Your CRM isn’t broken. That’s the problem.
Linkedin
April 21, 2026
Most CRM systems don’t fail. They become expensive in ways that are hard to see and even harder to challenge.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
The hidden costs of CRM
Linkedin
April 07, 2026
It rarely shows up in pipeline performance, reporting accuracy, or visible system defects. Those are the outcomes people look at. They are not where the cost originates.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
When the wrong system quietly puts trust and funding at risk
Linkedin
January 21, 2026
Some of the most damaging system failures never announce themselves.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Finding Your Pot of Gold in a Summer Christmas: A Year-End Reflection for CRM Leaders
Linkedin
December 11, 2025
As we head into the Australian summer break — where Christmas means long days, warm evenings, and a chance to exhale — it’s natural to reflect on the year that’s been. For many organisations, 2025 has been a tough one. Budgets were squeezed. Projects stretched. Teams were tired.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Three Moves CFOs Use to Stop CRM Cost Creep
Linkedin
October 14, 2025
Where we share practical strategies to help you get measurable business results from your CRM.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
If you get on the wrong train, get off at the next station
Linkedin
October 09, 2024
I recently stumbled across an intriguing Japanese proverb: "If you get on the wrong train, get off at the next station – the longer you stay, the more expensive the return trip will be." While it speaks of trains, this adage is a powerful metaphor for many facets of life, especially for navigating failing projects—like CRM implementations.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Data Hygiene: Keeping Your CRM Clean and Efficient
Linkedin
September 19, 2024
Today is World Cleanup Day, and while everyone's tidying up parks and beaches, let's chat about sprucing up something just as, perhaps even more crucial - your CRM!
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Healthy CRM, Healthy Team: Best Practices for Reducing Stress
Linkedin
September 11, 2024
As we commemorate R U OK? Day, it's the right moment to look deeper into how our work tools and systems, especially Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, affect our team's mental health and overall well-being. At Opsis, we believe that technology should not only make business more efficient but also help create a healthier and more balanced workplace.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Security is the Chief Enemy of Mortals - Overcoming the challenges of Microsoft Dynamics 365 PowerPlatform security
Opsis
February 15, 2020
In 'Security is the Chief Enemy of Mortals', Gill Walker travels through the Dynamics 365 security challenges, the moving parts of its security and gives us some tips to survive the traps of setting up a security model within Microsoft Dynamics 365.
The requirements of a solution that provides models that protects sensitive data and enables collaboration, at first glance seems impossible. But Microsoft Dynamics 365 Power Platform provides us with this - and in a way that meets the needs of small businesses, large businesses and franchises.
While the building blocks - business units, security roles, users and teams - are pretty simple, creating a security model that meets a specific client's needs is not easy. There are many traps to be avoided.
This presentation was first delivered at PowerPlatformSaturdaySydney on Saturday 15th February 2020.
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Tags: CRM, Cybersecurity
Seven Sins of CRM Training
Gill Walker
July 10, 2019
A horrendously large number of CRM projects are deemed to fail - costing billions of dollars per year and untold frustration to both users and the project sponsors. In this presentation, Gill shows how training - done correctly - can avoid these failures.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Breaking the Barriers of Marketing Automation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 with ClickDimensions
Opsis
April 24, 2019
Earlier this year I presented 'Breaking the Barriers of Marketing Automation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 with ClickDimensions' at the Marketing Automation Summit in Sydney.
Introduction
Since Microsoft Dynamics was launched in Australia in 2004, marketing has always been playing catchup.
ClickDimensions solves this problem by providing full marketing, automation native to Microsoft Dynamics 365.
In this presentation, Gill Walker will share how ClickDimensions is your technology of choice to break the barriers of marketing (and marketing automation) if you are an organisations of any type using Microsoft Dynamics 365.
