Intense

“CoreMatrix’s expertise and guidance were critical to the success of our global roll out to over 15 countries. From the design and discovery phases, to the custom coding and training, their understanding of salesforce.com and our complex business processes made our CRM implementation a smooth transition with minimal system downtime.”

Ric Crescenti
Manager CRM Strategy
American Express Business Travel Group

In a large organization, communication is critical, especially when you add in the complexities of managing global initiatives across multiple regions. American Express Business Travel was faced with this challenge as they sought to find a better way to manage their customer data and track sales activities across the globe.

Need for a single global CRM system
Each region was utilizing a combination of Lotus Notes to manage their CRM data and Excel for data analysis. These data sources were not synchronized and had been uniquely tailored over time; therefore data aggregation was labor intensive and highly manual. In addition, in some regions users were tracking calls and meetings via Excel and Word in order to report their weekly accomplishments to their managers via email.

Emphasizing and accelerating user adoption
The “Keep it Simple” motto was used during the Design Phase so that the application would be intuitive and easy for users to understand and adopt. The Project Leadership knew that if there were too many new processes or required data fields, users would take longer to climb the learning curve. In addition, with users spread out all over the country/globe, a training curriculum and approach that could be executed quickly and in a uniform fashion was mandatory for each of the phases.

Minimize down time migrating from old system to new system
The organization could not withstand any length of time without user, manager or reporting analyst access to the pipeline data. They required minimal down time between the old system being decommissioned and Salesforce.com going live.

The Solution
CoreMatrix was hired to implement the salesforce.com platform Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition was selected as the new CRM platform and CoreMatrix was brought on as a consulting partner to oversee the implementation and roll out.

Phased Approach
American Express Business Travel communicated their desire to break the project down into phases to (1) avoid placing too much risk on the project as well as to (2) begin reaping the benefits of Salesforce.com in a short term.

Phase 1 – Business Travel Sales – North America – Deployment
Phase 1.5 – Business Travel Sales – North America – Lead Import Automation
Phase 2 – Business Travel Sales – Global Deployment (EMEA and JAPA) – Deployment

Customization of the salesforce.com platform
American Express Business Travel Group could now use Salesforce.com as a single system for CRM. For each of the phases, CoreMatrix conducted Gap Analyses between the former systems and Salesforce, facilitated business process reviews with user groups and proposed system configurations designed to address the users’ requirements. Key reports and executive dashboards were also created to provide visibility to the Pipeline, User Adoption, and Success Ratios across the Sales organization.

CoreMatrix also identified and mapped out the data migration from the source systems to Salesforce.com. Though all of the geographies deployed to-date (NA, EMEA and JAPA) were converting from Lotus Notes, each of their database structures were unique. Therefore, the loads from each of the 3 sources used different data transformation and data mapping logic.

Custom Coding
An important source of leads for the sales team originates from a third-party vendor. Therefore, it was necessary to design a data import program so that leads could be passed directly into salesforce.com using custom business logic. CoreMatrix authored a .NET application to load nightly files from the vendor into Salesforce and create Leads with follow-up Activities assigned to the Sales Users. Another example of custom coding was the creation of an Opportunity Update interface within the Salesforce.com Application to facilitate the synchronization of data across multiple related opportunities. This was extremely complex due to the large number of validation rules in place on Opportunity records. Logic was built into the code to anticipate violation of those rules and force specific data field updates, so that the integrity of the data could be maintained for accurate reporting.

Intense Data Migration and Rollout Plan
For each of the Sales Deployments, the data migration strategy entailed shutting down the legacy systems (Lotus Notes), rapidly extracting the data into the correct formats, and migrating the data to Salesforce. The timing for this data migration was aligned with the start of the user training classes so that the elapsed time between the Lotus Notes shutdown and the last training class would be minimized. In addition, the training classes were scheduled concurrently in different regions to allow for the shortest rollout timeframe. This strategy allowed the overall deployment to meet the 3 week goal.

