Information worker

W H I T E
P A P E R
How to Ensure Your Employees Will
Want to Use CRM

Executive Summary
As the technologies and demands of the workplace have changed, so too have its
workers. “Information Workers”—a new breed of information-dependent, technology-
reliant, and collaboration-driven professionals—have become prevalent. The decision
to go with a CRM solution built to address the needs of information workers is a smart
and valuable investment that recognizes the need to help employees work effectively
with the deluge of data available to them in today’s connected, always-on, real-time
workplace. In this paper learn how, with the right CRM solution, information workers
can increase productivity, improve customer service, and boost collaboration, while the
business simplifies complex processes, increases sales, and reduces costs.

In today’s intensely competitive, rapidly changing busi-
ness environment, the need to be market-focused and
The Next IT Challenge:
customer-centric is more critical than at any other time a Truly Real-Time Enterprise
in the past. With increased globalization and competition
offering customers ever-expanding alternatives, achieving The modern organization’s ability to produce, collect,
complete customer satisfaction is the only way to ensure and share information has grown faster than its ability to
customer retention and corporate success. Furthermore, manage it. Global sourcing, a more connected workplace,
many organizations are recognizing that there is a direct and the need for enterprises to adopt a real-time
link between high performance—another critical business infrastructure—these trends are driving the world toward
goal—and customer satisfaction. a future in which “always-on” devices provide a tidal wave
of data, forcing companies to contend with an almost
As a result, optimal performance must be a core objective incomprehensible amount of information and ensuing
of every organization’s business strategy. To improve per- data-management issues, while attempting to remain one
formance, companies must continually seek out new ways step ahead of the competition.
to empower their employees to work more efficiently and
effectively. In this networked Companies know that with more knowledge should come
information age, the most greater advantage, but without the power to make sense
In this networked information age, essential component to per- of it all and apply it swiftly, they are missing the very
the most essential component to formance is an environment opportunity that increased data presents.
performance is an environment that that encourages workers to
encourages workers to effectively use, The ascendance of the underlying technology of the
effectively use, proliferate, and
proliferate, and share information to “connected workplace,” in which people use always-on
share information to achieve
achieve better outcomes. technologies such as PDAs, smart phones, and MP3
better outcomes, including
players, is being compounded by the trend toward
enhanced productivity and
globalization and the need for greater corporate transpar-
greater customer satisfaction.
ency and accountability. This combination of factors will
It is imperative for every organization to gather, retain,
increasingly force enterprises to regularly transform their
and use valuable information about their customers
business operations to respond more effectively to time-
to enhance their business strategies, thereby offering
based competition.
customers faster responses, better product and service
offerings, and more satisfying experiences. Sustaining high productivity in the face of these new
complexities is a critical challenge as the culture and
Customer relationship management—or CRM, as it
dynamics of work evolve. Workers are nearing “informa-
is popularly known—is an approach to achieving business
tion overload,” and this has no small impact on business
objectives that facilitates rapid responses to customer
performance. IDC reports that workers in North America
needs, leading to healthy and profitable customer relation-
have faced a tenfold increase in the volume of business-
ships. CRM solutions manage knowledge and informa-
related e-mail since 1997. Studies suggest that workers
tion; they also enable the execution of activities within and
spend up to a quarter of their time on non-productive
across value chains while supporting all decision-making
information-related activities, and analysts report that
underlying those activities.
workers spend up to 30% of their days just looking for the
Pioneering organizations such as Centex Homes, information they need.1.
Bombardier, and Tektronix have already made the transi-
Businesses need to change to accommodate this flood
tion to this new business-intelligence concept. For them,
of data surging into and out of their walls. The key to this
customer satisfaction and business performance are not
transformation, alongside changes in business processes,
isolated corporate concerns; they are integrated strategic
is a more agile or “real-time” infrastructure: an infrastruc-
focuses that together contribute to overall profitability.
ture that increases efficiency, reduces costs, and provides
This paper outlines the technology building blocks that better insight into the immediate future of our businesses.
will enable you to create an information-rich environment It needs to be capable of capturing, storing, and analyzing
that empowers your workforce to perform at its peak millions of transactions and pieces of information, so that
and use data to its fullest—without having to become IT we can understand and use data—anytime, anywhere.
experts—to ultimately deliver the high performance and
But the real outcome of all this change and complexity
customer satisfaction required to compete in today’s
is that workplace tools need to evolve not just to accom-
market.
modate the avalanche of information generated by—and

