CRM Implementation
Implementation that ends with people using it.
CRM implementation on Salesforce, HubSpot or Odoo, delivered by the team that scoped it. Process designed first, configuration after, and adoption measured at ninety days rather than assumed at go-live.
Six deliverables, all yours. Phase-scoped, so you can stop between any two of them.
Where implementations fail
Four ways a CRM implementation fails without anyone noticing
None of them are technical. All of them are decided in the first three weeks, which is why the discovery phase carries more weight than the build.
Configured before the process was mapped
Someone opens the admin console in week one because it feels productive. Six weeks later the team is being asked to change how they work to match a form. They will not, and the licence goes unused.
Scope set by a vendor demo
The demo showed the version of the product that works perfectly for a company with one product, one region and no legacy data. Scope agreed against a demo is scope agreed against fiction.
Nobody owns it after go-live
The partner leaves, the internal admin was never named, and the first change request goes to a support queue that does not know the org. Configuration freezes, then rots.
Data moved in a weekend
Records arrive, relationships do not. No owner on half the accounts, no history on half the deals, and the reporting everyone trusted in the old system produces different numbers in the new one.
Every one of these is cheaper to prevent than to repair. The prevention is a properly scoped discovery that produces a document you own — and that you could hand to a different partner if you wanted to.
What you get
Six deliverables, and what each one prevents
Not a list of activities. These are the artefacts that remain when the project is over, and each one exists because its absence is a specific failure.
Before build
Process map and data model
The two documents that decide whether the system fits the business or the business gets bent to fit the system. Written in your language, reviewed by the people who do the work, signed off before configuration starts.
- Current and target process, side by side
- Stage definitions every team agrees on
- Objects, fields and relationships
- What is mandatory at each stage, and what is not
- Reporting requirements, traced back to fields
After build
Configuration record and hand-over
The document that makes you independent of us. What was configured, why, what each automation does, and what breaks if it is changed. Written for whoever administers the system next.
- Every automation, in plain language
- Permission model and why it is shaped that way
- Integration map: systems, directions, failure behaviour
- Known limitations, documented rather than hidden
- Role-based training, recorded for new joiners
The other two — role-based training and the 90-day adoption review — are covered below, because they are what separates an implementation that launched from one that is actually being used.
How it runs
Five phases, with durations and your time commitment
Published because vague processes read as risk. These are typical ranges for a mid-market single-platform implementation, confirmed against your actual scope after discovery rather than promised before it.
| Phase | Typical duration | Your involvement | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Discovery | 1–2 weeks | 2–3 h per team lead | Process map, data model, fixed scope and price |
| 02 · Design | 1–2 weeks | 2 h per review | Configuration record, integration map |
| 03 · Build and configure | 3–6 weeks | Weekly 45-minute review | Working system in a sandbox |
| 04 · Migrate and test | 1–3 weeks | UAT by role, 2–4 h per team | Reconciled data, signed-off UAT |
| 05 · Go-live and hypercare | 3–4 weeks | Floor-walking, first two days | Trained users, 90-day adoption review |
Discovery is a real phase with a real document — and the document is yours. If you take it to another partner instead of continuing with us, that is a legitimate outcome and it stands on its own. It is also the cheapest way to find out whether a project is describable before you commit to the expensive part.
What each phase produces
- Process map reviewed by the people doing the work
- Data model with mandatory fields per stage
- Reporting requirements traced to fields
- Fixed scope, fixed price, before build starts
- Every automation written up in plain language
- Permission model and sharing rationale
- Integration map with failure behaviour
- Reconciliation report from the data migration
- UAT sign-off by role, not by committee
- Role-based training, recorded for new joiners
- Documented limitations, not hidden ones
- 90-day adoption review against our own commitments
Scope and commercials
Fixed scope per phase, so nobody is guessing
CRM implementation is quoted per phase, against the scope written in discovery. You can stop after any phase, including after the first one.
| Item | Inside the phase | Separate decision |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration of agreed objects and automations | Included | — |
| New objects or automations after sign-off | — | Change request, quoted |
| Data migration to agreed history depth | Included | — |
| Deeper history or attachments | — | Scoped per volume |
| Integrations named in discovery | Included | — |
| Integrations discovered later | — | Quoted separately |
| Role-based training | Included | — |
| Ongoing administration after hypercare | — | CRM support retainer |
No licence markup, so our recommendation is not funded by the platform you pick.
The part most projects skip
Go-live is a date, adoption is a curve
The weeks after launch decide whether the project worked. We stay for them, and we measure against the process we agreed at the start rather than against login counts alone.
Hypercare
A named contact, a direct channel, and a standing slot to clear whatever the first real week surfaces. Real usage finds what testing missed, and it usually surfaces in the first few weeks rather than later.
Adoption review
Where the work actually happens now, which fields people skip, which reports get read, and whether the forecast is trusted. Measured against the process map, not against a generic benchmark.
Hand-over or retainer
Either your internal admin takes it with the configuration record in hand, or we run administration on a monthly retainer. Both are legitimate endings. Neither is a surprise.
CRM supportProof
Client results
Three implementations, three different platforms, one starting point: the process before the configuration.
Client onboarding transformation for a licensed EMI
Onboarding had to satisfy strict regulatory requirements and stay workable for the client's team. Process and data were designed before configuration began.
Read case studyCustomer service and sales management at parcel-delivery scale
Rising parcel volumes pushed enquiries past what the existing process could absorb. Intake and routing were redesigned before anything was built in Service Cloud.
Read case studyDonation and volunteer management for a national Red Cross society
Limited integration with local banking platforms meant a large share of recurring donations did not process. Integration work and configuration, on the platform already in place.
Read case studyScope the project before you commit to the project
Discovery produces the process map, data model and fixed price. If you take that document elsewhere, it is yours.
Across the platforms
What CRM implementation means on each platform
The phases are the same across all three. What gets configured, and where the difficulty sits, is not.
Salesforce implementation
Sales, Service and Marketing Cloud configured around your pipeline: territories, approvals, quoting, case routing and the forecasting your board actually reads. Our deepest practice, with 20 certified experts.
HubSpot implementation
Hubs configured in the order that carries revenue: lifecycle and lead scoring first, then Sales Hub, then Service. Teams are usually live in weeks rather than quarters, which is the point of the platform.
Odoo implementation
CRM configured alongside Sales, Invoicing and Inventory so the customer record and the order are the same record. Standard modules first, custom modules only where they stop.
FAQ
CRM implementation, answered
How long does a CRM implementation take?
What does CRM implementation cost?
Do you implement all three platforms, or only Salesforce?
We already have an internal admin. Do we need you for the whole project?
Will you work with our existing CRM partner or agency?
What happens if the project runs late or over budget?
What happens after go-live?
Start with discovery
Scope the project before you commit to the project
Discovery produces the document that makes everything after it predictable: the process, the data model, the integrations, the phases and the price. If you take that document elsewhere, it is yours.