Leading online publisher 24.com, a Naspers company, reports more accurate business intelligence after contracting Liquid Thought to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM to manage its customer relationships.
24.com national sales manager, Gustav Goosen, says the division found the legacy CRM they and many of the group companies had been using limiting because it offered limited customisation options and was cumbersome to use. “Our sales team was very resistant to using it. We needed something that would integrate more easily into their daily workflow. We also needed a system we could customise to our own requirements, so that we would see only information that is relevant to us.”
Liquid Thought Director Roger Strain, who previously oversaw the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at 24.com's sister company Kalahari.net, says the system's integration with Outlook makes it much easier to secure user uptake. “Because it's part of something people are using every day anyway, the barriers to use are much lower,” he says. “Instead of having to learn their way around a new system, users only need to add a couple of steps to what they're doing already.”
“It's much easier for sales people to maintain the system if it lives in their operational environment,” confirms Goosen. “It's integrated with their workflow and there's no need for double capturing of information.”
Goosen says that in addition to this ease of use, 24.com chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM because it was easy to customise and to integrate with data from external systems. “We needed to integrate sales data with information from the software that serves our online ads, so that we could report on sales figures and client activity from within CRM,” he says. “With data from the ad server environment pulled into the CRM system, we're able to report much more accurately and we're equipped with better business intelligence.”
Having implemented the system in late 2008, Goosen says another benefit has already made itself apparent. “Now that all our customer information is actually in one place, it's much easier for the sales team to work together to provide our clients with consistent service. Instead of two people taking a full day to brief each other before and after someone takes leave, it can be done in a couple of hours. It's made us more productive.”
Goosen says Liquid Thought, as 24.com's implementation partner, “made a real point of understanding our business environment and tailoring the system to meet our needs.”
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