1. Microsoft, Digital Workstyle: The New World of Work (May
2005).

Pivotal CRM | White Paper 1

required to compete in—today’s business environment, and a manufacturing marketing manager may need to
but to help workers use, understand, and filter this engage with different campaign stakeholders—including
information to avoid becoming overwhelmed by it in a way indirect partner sales managers, direct sales managers,
that negatively impacts productivity. Performance is about sales representatives, and other colleagues—to plan and
more than just information quantity; it is about information act on a demand-generating marketing campaign.
usability. For every exponential increase in the magnitude
of available information, there must be support for a
corresponding expansion in an information-user’s ability
Characteristics of the Information Worker
to sort, apply, discern, differentiate, and manage this While information workers are found across roles, organi-
data in order for increased information to fuel increased zations, and industries, they share certain characteristics
performance. in their needs and work styles.

Information-Dependent
The Rise of Increased business complexity and sophistication have
the Information Worker resulted in ever-increasing quantities and layers of infor-
mation. Businesses need to compete globally; they have
The rise of the Information Worker is an emerging,
to deal with expanding and evolving rules and
accelerating, and seemingly unstoppable trend, and
regulations in multiple geographies; and they are required
Information Workers are radically altering the modern
to incorporate channels and resources beyond the tradi-
working environment. It is estimated that 68 percent
tional nuclear organization, including partners, distributors,
of the U.S. workforce, or 92.8 million people, are
and VARs.
Information Workers.2.
The wealth of information that these businesses are
As the technologies and demands of the workplace
producing needs to be accessed, used, and uploaded
have changed, so too have its workers. “Information
by information workers in order for them, and the
Workers”—a new breed of information-dependent,
organization as a whole, to operate in an optimal fashion
technology-reliant, and collaboration-driven profession-
and succeed. Your information workers need to efficiently
als—have become prevalent.
retrieve and manage multiple layers of information con-
Information workers are not restricted to roles we might tained within their company’s enterprise software systems;
traditionally define as data- or technology-intensive. As IT they depend on it to perform their roles.
tools have spread, information demands have increased,
and applications have become more user-friendly, Collaboration-Driven
the number and nature of In addition to increased business complexity and sophis-
employees classifiable as tication, businesses today also face growing external and
Workplace tools need to evolve not “information workers” have internal pressures to find creative solutions that leverage
just to accommodate the avalanche expanded, and the tools and all available skills and resources. External pressures
of information generated by—and practices of information work
required to compete in—today’s business from the investment community oblige businesses to
have been adopted by more look not only at ways of increasing revenues, but also of
environment, but to help workers use,
understand, and filter this information to roles within organizations. reducing costs. Internal pressures require businesses to
avoid becoming overwhelmed by it in a Information needs of diverse standardize processes, maximize cross-sell and up-sell
way that negatively impacts productivity. kinds pervade every level of opportunities, and improve customer retention, among
organizations today, from other demands.
executive decision-makers
through to sales, marketing, and customer service teams. As a result of this, information workers need to take col-
laboration to the next level, connecting people, processes,
Just as information work stretches across roles in customers, and intellectual property to help the organiza-
organizations, it extends across industries. For example, tion succeed. Individuals, teams, and partners need to
a relationship manager for an asset management firm get on the same page so they can all work together with
may need to track the financial activities and portfolio speed and coordination.
performance of clients by retrieving data from over 20
separate enterprise databases; a home building sales
agent may need to review homesite plans from a number
Technology-Reliant
of different communities with homebuyers, generate To address increased business complexity, technology
contracts, and run sales reports all from a model center; solutions have also become more complex, extending
beyond the bounds of the enterprise to encompass
partners, mobile workers, and the supply chain;
2. Microsoft Information Worker statistic (Partner Program, incorporating greater interoperability to facilitate
Information Worker Center, Solution Opportunities) company-wide processes and initiatives; and embracing


