Once employees have been introduced to the new CRM system and fully trained, it is time to go live.
A common technique is to conduct general user training in segments, usually by department, and to take each department live after they have been trained. If you adopt this approach, be sure to allow enough time after each department is trained. This will allow them to come to terms with the system, and get any questions that they have answered by the support staff, before the next group goes through. This will help control the workload of the support staff and allow them to be more responsive, as they will not be overwhelmed.
This is a common approach used by a variety of CRM consultants. Throughout this process, it is important that you make absolutely sure that you have an accurate reading on user acceptance in all departments and roles of the organization (from acceptance testing to pilot testing). Once you have taken one group live, negative feedback from...