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Tags: CRM, Emerging Technology, Marketing
Essential steps to successful User Acceptance Testing
opsis.com.au
November 09, 2018
Globally, 60% of IT projects are said to fail. 60%. Across the US, that is costing $150 billion per year. That is significantly more than the loose change you'll ever find in my purse. If we look in the CRM and the ERP space, which is where I play, that increases to somewhere between 70% and 80%. Now think about that for a moment - would you go to a surgeon who had a 70% failure rate? And yet, at the moment, that is what we, as in the CRM ERP, and slightly broader people, are delivering to our clients.
If we keep the focus on the CRM / ERP space, one of the big problems with it is that projects are deemed to have failed. The word "deemed" is very important. That comes about because after the fact, after the solution is in and live, people are saying it's failed. But one of the reasons that it has failed is because it just didn't fix all the problems in the business. They didn't actually have anything up front that they could then compare it to, at which it may or may not have succeeded. It was just, "We've put this solution in, we've spent all this money, and life isn't wonderful. Therefore, the CRM ERP has failed."
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
How to market yourself and get booked as a speaker
Gill Walker
January 25, 2018
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Tags: Leadership, Public Relations
CRM - Why? Why (sm)all businesses needs a CRM solution
Opsis
December 09, 2017
In this presentation, Gill Walker highlights some of the key functionality that successful CRM should deliver to a business.
This presentation was targeted at the owners of start up, owner-operator, small businesses who had little experience of the benefits of CRM to an organisation
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM, Digital Transformation
Taming the Beast of CRM Data
Opsis
August 30, 2017
Behind all successful CRM solutions lies great data.
So all the data’s in your CRM. Now how do you get it out? And how do you turn that data into useful information?
CRM projects are great at designing ways for users (and sometimes clients and prospects) to put data into the CRM. They are often not so good at helping those same users to get information out in ways that help them serve the clients effectively.
Many CRM projects often focus huge effort on ensuring that they can enter information into CRM, then rely on pushing it into Excel and manipulating it there each time they need it. Not only is this tedious and time-consuming, but to make matters worse, these reports are often then saved and used again even though they are out of date. Wouldn’t you rather leverage the data within your CRM, so that you can access real time information in the format you need?
If you want to transform your CRM from a huge data repository into a powerful management tool, then this presentation is essential for you.
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Tags: CRM, Digital Transformation
A Deep Dive into CRM Tech with CRM Success Catalyst, Gill Walker
That Tech Pod
June 29, 2021
In this episode of That Tech Pod - "A Deep Dive into CRM Tech with CRM Success Catalyst, Gill Walker" - I spoke with Laura Milstein and Gabi Schulte about:
- data and security challenges in CRM implementations
- project scoping
- the importance of equipping yourself with CRM education - and how it will prevent you to be a fool like the Emperor with his "new clothes"
- understanding the integrated functionality within CRM - from trends to deprecations
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Tags: CRM, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Grow Your Business by Understanding the Importance of Customer Relationship Management System
Sam Gupta
March 16, 2021
Gill Walker discusses why CRM is important and how that fits among other systems such as ERP and e-commerce. She also shares several best practices for executives embarking on a CRM implementation journey with lessons learnt from her two decades of implementing CRM.
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Tags: CRM, Digital Transformation, ERP
In conversation with Megan Del Borrello from Behind the Brands
Behind the Brands
September 17, 2020
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership
Birthday cakes and extensions
Deb Coviello - Drop IN CEO
July 29, 2020
In birthday cakes and extensions, Deb Coviello - the Drop In CEO - and Gill Walker discuss an approach to software implementation that takes ideas from everyday and uses them to make your software implementation easier, quicker and cheaper than many projects are today.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
How good accesible CRM generates more sales
Opsis
June 27, 2020
Recently I sat down with Ian Stephens of Enrich Training and Development - the guru of sales development training - to talk about whether an organisation should embark on the CRM journey.
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM, Sales
CRM Leadership with Pushpa Vaghela of Leadership Mastery TV and Leadership By Design
Opsis
March 25, 2020
CRM technology vs CRM philosophy, the roles of education and training in a successful CRM project and some of the challenges for the CRM leadership team posed by an 'Agile' project.