The Results
•  Global visibility- executive view across all regions
•  Consistency and streamlined global processes
•  Faster and easier reporting
•  Single source view of customer data
•  Transition to new system completed with minimal down time

The Challenges
Manually intensive product development process
Team across several countries
No central repository for collaboration/sharing/tracking

The client, a global financial services company currently employs a manually intensive process for
initiation, managing, and monitoring a product development project. The product development team
is distributed across several countries in Asia Pacific and there is no central repository to share,
collaborate, and track issues and projects. This creates inefficiencies in the project teams and
provides limited visibility into project dependencies, risks, and accountability.

The current product development activities were siloed and involved a long and disjointed process to
get a product scoped, approved, initiated, and launched. By the time a financial product was
launched, the demand for that product may have changed.

The Solution
Extend CRM capability to include product development
Simple familiar UI
Standardized business processes
Information accessibility and security policies
Integrated sales and product development functionality

Having already invested in Salesforce.com for its front office sales teams, the client wished to extend
the SaaS platform to other internal groups. Using the Force.com capability, an online Project Management
Solution is built that is both flexible and scalable. The system will enhance the monitoring and
project tracking process and help to alleviate project risks and issues. In addition, it will standardize
the process for submission, approval, and monitoring project and will be accessible by distributed
project teams. The system also includes visibility into product development pipeline for appropriate
resource management and allocation, streamlined communications and milestone transparency for
distributed teams, and ultimately, faster time-to-market for financial products.

Leveraging the SFDC standard and custom components, together with user friendly interfaces and
UI-based work-flows using FLEX and Force.com components, the solution consolidated an integrated
sales and product approach to better align sales-generated product innovation with real customer
demand and value-add services. Sales teams were able to proactively request product development
initiatives based on real market data and customer demand while back-offices were able to track and
monitor real time the projects to deliver products requested by sales. All of this is in an open and 360
degree view of the client sales and the back office activities support the revenue-generating events!

The Results
Launch solutions in 2-3 months vs. 6 months.
Reduce Total Cost of Ownership by over 60% versus proprietary solution.
Improved efficiency and client service by increased collaboration and
automation of the product management lifecycle

iPay Technologies provides full-service internet bill payment software to more than 1,300 financial institutions in the United States and serves over 460,000 bill pay subscribers. Founded in 2001 with just eight employees, iPay Technologies has grown into a company with more than 250 employees that processes more than 1.4 million payments each month.

After years of rapid growth iPay found itself hampered by a patchwork of different information systems – ACT, Microsoft Outlook and spreadsheets. Customer data was dispersed in various disparate databases. The lack of a company standard for tracking sales activity, customer contact data and account history hampered iPay’s efforts to monitor the pipeline, identify and respond to “hot leads”, and really focus on the customer. Additionally, manually updating the sales forecast each week in Excel was becoming more and more cumbersome as the company grew, and was wasting time that could be spent more productively.

In order for sales management to get insight into the business, data needed to be centralized and analytic tools were needed. Most importantly they needed a scalable solution that could grow along with the company. “We knew we wanted an on-demand system because as a small and growing company, we didn’t have the resources to manage installed software – it was smarter for us to look for something that didn’t require IT and avoided the costs that go along with software maintenance” states James Hyde, SVP Strategic Alliances. “We also wanted a solution that could grow and change with our business. Right now we’re growing at an incredible pace – 10 people when we first signed on, now we are up to 50+ users – and we expect the pace to continue.”

Salesforce.com fit the bill. “If you use it, you fall in love with it” continues Hyde, “I deployed it in a previous company so I knew it was easy to use and had the features and flexibility we needed to support our decentralized structure. We don’t have to worry about CRM technology and adoption—we can focus instead on sales success across the organization.” The solution had been identified, but the challenge would be in modernizing iPay’s internal business processes and seamlessly integrating them with Salesforce.

