Why a good architecture is vital in CRM/xRM implementations?

A good architecture is vital for any software system to make it more scalable and robust. Likewise for any business solutions systems like CRM and ERP’s which comes with its own built-in standard architecture needs to be given serious considerations before customizing or extending it. Of course, it largely depends on the provided framework but keeping in mind this aspect will eventually give us great outcomes.

(A good Architecture) – What values does it provide?

Business Value  : Better “ROI” and improved implementation success rate.

User Value         : Increased adoption and value for their time and efforts.

System Value     : High availability and increased performance

The reason to highlight this aspect is, now we are in the “xRM” era and not just “CRM”. So “Architecture Rule Violations” will have to be avoided in CRM/xRM implementations.

If the system requirements requires us to be bypass the proposed architecture, there still needs to be a proven way and I learned that the  “ATAM” – Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method would be the best possible way to go with where we can eliminate the foreseen risk factors in advance.

Ultimately this will deliver more value to the CUSTOMERS when the business, user and the system aspects are structured with a concise architecture.

Have fun architecting your CRM solutions!

Thanks,

Francis Edwin