mobile devices and technology, including smartphones, increase access to and visibility of information, making it
wireless laptops, PDAs, and public wi-fi Internet access. the perfect information-worker solution.
Information workers depend on access to the most
current and appropriate technology solutions to do their When investing in information-worker-oriented solutions
jobs effectively. such as CRM, business and IT managers must consider,
first and foremost, whether the technology specifically
addresses key information-worker requirements, such as
Information Workers and Information
the need to access and make sense of vast quantities of
Integration data quickly and effectively and the need for collaboration
Given the rapid increase in information workers and between departments, offices, supply chain members,
information work in today’s business environment, helping and partners. But also of high importance is how the
information workers perform at their best is becoming solution enables the organization to leverage existing
increasingly important. Most organizations are facing infrastructure such as Microsoft® Office technologies and
extreme external and internal pressures to reduce costs how it addresses key enterprise technology requirements.
and increase revenues, and failure to adequately support These IT concerns are not only important to reducing
the needs of information workers—and capitalize on their total cost of ownership and burden on IT resources, but
potential—can prove an obstacle in meeting these to supplying information workers with integrated, familiar
objectives. To optimize their operations, organizations technologies that are easy to learn and use.
need to put tools in place that meet information workers’
growing needs.
Optimizing CRM for the
CRM is an information-unifying tool, The exact complement of tools Information Worker
designed to increase access to and information workers require
In selecting CRM for information workers, decision-makers
visibility of information, making it the will vary by industry and role,
perfect information-worker solution. should consider several key requirements in their evalua-
but one principle remains
tion criteria:
consistently true across
them all: traditional disparate
systems aren’t enough. The Support for Teaming and Collaboration
era of information work requires more than point-solutions Information-worker-optimized CRM solutions should
that address individual needs and data sets; to be truly enable individuals, partners, and colleagues to get on the
useful, information needs to be centralized, integrated, same page so they can all work together with efficiency
and assembled. and agility. The system should encourage information-
sharing and communication, and it should support
Wherever possible, information-worker tools need to be streamlined workflows for complex processes to save time
organized around a central data repository that brings and improve performance.
information together, making it more easily accessible,
navigable, and applicable.
Information Relevance
With the concurrent escalating emphasis on customer To help information workers increase productivity and
satisfaction and the recognition of its link to business avoid information overload, CRM solutions should make
performance, customer data is a perfect nexus for it easy for users to access the information that is relevant
information-worker optimization. Customer data needs to their work and disregard that which is irrelevant. For
to be aggregated and made as useful and accessible as example, the system should provide unique views of
possible to information workers, enabling them to respond customer data tailored to specific roles within sales,
to customer demands, quickly and effectively, with exactly marketing, and customer service, in order for them to
the right kind of response. make business decisions and execute tasks rapidly using
relevant information.

CRM and the Information Worker Individual Impact
CRM solutions are used by companies to connect data,
Information-worker-optimized CRM solutions should
people, and processes across the customer-facing front-
promote user adoption by offering tools and information
office—sales, marketing, service, and partners. As a core
that enhance each employee’s ability to address their
company application, CRM is an important business tool
core responsibilities. For example, users should be able
for sales, marketing, services, and support personnel and
to quickly build queries and reports on timely information
a critical area of consideration for IT managers aiming to
that affects their individual performance.
provide for increased information-worker productivity and
success. CRM is an information-unifying tool, designed to


