Classify!
A crucial step in the implementation process of your CRM is the proper classification of Case Types, Products, Case Closure reason and more.
Without it, you will absolutely loose any ability to generate reports and insights and may mislead your company with partial or even damaging inputs.
Naturally, classification and categorizations vary based on the nature of the company (Software Vs Hardware, or service providers), so this short publication will cover the basic for each industry:
Case/Ticket/Issue Type:
A Software Company
Bug
Feature Request
Sales Question
How To (Question in regards to the functionality of your products or services)
An Online Store
Pre-Sale Question
Order Question
Return
Shipping
Vendor
Affiliate request
Product Availability
IT Team
Desktop Hardware
Desktop Software
Server
Networking
New Employee
User management (Login, Passwords and so on)
Website
Product:
You should invest significant efforts here by listing all products or services provided by your company.
A list of products is only the first step (A, B, C), but each product may have several components that can "Go wrong" and lead to cases.
For example:
Smart TV is the product
The TV has a screen, cables, a remote, speakers, ports.
As for the Remote- it may have numerous issues, related to the buttons, battery, infra-red light and so on. Make sure to list all possible products, components and "may go wrong" issues- Work with your hardware, product and software teams! And remember that a CRM is very dynamic, additional products will be added, along with the "trouble" they may cause...
When talking about software companies, be sure to add a parameter for version number!
Case owner/Team
Another crucial customization step, not only for case management, but also for workload assessment, response time and case resolution time:
Customer Support
Software Development
Sales
IT
Human Resources
Shipping/Logistics
Finance
Case Reason:
Why was the case opened? Is it due to lack of training? Maybe the user manual is not covering new features? Another point that should be documented and analysed on a regular basis
Case Closure reason:
Why did we close the case? Maybe the user misunderstood? Maybe a bug was resolved in the latest version? Or maybe the customer did not respond and did not provide us with addtional information needed for case resolution? Or, most often, did we provide the information to the customer and that's it?
Bottom line- Invest efforts, using paper and pen to lay out the framework, and take a big breath. These efforts will prove themselves before you know it.