A Czech manufacturer of PBXs, GSM gateways and communicators; supplies customers around the world with top-quality products and telecommunication solutions for professional and intelligent ways of communication.
Our company was identified on the basis of a QMS audit as a producer setting a good example with a highly developed and sophisticated customer care system, certainly thanks to our customer relationship management (CRM) processes. Despite the perfection of CRM tools, few companies deploy CRM processes due to insufficient motivation and lack of discipline. I am delighted that we have been successful in this regard and that our decision to emphasize CRM has brought measurable results to the benefit of our customers.
Ing. Tomáš Trefný, Chief Information Officer of 2N
Task
To consolidate and improve the existing customer service by deploying a CRM system.
A local ERP system was deployed in 2N to address administration of the company production and technological processes, storage, billing, accounting, and many other processes related to development and production. However, the Sales, Customer Care, and Tech Support departments lacked a system that would manage business communication with customers and support long-term customer care while enabling employees to share information effectively. As 2N exports its products to 150 countries all around the world, CRM is a key goal of the company.
2N planned to have Microsoft Dynamics CRM in place to further improve the care of the company’s many customers. The company management set three basic goals:
- to obtain a perfect overview of the history of all activities performed to take professional and technical care of clients, whereby every employee has the opportunity to inquire about the details of cooperation with the client and build on the work of their colleagues, thus also enabling substitution among employees
- to create a reliable and professional environment for maintaining contacts with customers and handling their needs, for which a system would be created defining responsibilities unequivocally, i.e. who exactly will take care of a specific requirement, when the requirement will be met, and
- how successfully to measure and increase sales efficiency by evaluating business opportunities and motivating the sales team to increase the proceeds from every order, taking into account the fact that sales representatives are mobile and may need to use the CRM system anywhere in the world.
Solutions
In 2007, 2N decided to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM to support the devised strategy.
In the first phase of the implementation, the “Contact Management” module was set up, contacts and organizations were synchronized with the ERP system and interconnected with the local 2N NETSTAR telephone exchange for tracking sales calls.
At the beginning of 2008, 2N established collaboration with Infinity and engaged Infinity’s analysts and programmers to set the CRM system so that it could be used by business units, the logistics department, and the department for technical care of customers. All e-mail, telephone, and personal activities between 2N and the customer are monitored, creating a history of the relationship with the customer. The entire functionality that Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers is therefore fully utilized through deployment of the marketing module.
Microsoft SharePoint serves as the repository of corporate documents. It was deployed and direct links to the information system (ERP) and Microsoft Dynamics CRM were created in the last phase of the implementation.
The application environment of 2N is built on Microsoft products, from Windows and SQL servers to Office suites. The robust Microsoft Exchange Server takes care of e-mail communication. This was the reason 2N planned to integrate such a solution for CRM as well, with the services to which users are accustomed. The highest synergy in this respect was achieved through deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Users can rely on the familiar and intuitive interface, full integration and control of CRM from Microsoft Outlook, and synchronization of CRM with records in Outlook. They can also work with off-line records of their e-mail accounts, including CRM records.
In terms of system design engineering, integration with the corporate Exchange Server was a great success, offering a unique solution for downloading and processing e-mail messages from public on-line accounts. Cooperation with the company website was solved similarly. Contact forms posted on the website can be downloaded.
The solution is enriched with a direct link to the 2N NETSTAR corporate PBX that passes all records of telephone calls to the Dynamics CRM database and enables interactive linking to recorded contacts.
Achievements
As a result of its cooperation with the implementing team of Infinity, 2N gained the following Microsoft Dynamics CRM services, beyond the standard use of the software:
- integrates e-mail messages, generated through forms on the website and connected to individual products sold in respective countries, which can be used to collect data and find opportunities and clients
- makes it easier for Front Office staff to carry out routine work with records in queues as it allows bulk operations
- is fully integrated with the 2N NETSTAR corporate PBX, including passing information about telephone calls to CRM equipped with a client application that finds a matching contact in the CRM database based on the telephone number and displays the record on the screen before the incoming call is answered
- synchronizes the “Opportunity” and “Business Case” segments with the ERP system, synchronizes records in the “Contact” and “Organization” segments, and assures full two-way on-line synchronization
- its electronic documentation system is used to digitize business documents and archive them and uses Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to enable direct access to documents from Microsoft Dynamics CRM SharePoint Server; this can be used in the future to make information available to external partners and suppliers via an extranet, and via intranet for employees
- new “business card collection” service created where business contacts such as those from fairs are collectively scanned and stored in the CRM database; this is especially appreciated by sales representatives as they have the contacts subsequently displayed and integrated in their Outlook can create service cases from an activity in e-mail queues for processing active cases, ensuring service case management when an existing service contract can be pre-filled in an automated manner
- monitors delays in the processing of selected activities for specific employees, records the actions related to individual activities, generates information that uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 analytical service for data mining
- provides a system to prevent duplicate records, warns of a possible duplication, or displays any duplicities using Reporting Services
By implementing CRM processes based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, 2N gained convenient tools for a controlled operation of communication channels connecting the company with its customers (via web, e-mails, phone calls, and meetings). Former individual ways of communication were consolidated, making it possible to easily measure and improve response times to customer orders, technical requirements, and demands generated from the company’s website.
Shortly after the implementation, the response time to technical requirements was reduced from days to hours. A similar situation exists in the field of customer care, where it is obvious how much work the team can handle and in what time.
All employees can share customer databases, including the e-mail, telephone, and personal activity history. This is most important when contracts are implemented across multiple departments.
A benefit for the marketing efforts of the company is the possibility of bulk mailing of marketing materials to customers, and the ability to get feedback, for example on how successful the company was at fairs. The most beneficial effect of CRM, however, is the possibility to correctly assess the productivity of sales representatives and their ability to convert opportunities to contracts. In this regard, the concept of Microsoft Dynamics CRM perfectly corresponds with the usual course of the business relationship.
Business Impacts
2N saw a number of improvements after Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment:
- improved trade logistics and customer care
- time management of technical support activities
- information about clients for sales reps working in the field
- perfect “contact management” and the history of commercial and technical activities with the client
- registration of web inquiries
- a documentary archive
- the effectiveness of sales and after sales care is measured and evaluated
