CRM Software, Contact Centre & Marketing Software

Rodial Skincare/Sapphire Systems

Rodial Skincare offers targeted treatments to specific skin concerns, combining the best of anti-ageing and firming ingredients. Founded in 1999 by former beauty editor Maria Hatzistefanis, Rodial products contain Pomegranate Ellagic Tannin – a secret Maria learned from her Greek grandmother. In 2008, Rodial doubled in size and turnover, achieved through opening in new world markets and expanding clientele in existing markets. Rodial’s finance team were using QuickBooks, an entry-level accounting package that was proving to be too basic; they needed a system to cope with a higher volume of transactions and complex shipping requirements. The company decided to implement SAP Business One from Sapphire.

Safecall Group/Sage – exclusive interview

Safecall Group provides a confidential, transparent means by which individuals can report to a senior level within their organisation in a secure environment. As a result, employers are able to address problems at an early stage. The 24-hour independent external confidential reporting line enables staff to report concerns regarding fraud, bullying, corporate governance issues, racism, dishonesty, health & safety, harassment, corruption and environmental issues, etc. Established in 1999 and based in the UK, the service is used by clients on a worldwide basis and is able to provide interpreting services in over 150 languages. Safecall had an existing CRM system that was used for the operational side of the business and for day-to-day sales contacts, but the company realised that it would be beneficial if clients could have online access to its CRM system for reviewing their call reports. After evaluating two other products, Safecall decided that the Sage CRM system provided everything it needed.

Consolidated Carriers Ltd/Oracle – exclusive interview

Founded in 1999, Consolidated Carriers Ltd is a logistics company that aims to provide a one-stop solution to the delivery needs of its customers. From the smallest parcel to full container loads, CCL can tailor a delivery service to suit the individual requirements of its customers. CCL’s approach to logistics is different – it doesn’t own a single vehicle, but instead works with market-leading logistics providers to offer a range of service options, dependent on the nature and priority of the customer’s shipment. It analyses each customer’s delivery needs and matches them with the specialist carrier it believes is best placed to satisfy their requirements. Having a manual system to manage its customer contacts, and collate visit reports and sales opportunity profiles was no longer good enough. To grow to a large successful company with numerous transactions, it needed to automate the whole process and invest in a CRM system. After looking at the market it decided that Oracle CRM On Demand met its requirements very well.

IQD Frequency Products/Access

Backed by a 40-year pedigree, IQD is a recognised leader in the frequency control market with customers in over 60 countries. From low-cost commercial grade products to those used in high reliability military grade applications, IQD offers one of the most comprehensive product ranges available. Having emerged profitable from the recession, IQD needed to maintain its growth momentum. This was being hindered by the company’s existing software, an ageing finance package and a third-party configure-to-order (CTO) application. Speed of response to customers was also an issue. IQD has a huge product range, including Quartz Crystals, Crystal Clock Oscillators, Silicon/MEMS Clock Oscillators, VCXOs, TCXOs, OCXOs and Industrial & Automotive Crystals & Oscillators – comprising over 370 models and 60,000 part numbers that continue to increase daily. Finally, data was held in silos, making product information difficult to maintain and access across various departments. Having looked at various editions of GoldMine, the Access consultant recommended GMEE.

taylorcocks/Sage

Since it was formed in 1992, taylorcocks has grown to be one of the leading firms of chartered accountants and chartered tax advisers in the south of England. The firm specialises in accountancy, tax and business advisory services. Operating out of ten offices and with 100 employees, taylorcocks serves a client base of over 1,200 organisations, ranging from large companies to owner-operated firms and not-for-profits, across a wide range of industries. In the drive to offer outstanding service, taylorcocks sought a relationship management system to help it build a unified, shared view of its clients and keep them consistently at the centre of everything it did. taylorcocks reviewed the technology available on the market. After careful deliberation, the firm selected leading CRM solution Sage SalesLogix.

Future Science Group/Sage – exclusive interview

Future Science is a group of three independent publishing companies – Expert Reviews, Future Medicine and Future Science – all active in the field of scientific information. It provides products and services for the medical, scientific and business communities. Future Science presents scientific breakthroughs in an accessible and evaluated format, while at the same time providing the scientific community with a vehicle for disseminating research information and data. The company started almost as a cottage industry producing medical journals, but has grown rapidly to become a sizeable publishing business with several different product ranges. It soon became clear that a far more robust system, to manage sales processes and provide customer contact management, would be required to take the company forward. This provided the main impetus to look for an improved solution. The company looked at several different solutions, both hosted and inhouse systems, and talked to a variety of people before deciding that Sage CRM was capable of delivering the functionality it needed.

Copy IT Digital Solutions/Access

Formed in 2001, Copy IT Digital Solutions Ltd is one of the largest and longest established independent photocopier dealerships servicing East Anglia. It has a head office in Norwich and offices in Cambridge and Ipswich. Customers include Greene King, Port of Felixstowe and May Gurney. As a leading player within the photocopier industry, Copy IT faces many challenges. With technology changing constantly, the focus is always on keeping costs down, providing excellent customer service, and at the same time differentiating itself from its competitors. As a business, it sells and services photocopiers, printers and fax machines. It has 11 service technicians with jobs being allocated appropriately according to skill sets and locations. Back in June 2005, Copy IT was experiencing issues with speed and reporting and was also unhappy with the support service it was receiving from its reseller. These problems led it to re-evaluate its finance and service system requirements. It looked at a number of solutions. Access made the shortlist and was finally selected as the chosen solution.