Streamlined Processes should be flexible enough to accommodate diverse
integration needs.
To mitigate the effects of increased process and technol-
ogy complexity, an information-worker-optimized CRM Desktop client: Information workers inevitably need
solution should streamline and simplify processes to to work with multiple programs, but switching between
ensure speed and consistency, and reduce administrative numerous applications can slow them down. An informa-
burden. It should mask process complexity by providing tion-worker-optimized CRM system should offer a single
an intuitive and relevant user interface and simplifying desktop client that can be tailored to the daily activities of
multi-part tasks. specific user roles within a company and allow them to
access multiple applications.
Leveraging Existing Infrastructure
Performance: A CRM system should utilize the
As information-dependent and technology-reliant person- latest Microsoft database, server, and client technologies
nel, information workers benefit from being able to quickly to improve application performance, empowering informa-
and easily access information using a familiar technology tion workers to work faster and more productively.
environment. Given the magnitude of information and pro-
cesses they must commonly Industry standards: A CRM system that leverages
engage with each day, the industry standards will increase interoperability with other
To truly support and enhance more that can be done to unify
information-worker activities, a CRM
information-worker tools. Look for a system that utilizes
and integrate the technologies the latest XML and Web Services industry standards
solution must integrate as closely as
possible with Microsoft Office and mirror and programs they must use, for building cost-effective connections between
its familiar processes. the better they are able to enterprise systems.
perform.
Flexibility: Optimal application of information
Information workers tend to workers’ potential requires business agility. IT managers
do most of their day-to-day tasks within the Microsoft need to be able to make changes to CRM business
Office environment, using programs such as Outlook,® processes quickly and easily to reflect evolving
Word, and Excel heavily. Consequently, to truly support information-worker needs, without disrupting their day-to-
and enhance information-worker activities, a CRM solution day activities.
must integrate as
closely as possible with Microsoft Office and mirror its
familiar processes. The Benefits of an Information-
Worker-Optimized CRM Solution
For example, an information worker should be able to
easily access CRM data while using Office applications. It Armed with a CRM solution optimized for information
should be effortless to synchronize their Microsoft Outlook workers, organizations can improve business performance
calendar, contacts, and tasks with their CRM functional- in a manner that has a direct impact on customer satisfac-
ity—and vice versa. They should be able to export data tion, thereby meeting one of the top challenges of today’s
from the CRM system to an Excel spreadsheet in a single competitive business environment.
click. They should also be able to instantly access related
The benefits of an information-worker-optimized CRM
SharePoint® document libraries directly from profiles in
solution are numerous:
the CRM system.
Increased productivity: Optimizing a CRM system for
Addressing Enterprise information workers empowers them to work faster and
more productively. A CRM system integrated with familiar
Technology Requirements Office tools, for example, allows data to be pulled from
IT needs to work hand-in-hand with business managers the CRM system into a program like Outlook or Excel,
to deliver the right CRM solution for information workers. allowing it to be quickly applied to meet a wide variety
Enterprise CRM buyers should expand their evaluation of purposes, from creating personalized, addressed
focus to encompass platform and architecture criteria letters to generating pie charts and presentations. Users
that have the greatest impact on total cost of owner- are able to do more with the information they have,
ship—namely, flexibility (as a function of customization improving their performance and individual contribution to
and integration), scalability, and deployability. Specifically, company success.
for the information-worker-optimized CRM solution, IT
should consider: Improved collaboration: A CRM system optimized for
information workers helps them work together more
Integration: Information workers require seamless effectively. Workflows, for example, structure multi-step,
access to relevant information across multiple multi-stakeholder tasks for fast resolution, and shared
enterprise software systems. An enterprise CRM system information sources keep all employees working on a


