Background
About the client
One of Asia’s largest private alternative investment firms, with an AuM of $50bn. The firm has a large team of 200 across multiple geographies.
About Holland Mountain
Holland Mountain is a specialist consulting firm and data solutions provider for private markets with over 350 successful digital strategies and transformation projects for Private Capital managers. Holland Mountain has extensive experience in selecting, implementing and optimizing CRM systems for private capital firms to effectively support the needs of IR/Fundraising and deal teams.
The Challenge
When CRM adoption stalls, how can the system be optimized to better serve deal teams?
The firm had implemented its CRM platform across different teams, but had not achieved user adoption. The firm had several investment teams across different geographies that all operated differently. Some teams felt their requirements had not been considered in the implementation. There was a lack of senior championship of the system, and the firm was unsure how to move forward.
Holland Mountain’s approach
Assessing what went wrong
First, Holland Mountain started by assessing the present status of the CRM platform.
We assessed usage of the system across all teams, and analyzed the current functionality, reporting, data quality and surrounding business processes to identify all opportunities for improvement.
The main issue identified was user adoption, leading to other root issues (like data gaps).
Holding workshops to understand the pain points
To tackle this, Holland Mountain conducted workshops to understand the pain points of the teams in their current processes. Through these workshops, we identified three key manual processes that, if set up in the CRM platform, would reap benefits to the investment teams and promote system usage.
Digitalizing three key processes in CRM
1. Deal advisor survey
After a deal is completed or closed, the firm sends surveys to the deal team for them to rate the advisors who worked on the deal. This data had the potential to be very useful, but it was stored in Excel and rarely looked at.
We showed the firm how this survey process could be setup in their CRM which would enable easy searchability of potential advisors for future deals, based on scores, sectors, regions and functions.
2. Talent Management
The firm had a wide talent network that was currently stored off-system.
We advised how the firm could leverage its CRM for the end-to-end talent management process, from the initial search for relevant skills, through the full the recruitment process to successful candidate placement.
3. Investment Committee Process
The current process for presenting deals to the investment committee involved a lot of back-and-forth email, with documents saved in multiple places.
We designed a digitalized IC process in the CRM. At the appropriate stage, the deal team submits an IC request, linking the deal, the thesis and all other relevant documents. The IC secretary approves the relevant team’s attendance of the IC meeting and adds the deal onto the agenda. The IC members can access all the deal background ahead of the meeting, and then submit their votes in the system. The deal team members can track the decision-making process in the CRM.
Holland Mountain took over platform management of the system, implementing all agreed system tweaks and working with the CRM vendor to set up each new process and roll them out to the business.
Post-Optimization
A system championed by senior leadership and supported through ongoing platform management by Holland Mountain
Through our work with the firm, we were able to bring the full potential benefits of the system to life for the business, thereby winning the support of the investment teams. Use of the system is now championed by the senior leadership team.
We are working with the firm on an ongoing basis, helping them plan potential future system improvements and communicate the benefits case to the business.
How Holland Mountain can help
Make the most of your implemented CRM. Get an assessment from us.
Request a 30-minute meeting with one of our senior advisors. You will leave with a benchmark against your peers and practical improvements you can action immediately.
In 30 minutes, you will get straight answers to:
- How much of your CRM potential are you using today?
- How to make use of the new AI functionalities?
- What would it take, in effort and cost, to get your system working optimally for your team?
- What reporting are your peers driving from their CRM?
- Which systems are winning selections today, and why?
Learn more about Holland Mountain’s advisory services on CRM & Pipeline technology.
