Yesterday’s Remaining Days in Term post was more important than might have been gleaned from a casual read. Revenue Under Contract is important to telecom service companies. However, accurate tracking is elusive.
In the post, I illustrated how straight-forward it is to gain visibility into the numbers. With a couple of clicks in Salesforce.com, I can find Revenue Under Contract. Just one more click and I get all the individual orders that compile this number. And just one additional click takes me to any one of the individual orders–and allows me to see the detailed information such as the original contract date, the term, and the calculation of how many days are remaining in the term.
As my former colleague Jon Yount used to say far too often, “Yada. Yada. Yada.” and with a skeptical voice, I can hear him asking “But how do you know the data is accurate?”
Well, I am sure it isn’t 100% accurate. Hell, the data only was entered into the system over the past six months. However, it important to recognize the following: the data is ZB’s only database of record for this info. It feeds the billing system. Account Executives have complete access to it and use it for account planning. It feeds our monthly financial decks. And, as I illustrated, anyone–including me–can drill down and sanity check the numbers.
Data Integrity is driven by the combination of:
- Transparent data
- Single database of record
- Integrated database architecture (that is, same data persists through opportunity, activation, account management, and billing)
- Data Accuracy Accountability (for example, the account exec is identified on each record, and they have no excuse for letting inaccurate data persist in their customer account records)
- Consistent monthly reporting (so if data is messy, the trend lines will reveal inconsistency)
- And, most importantly, extreme ease of access to the data
Oh, and one more thing. Management cares! If not, would I be writing this blog post?
Leave a response (2 so far)
Subscribe via RSS
Dan:
Thx, I really enjoy reading the blog. I think you nailed the major requirements for data accuracy. This is maybe a nit, but I want to expand a bit on your last point: extreme ease of access to the data.
The ease of access is absolutely necessary, but it may not be sufficient. What I really believes makes a difference is having as many eyes as possible on the detailed data. Obviously, w/o ease of use this isn’t possible. With it, managers can tailor weekly and/or monthly reporting programs that “facilitate” (if not force) the account execs to look at the data regularly. We’ve found this to be necessary in our usage-based business (admittedly more complex than the MRR-based part of the business) where the high-level trends sometimes mask underlying issues. Thus getting more eyes on the data is way to “de-average” w/o having to create reams of detailed reports that no one can possibly digest as well as foster greater ownership for the acct execs.
Generally a win-win as you get both improved data accuracy and acct execs that become more empowered (by the ease of access to the data) to own and manage the business the company gets from their customers.
Sounds like you have done a good job of planning and design. That is key. Everywhere I’ve worked, CRM has been a silo that was GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). This includes a brief stay at the pioneer in CRM (not hard to figure out).
I think the key point you make is “mgmt cares”. That is so rare (in any industry). Why is that? Because Sr Mgmt doesn’t usually have *serious* skin in the game. I know you do and that drives your behaviour. Follow the money!