task, such as a service request, up to date on progress better meet these workers’ needs. A long-time Microsoft
toward goals. Automation of information transfer, such as Gold-Certified Partner, the Pivotal CRM team has for years
the passing of qualified leads from marketing to sales, worked with the company to ensure that award-winning
increases inter-departmental collaboration and acceler- Pivotal CRM solutions empower users to utilize their
ates response. existing Microsoft technology tools and investments to the
fullest.
Greater individual impact: Better-optimized CRM helps
information workers use more data and tools to increase Now, as the preponderance of information workers is
the scope of their activity, improving the performance gaining recognition among businesses everywhere,
and impact of each individual employee. Mobile access, Microsoft and Pivotal CRM’s commitment to creating tech-
for example, reduces employee downtime and increases nologies that fit the workstyle of the information worker is
the user’s ability to take immediate action on new seeing fruition.
information. Similarly, access to a greater range of tools
could empower an individual We offer industry-leading CRM solutions that help com-
marketer to single-handedly panies deliver superior customer experiences, while also
Armed with a CRM solution optimized mount complex marketing giving them the tools and insight to run their businesses
for information workers, organizations campaigns, performing more productively, efficiently, and profitably.
can improve business performance in
each step from targeting
a manner that has a direct impact on The Pivotal CRM solution delivers rich CRM functionality
customer satisfaction.
and segmentation through
optimized to information-worker needs right out of the
performance analysis.
box, enabling organizations to implement quickly with a
Better customer service: lower total cost of ownership. As the market’s most cus-
The end goal of any CRM system is to strengthen tomizable CRM solution, Pivotal CRM enables companies
customer relationships, and a CRM system optimized for to cost-effectively adapt and integrate the system to fit
information workers will allow them to deliver the superior their unique business processes—making CRM work the
service required to keep customers happy and loyal. way they do—and the way their information workers do.
Richer, more accessible customer information, rendered
Furthermore, the Pivotal CRM team has developed seven
useful and accessible through Office integration, improves
specific points of integration with Microsoft Office in order
support-team responsiveness and gives a more informed,
to address the specific needs of information workers:
personalized service experience.
Outlook Embedded: Ability to work in Pivotal CRM as
Reduced business complexity: By streamlining and
if working in Microsoft Outlook, creating/updating tasks,
automating business processes and masking many of the
contacts, and calendar items.
layers of complexity characteristic of the modern organiza-
tion, an optimized CRM system helps information workers LetterExpress: Mail-merge capabilities with Microsoft
from the administrative to the executive level focus clearly Word
on achieving their goals and objectives.
Pivotal CRM Research Services: Ability to access
Lower costs: In addition to the cost savings that Pivotal CRM information from within any Microsoft Office
accompany increased productivity, a CRM solution that application
leverages existing systems and technologies lowers IT
costs in areas such as training and hardware, reducing Export to Excel: Ability to export information directly
the total cost of ownership. to Microsoft Excel from within the Pivotal CRM application
in a single click
Higher revenues: A CRM system that enables information
workers to gain greater, more usable insight into customer Pivotal CRM Analytics: Ability to utilize Microsoft Analysis
needs and behaviors is critical to finding new revenue Services to construct data cubes using Pivotal CRM
sources, from cross-selling and up-selling opportunities to data for analytical reporting, or present the information in
underserved product niches. dashboards on the Pivotal Portal

Integration to Microsoft SharePoint: Take advantage of
Microsoft and Pivotal CRM: a wealth of pre-built Microsoft SharePoint content (within
Committed to Supporting or outside the enterprise) to present information in the
right context to suit each Pivotal CRM user's needs
the Information Worker
Microsoft is at the leading edge of technology companies
that have recognized the full potential of information
workers, and are building or modifying their solutions to


Conclusion: Empower Your
Information Workers
In today’s competitive and demanding business environ-
ment, businesses must implement new or updated
solutions that optimize the productivity of information
workers: a new breed of workers who face distinct tech-
nology challenges—but who also offer unprecedented
potential to improve corporate performance and customer
satisfaction.

The decision to go with a CRM solution built to address
the needs of your information workers is a smart and
valuable investment that recognizes the need to help
employees work effectively with the deluge of data avail-
able to them in today’s connected, always-on, real-time
workplace. With the right CRM solution, information
workers can increase productivity, improve customer
service, and boost collaboration, while the business sim-
plifies complex processes, increases sales, and reduces
costs. Pivotal CRM’s unmatched flexibility and integration
with Microsoft technologies can help businesses adapt
swiftly to meet the evolving market demands they face
every day.

For more information or a complete list of our worldwide offices, please visit www.pivotal.com.
Copyright © CDC Software 2007. All rights reserved.
The CDC Software logo and Pivotal CRM logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of CDC Software.

Information worker

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Information worker

More from Pivotal CRM

Recently uploaded

Information worker