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Tags: CRM, Leadership, Education
Is your CRM system a waste of time and money?
Dylis Guyan
January 01, 2020
Do you have a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool in place, that enables you, as a business owner or manager to identify;
- a decline in sales,
- loss of existing clients,
- your best clients,
- the position of the decision-maker,
- where your best sales are coming from and much more?
Or is your CRM tool seen as another irritant that takes up too much of your time?
Listen to my discussion with Dylis Guyan. Together we open your eyes to the huge opportunities your CRM system will give you to develop more business and which all of your Sales People will love!
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM, Digital Transformation
People, process and only then technology, leads to CRM success - Eagle Waves interview
Opsis
July 08, 2016
A discussion about CRM, and how focussing on the people, process and only then the technology, leads to CRM success. The other key aspects of a successful project are to have involvement of all people and to ensure that all users are trained to give them the confidence that CRM will support them to do their job
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM, Leadership
Gill Walker discusses client relationships and how CRM helps you manage them with Steve Brossman
Opsis
July 05, 2009
In this 2009 talk with Steve Brossman of Business OnlineTV, Gill Walker highlights how a CRM solution
Gives you client information at your fingertips
Lets you see the results of efforts at a glance
Enables you to easily stay in touch with clients
Additionally CRM protects you against information loss when a team member leaves
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM
The Mystery of CRM Success - unpacked
Opsis
November 14, 2020
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Choosing the best CRM for you
Opsis
May 21, 2015
A CRM system is not just technology – in fact the technology is the minor part of the decision. The key differences between the 400+ technologies are minor. There are plenty of resources that will help you review technology, but you cannot meaningfully do this until the other discussions are complete.
The key reasons for project failure are rarely technology, they are human. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
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Tags: Business Strategy, CRM, Digital Transformation
Seven Essential Steps to Successful User Acceptance Testing – in CRM and similar projects
Opsis
June 02, 2021
How can your user acceptance testing help ensure the success of a CRM / ERP or other line-of-business software project - even if other stages of the project have been completed less than perfectly?
This question was answered by Gill Walker in her recent presentation at the "Agile, DevOps & Testing: The Business Case" Global Event organised by UNICOM
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Tags: ERP, CRM, DevOps
All Roads Lead to Rome - Understanding is Key in Successful CRM
Opsis
May 18, 2021
Rome - the place where a civilisation came to an end, where an empire fell over, and where the Dark Ages began - represents failure in your CRM project.
When a lack of understanding exists somewhere in your CRM project, the path will lead you to CRM failure. As the idiom goes, "All roads lead to Rome" - as with 85% of CRM and ERP projects that were deemed failed.
In this presentation, Gill Walker talks about those paths that lead to CRM failure - and how you can re-route your path away from "Rome" to CRM success.
You will learn about the role of understanding in CRM projects, and how having a true understanding of the project scope, processes and purpose will help you overcome roadblocks and unnecessary detours in your CRM project implementation.
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Education is a key part of project success. Education is more - far more - than end-user training
Cloud Lunch & Learn Marathon
May 13, 2021
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Tags: Change Management, CRM, Digital Transformation
Take your Marketing to New Heights with Dynamics 365 and ClickDimensions
opsis.com.au
February 19, 2021
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Tags: CRM, Marketing
Three keys to ensuring audience connection when presenting virtually
Dynamic Communities
January 11, 2021
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Tags: Leadership, Public Relations
Seven Sins of Dynamics 365 Training
Opsis
July 05, 2020
A Dynamics 365 project can make you $millions or cost you $millions.
Training is key to ensuring project success. Watch this session to learn how to keep your project ‘in the black, not the red’.
This presentation, presented at the Women's BizApps group on 2nd July 2020 shows you how to ensure that your D365 training contributes to your project success - rather than its failure!
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Tags: Digital Transformation, CRM, Leadership
