Considerations and Key Factors When Planning an SPM Implementation

Every organization is different and understanding the current state and future state vision will be the key to a successful SPM technology selection and implementation. Here are some considerations to think about as you start your journey of planning for the implementation and working with your internal stakeholders and external partners.  

When planning an SPM tool implementation, consider the following factors: 

1. Defined Objectives: Clearly define your goals and objectives for implementing the SPM tool, such as improving user experience, increasing sales performance, streamlining comp or manual processes, or increasing sales team productivity. 
2. Future State Vision: Every organization is different and understanding the current state of your process, system and operations is critical.   Identify where you have challenges and opportunities and then together with your clearly defined objectives you can begin to formulate your SPM future state vision.  
3. User Requirements: Using the future state vision as a guide, assess the needs and requirements of your various stakeholders, including sales team, sales operations team, Finance, etc. These requirements can be high-level at first and used to RFP a software selection, and then further use these to detail out the detailed functional and system requirements.  
4. Integration: Determine how the SPM tool will integrate with your existing systems, such as your CRM, ERP. HR tools, and then don’t forget the various manual files and processes that need to be integrated. 
5. Data Management: Consider how data will be collected, processed, and stored in the SPM tool, Explore internal IT capabilities and tools available (e.x. ETL) and compare to what the SPM tool can offer, then come up with a data strategy that fits your organization.  
6. Change Management: Plan for user adoption and training, including how you will onboard new users, provide training and support, and encourage ongoing usage of the tool. 
7. Admin Enablement: think about your future mode of operations with the new SPM tool, who will administer and run the application, do they have the right training and skill set, do you need to hire or train.   Then start to plan for how you will work with your implementation partner to enable the team through the project, so they are ready once the system is live 
8. Implementation Plan: Establish a plan and timeline for the implementation, and allocate resources accordingly, define testing phases and how each phase or release will be managed and owned.  Consider where you need additional support and balance the risk along with the budget, and don’t just focus on software / implementation cost but also total cost of ownership. 
9. Evaluation and continuous improvement: Establish metrics to measure the success of the SPM system implementation, and plan for continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and refining processes and procedures. 

Once your organization is ready to start evaluating SPM/ICM software applications, or perhaps you’ve selected one and you’re ready to implement it, these are great opportunities to engage with industry experts that can help guide you through your next steps. 

Article written by: Luke Marciniak