Unfortunately, because of recent inundation of eCRM systems to market, some e-business fall into a 'can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees' syndrome; management may get lost in data and lose sight of their goals. The purpose of eCRM isn't to collect data in new and interesting ways, it's to answer questions above. Still, crossing gap between software and results remains a feat few eCRM systems are able to accomplish.

The problem with many eCRM systems is that they either, 1) collect irrelevant or insufficient data, or 2) don't correctly interpret data. While second point is largely what management gets paid for, we must remember that small and medium business is largest market segment for eCRM. These businesses are usually run from home by individuals with little or no formal business education.

The good news for startup e-businesses is that many of newer eCRM providers will handle nitty-gritty aspects of your customer relationship management system for you, effectively freeing up more of your time for other important tasks.

A disadvantage of using an HR consultant can, on other hand, be potential expense. Depending on level of expertise required, consultant fees can vary from £200 to £1,000 per day so companies need to consider what they can afford and negotiate over daily rate and number of days required. To avoid escalating costs consideration should be given to estimating a set number of days to define a project, such as management training, and build this into contract drawn up.

To cover a maternity post, many companies use a fixed term contract, which gives added bonus to consultant of some employment protection such as paid holidays and sick leave, but which will be another cost to organisation.

To avoid any confusion a clear agreement or contract needs to be drawn up at start between company and consultant establishing clear long and short term goals with regular meetings built in to check progress. Clear responsibilities should be allocated to avoid any confusion.

Fees and expenses need to be included as well as problem resolution such as delivery failures. With a fixed term contract latter can be solved by using disciplinary or capability procedure. Ideally a contingency plan should be put into place together with guidance on confidentiality issues such as data protection.

Before recruiting an HR consultant company needs to have a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve and draw up a project plan and brief for discussion.

There should also be a job description and person specification. With latter this provides assistance to recruit right calibre of person. As need for an HR consultant can often be at short notice, companies need to consider best place to advertise or find right candidate and consider a more streamlined recruitment process.

Once recruited consultant should be provided with a structured induction to enable them to hit ground running. This should include as much information about organisation as possible including meetings with key stakeholders so that they can complete task in hand as effectively and professionally as possible.

Article provided by Sandra Beale of SJ Beale HR Consult. Telephone 07762 771290 or email info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk. Website: www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk