Switching to the
Fast Track
Continued
Building a Powerful System
Because NEC Unified Solutions is in the business of developing technology solutions, the company has staff members with extensive programming expertise. They didn’t want to design a new CRM system when there were good ones on the market, but they did have some ideas to enhance it. Because Oracle CRM On Demand has an open, Web-based architecture, the company could integrate its own tools into the system. Custom modules include two marketing support tools, Campaign Depot and Proposal Depot, as well as forecasting capabilities that draw on the CRM system data.
Campaign Depot is a ready-made set of e-mail, direct mail, and brochure options prepared by the marketing staff. A salesperson can select an item, upload a list of contacts who should receive it, and then watch as the piece is prepared and sent out. Using Proposal Depot, the sales team can respond to Requests for Proposals quickly using information and language that’s already been approved. Both tools use customer data in the CRM system and then allow the salesperson to track results. “They don’t have to type stuff they already know; the opportunity is up-to-date,” Raybon says.
“Oracle CRM On Demand can’t get in the way of the selling process. It has to complement it,” says Anthony Lye, Oracle’s senior vice president for CRM. He explains that systems have to adapt to customer needs, starting with the choice between an on-demand and an on-premises solution. “We give our customers flexibility in deployment,” he adds. Oracle CRM On Demand, he says, is well suited to the business-to-business market that NEC Unified Solutions is after, because it can handle the data about the deep and complex relationships involved in enterprise sales.
Getting the Full Benefit
Whether the concern is next year’s budget for total U.S. sales or the current penetration of IP telephony, executives can use Oracle CRM On Demand reports to view the sales pipeline and forecast at the click of a mouse. Regional sales vice presidents no longer have to wade through spreadsheets to make decisions. They can now spend their time giving their staff training, coaching, and support.
Oracle CRM On Demand gives NEC Unified Solutions users full visibility across their market into enterprise accounts, improving the service that the company offers. That’s important, Beagle Research’s Pombriant says, because the major complaint of buyers is that salespeople are not prepared for meetings. “Customers are acutely aware of having their time wasted,” Pombriant explains. If a CRM system gives the salesperson more information about what products, financing, and needs the customer has, he adds, that salesperson can ask more-detailed questions that lead to better collaboration.
Pombriant sees another huge opportunity for effective CRM systems: reducing the need for frequent visits to customer sites in order to assess their happiness and needs. “Transportation is becoming very expensive,” he says, both in terms of dollars spent and environmental damage. Effective data analysis combined with such communications techniques as Web meetings and videoconferencing may allow companies to save money, improve their sustainability, and meet customer needs.
Raybon says that forecasts have been within about 10 percent of actual outcomes, which makes it easier to run the company overall. “It’s been a huge benefit to us,” he says. The better forecasts and deeper information have improved the group’s communications with the home office in Japan, a nice added benefit.
It’s been a year since NEC Unified Solution’s transformation, and Raybon says it’s been a huge success. Where once the management team could only see crises, now they can track the sales cycle to see where things are getting stuck before a significant problem emerges. That increases customer retention and helps the salespeople find better solutions to customer problems. Sales are closing faster, and the fulfillment stage is shorter. People at all levels of the company can see high-margin sales opportunities in order to allocate resources appropriately. “The number of deals over $250,000 is expanding—dramatically,” Raybon says. With larger deals, faster sales, and happier customers, the team at NEC Unified Solutions agrees that Oracle CRM On Demand has provided the support they need to keep the company growing.
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Oracle CRM On Demand
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