Scientific & Chemical Supplies/Sage

Scientific & Chemical Supplies Limited has been serving its customers for over 50 years. Originally established to supply local industry with laboratory equipment and chemicals, the company has over 100 employees across three main divisions and has become one of the UK’s leading science equipment suppliers to the education market, offering over 8,000 products. Scientific & Chemical Supplies is also a major supplier to laboratories in a wide range of industries and sectors, from aerospace to food manufacturing. In the late 1990s it opened branches in Aberdeen and Cork and in 2002 acquired a further branch in Paisley to provide local and personal service on a regional basis. Its international division, based at the Bilston office, supports customers in some 60 countries and offers particular expertise in the delivery of large projects and tenders. Scientific & Chemical Supplies found that, as the business grew, its current IT systems no longer met requirements. It was decided that the company’s requirement for a single business solution to support long-term growth plans made Sage 1000 an ideal candidate.

Bradford College/Concentrix

Bradford College appointed Concentrix as its new CRM business partner to help improve employer engagement, streamline internal processes and provide a solid, reliable CRM system. Bradford College is one of the largest further education colleges in the UK, and the largest provider of higher education outside of the university sector in England. The college has been delivering quality education and training for over 175 years. It has earned a national reputation in a variety of areas and offers a wide range of educational courses. As well as receiving the TQS Part A certification, Bradford College has also received TQS Part Bs in Healthcare and Beauty and Complementary Therapy, demonstrating it has expertise delivering in these sectors. The college is also working towards securing the Part B in Building Services Engineering.

BLP/Microsoft & Crimson Systems – exclusive interview

BLP provides new building and refurbishment defects insurance and technical expertise for residential, commercial and mixed-use schemes. The insurance covers the property, not the developer, and BLP carries out a quality assessment on every risk – whether it is residential or commercial. It also offers ‘durability’ assessments for clients who need to fast-track the adoption of innovative systems; and it is the premier consultancy resource for whole-life cost data and methodology in the UK construction industry. The company was first incorporated as Building LifePlans Ltd in 1999 and is now known under its trading name of BLP. Headquartered in the City of London, it is a subsidiary of Thomas Miller. The company needed better integratration with its core systems and, as it was already working with Crimson Systems, it decided to proceed with the implementation of Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM.

Irish Life & Permanent/Oracle

Irish Life & Permanent plc is differentiating its offering in a competitive financial sector by using customer information assets to offer a flexible, personalised service based on Oracle’s Siebel applications. Ireland’s largest life assurance company with a 26.5% share of the life, pensions and investments market, Irish Life is using Siebel applications to reinforce its reputation as a modern, innovative, trusted brand. Enhanced, embedded analytics, streamlined campaign generation and automated opportunity management tools in the Siebel suite enable Irish Life to manage 2,000 sales appointments each week, close deals faster, improve customer service and drive down overheads. Irish Life & Permanent first went live with Siebel applications following the group’s acquisition of TSB Bank in 2001. The merged organisation used Siebel applications to consolidate its diverse customer base and gain a single view of all client policies, accounts and investments to maximise cross and up-selling opportunities.

Castle Morpeth Borough and Alnwick DC/Microsoft – exclusive interview

Castle Morpeth is the gateway to Northumberland, with the ancient market town of Morpeth at its centre. The borough comprises a mainly rural area of some 629 sq km, stretching from Matfen in the south-west to Druridge Bay in the northeast, with 49,000 residents. The district of Alnwick lies in the heart of Northumberland, and is one of the most rural and sparsely populated districts in UK, with a population of about 32,000. The two councils operate a shared IT team that supports 600 users across six sites. They are always looking for ways to provide improved and more cost-effective services to their residents. As part of this they decided to implement a new CRM system across the two boroughs. The councils chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM as it was liked by the users and they could get payback in less than three years.

Essex Medical & Forensic Services/Microsoft – exclusive interview

Founded in May 2004, Essex Medical & Forensic Services Ltd has carved out an innovative niche in providing medical and clinical forensic services to police authorities. The company dispatches doctors, nurses and paramedics, 24 hours a day, to treat detainees who require medical evaluation while in police custody. This has greatly speeded up the assessment of detainees and allowed the police to focus on the process of justice. Essex Medical first began providing this service in Bedfordshire, and then rapidly expanded into Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. As a fast-growing start-up, Essex Medical recognised the need for a CRM solution to run its business efficiently. In the end it settled on Microsoft CRM System.

ING Investment Management/Saratoga – exclusive interview

ING Investment Management (ING IM) is a global asset management company with approximately 350 billion euros of assets under management. Its customers are pension funds, insurance companies, foundations and fund distributors throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The company is part of the ING Group, a 150-year-old financial institution with Dutch origins, which is one of the top 20 financial services companies worldwide, and one of the top 10 in Europe. The ING Group carries out banking, insurance and asset management in over 50 countries. Customer relationship management (CRM) is key to ING IM’s business: the company fosters long-term relationships with its clients founded on strong personal contacts and regular communications about their portfolios. ING looked at a large number of CRM products and shortlisted five. Integration with Outlook was a key criterion and a number of systems didn’t support this at the time. However, Saratoga’s iAvenue ticked all the right boxes with the users.