The Challenge

Small Business BC is a champion for small businesses providing resources and knowledge-based business products and services across British Columbia. To better serve their stakeholders, Small Business BC required a review of their current systems and processes to identify opportunities for operational improvement and to assist in the selection of an appropriate CRM system. Small Business BC engaged Propel Solutions to facilitate the process review and vendor selection to ensure that their technology would support their people and processes.

The Objectives

  • Process Review and Needs Assessment: Our team worked with Small Business BC to map over 17 processes in the areas of Client Services, Education, Business Development, Marketing and Communications. To better understand operational barriers that were in the way of staff, we involved staff in the review of documented processes to identify over 200 opportunities for improvement.
  • Roadmap and Key Performance Indicators: We developed a Roadmap that included both quick wins and longer-term recommendations to bridge gaps. Key Performance Indicators were created for management to measure service, quality, cost and turnaround time. The needs and desired future direction of the organization were translated into system requirements. Requirements were prioritized and grouped according to their process stream for ease of evaluation.
  • Facilitating System Vendor Selection: After gaining a complete understanding of Small Business BC’s current systems, operations and intended direction, we evaluated over 40 best in class systems againsttheir specific requirements. We organized vendor demonstrations and ensured a customized demonstration experience for Small Business BC through the documentation of demo scripts and an evaluation framework.

The Results

As a result of our work, Small Business BC selected a CRM system that best suited their needs, with agreement from all departments. They were left with a Roadmap to build upon and measure the quality and service improvements already underway.