Success Story

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Key Benefits

• Improves efficiency of around 30%
• Provides field and office-based staff with a full, up-to-date view of customer related activity and information
• Improves customer, marketing, and business intelligence
• Eliminates the need to wait while information is updated because synchronization occurs in the background

Sybase Technology

• SQL Anywhere
• PowerBuilder
• iAnywhere partner- ProspectSoft

Industry

• Manufacturing/Distribution

Tools for the Field
Well known in the construction industry, Helifix leads the way in the design and manufacture of wall ties, fixings, masonry reinforcement and repair systems. Its products are used worldwide and although sometimes sold directly, are mainly supplied through distributors or approved installers. In addition to its office-based staff at its London headquarters, Helifix has a team of technical and sales staff who spend most of their time visiting distributors, approved installers, and construction sites.

Selling to the construction industry is notoriously complex. The sales process involves a chain of people and a sale can be easily lost if the process is not carefully controlled. Helifix generates sales leads by tracking tenders for large construction projects, advertising in the trade press, or attending shows. Its sales force often passes on these leads to their distributors and approved installers. "It's very important that we are able to get information out to our sales people, quickly and accurately," says Nimesh Patel, company secretary at Helifix. "We also want to make the most of our leads so we need to monitor progress and analyze what works well and what isn't so successful. This requires visibility of the whole process from enquiry generation to order completion."

Looking for Integration
Helifix already had a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system but it wasn't always easy to use and didn't provide all the functionality needed. In addition to improving lead management, the company wanted to make all customer-related information such as emails, letters, and CAD diagrams easily available to all appropriate employees in a secure manner. Helifix also set out to improve the efficiency of its office and field staff by providing them with access to information on stock and delivery status. After producing quotations for direct customers, the company wanted its employees to be able to add resulting sales information directly into the accounting system. This required the front and back office to be linked closely by integrating the company's Pegasus Opera II accounting system with the CRM application.

The difficulties that Helifix was facing are well recognized by companies with staff who work offsite. A salesperson might receive an important email relating to a customer but no one will know of its existence until the employee connects into the office to synchronize systems. With Helifix's old CRM system, synchronization was slow and inconvenient, often tying up systems for long periods of time on a dial-in line. Sometimes systems would get out of synchronization and recovery could be difficult and time-consuming.

Keeping Up to Date
Following research into the best solution for its needs, Helifix chose a ProspectSoft CRM solution powered by iAnywhere Solutions' SQL Anywhere. "We like the way ProspectSoft's solution provides a full view of customer activity, which is always up to date," says Patel. "Thanks to SQL Anywhere, replication takes place in the background so you don't have to wait while it synchronizes and downloads information. If a sale hits a problem it's now much easier for managers to track activity and resolve any issues early on." Ray Redpath, marketing director at ProspectSoft, confirms that all ProspectSoft's solutions are built using SQL Anywhere databases. "We don't use anything else, "he says. "More than 90% of our users have a mobile element to their business so SQL Anywhere's synchronization facilities are key to our success. I believe it's way ahead of any similar product and has proved to be extremely robust."

iAnywhere's SQL Anywhere enables the synchronization of information from a wide range of software such as accounting systems, word processing packages, CAD systems, and spreadsheet packages. This provides employees in the field with the same user experience as those who are office based.

Business Information at the Touch of a Button
The switch from Helifix's old CRM system to the ProspectSoft solution went very smoothly and was completed in a matter of weeks. The biggest challenge was cleansing more than 18,000 records from the old system. Around 40% were found to be duplicates, a situation that had been exacerbated by poor synchronization capabilities.

The whole Helifix sales and service cycle is now captured in the ProspectSoft solution. At the end of every month a marketing intelligence report is run that shows information such as the number of enquiries generated from each magazine advertisement or trade show visit, and the lead to close of sale ratio. This enables Helifix to see which of its advertising and promotional activity is most productive and where it should concentrate its promotional budget.

When work using Helifix products is completed, a copy of the warranty issued is saved with the customer's records so that if a problem occurs in the future, staff can confirm that the warranty is valid and check the details of what is covered. Holding details about warranty claims on the system makes it easy to analyze problems that are occurring and spot trends.

"Report production is simple with ProspectSoft," says Patel. "Not only has our customer and marketing intelligence improved but managers now have a comprehensive view of what is going on in the business month by month. This enables us to check progress and workloads accurately and helps with staff appraisal."

Sharing the Same Information
"We made the right decision to move to ProspectSoft and it's been well received throughout the company," confirms Patel. "ProspectSoft is easy to use and it benefits all users, not just the management team. We are all sharing the same information now rather than looking at different versions in different software."

Helifix estimates efficiency has increased by around 30% because of the integration it has achieved within its CRM system and the advantages gained from the on-demand synchronization of information to all users.

The company is also reassured by the fact that the SQL Anywhere database is far more secure than Helifix's previous CRM database as users need an electronic key to get into the system.

Rolling Out the Benefits
Helifix is keen to continue to use appropriate technology to benefit its business. It is providing its field staff with XDAs and was pleased that ProspectSoft enables information such as daily appointments and emails to be immediately synchronized to these handheld devices, removing the need to constantly carry a laptop.

The company is so impressed by the efficiencies to be gained from its new CRM system that it is encouraging its 30 approved installers to implement ProspectSoft so they too can share information and automatically receive leads through the system. "By enabling Helifix and its approved installers to work more closely together we will extend and increase the benefits already gained," concludes Patel.

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