there is never enough time to separate the bad data from the good. As a consequence the system is crippled from the start, fatally compromised by inconsistent and unreliable information. Partners will discover errors in the database, and rather than blame themselves, they will blame the system. A ruthless approach towards poor data is therefore essential. Otherwise partners will stop believing in the system and their trust in this particular relation-ship is over.

Changing behaviour

A CRM system will necessarily be a voluntary system. Unlike e-mail and document management, there are ways to work around CRM. Relationships can still be managed and developed outside a central system. To ensure success, it has to be easier and more productive to use the CRM system than the next best alternative.

It needs to support the business processes of the firm and not cut across them. During the design process it will sometimes be necessary to change the business processes to fit around the system, and sometimes it will be necessary to adapt the system to the needs of the firm.

Changing the way people work is difficult to achieve and, wherever possible, the system should be adapted to how people already work. Introducing a new system is inevitably high risk in nature, and it makes sense to lessen this risk wherever possible by minimising the adverse impact on how people work.

To conclude, the key to a successful project is to maintain a close relationship with the partner-ship, and to ensure they are fully involved in all key decisions about the new system. It is ironic that the same people who champion CRM systems forget these most important of all relationships. The project also needs to have a heavy emphasis on the human aspects of the new system. To succeed, there needs to balance between the four key aspects of the project: design; data; business processes; and technology.

A CRM project is like a relationship. It starts in a blaze of passion, but many years of hard work and persistence are required if it is to succeed over the long term. It is also like a relationship, in that all its participants need to remain faithful. There are a lot of temptations that might lure users away: Word, Excel, or that little black book.