iPay chose CoreMatrix Systems to complement a core internal team dedicated to Salesforce. CoreMatrix’s expertise in business process re-engineering and CRM, as well as its reputation for collaborative innovation, gave iPay the confidence they needed to move forward. CoreMatrix began by conducting an extensive cross-functional business process analysis with stakeholders in sales, marketing, customer service and finance. CoreMatrix then led design sessions around sales and marketing best practices, and customized a solution for iPay’s specific goals – automating as much of the work as possible to assure that the solution could scale with the business. Says Hyde, “The business process review was a valuable investment. That’s where we laid out the CRM infrastructure and customized the application to each of our user groups. CoreMatrix was absolutely critical to that meeting.” CoreMatrix helped iPay customize Salesforce to accommodate a diverse set of CRM data and applications, and the partnership with iPay’s internal team proved to be a winning strategy. The solution was implemented in just 32 days. Training by CoreMatrix helped drive more than 90 percent user adoption, and the sales force that initially resisted moving from paper-based systems became champions of the new system. Some reps even comment that they can’t work without it – they are completely addicted.

CoreMatrix also worked with iPay to develop custom applications for pricebooks and deal calculations that deliver analytic solutions tailored to iPay’s business. In addition CoreMatrix consultants created sales-management dashboards that display current information in an intuitive, actionable format, including pipeline opportunities, forecasts, trends, top performers and win/loss information. These dashboard solutions helped iPay decrease its forecast creation time from 4.5 hours to 20 minutes. Since implementing Salesforce, iPay has been able to manage their pace of growth while keeping internal and external customers satisfied. “We manage our business with Salesforce” says Hyde. “The dashboards that CoreMatrix built have made their way into every department in our growing organization—every meeting centers on clearly presented metrics. On the sales side we use it to manage opportunities end-to-end and automate our processes—activities, scheduling, emails, etc.”

The evolution of Salesforce at iPay continues. The company is in the process of implementing Salesforce web-to-lead functionality to automate integration of leads into email and other advertising campaigns. Another key project involves integrating the in-house customer contact solutions and databases with the Salesforce.com API. The goal is to enable the company’s vision of a global customer management solution. iPay also looks to integrate other AppExchange providers for commission calculations, price book growth and other business development report-writing tools. Thanks to a strong partnership with CoreMatrix Systems, a forward thinking approach, and a dedication to its customers, iPay is transforming itself and realizing its vision of becoming a next generation data driven company.

The Challenges
Carlyle’s investment sales teams did not have a central repository for account and sales activity information. Customer information was kept by individual account owners and was not visible to other individuals within Carlyle. Gathering sales and marketing data to produce reports was time consuming and required a tremendous amount of manual effort.

Need for single CRM system with standardization
Sales teams within Carlyle were using a combination of systems to manage customer and sales information. The data residing in these systems was not consistent, as it had been tailored to individual needs over time. Data aggregation was labor intensive and highly manual.

Need for increased visibility and usability of customer and sales data
To increase effectiveness, efficiencies and cross-selling opportunities, the sales teams required a “common” platform for selling with increased visibility to aggregate customer and sales information. Sales teams needed to see sales and pending deals to build their opportunity “pipeline”.

Need to improve selling process
Carlyle needed to automate and add improvements to their selling processes. They needed: more sources for leads and a central place to store them, more robust and real-time sales reporting to react more quickly in the market, and better management of the customer “touch points”.

The Solution
Carlyle chose Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition as their CRM platform and CoreMatrix was the consulting partner who oversaw the implementation, roll-out, and training.

Customization of salesforce.com
CoreMatrix worked with Carlyle to understand their business needs and drivers and customize Salesforce.com to meet these needs. CoreMatrix customized the Account, Contact, Opportunity and Lead information within salesforce.com to optimize the efficiency of Carlyle. Customized dashboards and reporting were also developed.

Workflow optimization
To increase sales efficiency and effectiveness, CoreMatrix added custom objects to the workflow process for “reminders” that would send emails and create tasks when certain triggering events occur (e.g., proposal issued, due diligence, won, etc.)

Data Migration
CoreMatrix assisted Carlyle in migrating to Salesforce.com and performed the initial load of data into Salesforce.com of Accounts and Contacts. Carlyle stored their customer data in Outlook and CoreMatrix performed data mapping and cleansing to ensure the highest level of data integrity during the migration.

Training
Usage and user acceptance and adoption were key components of the CoreMatrix solution and a measurement of success by Carlyle. Corematrix developed and delivered a custom curriculum to Carlyle to ensure their user adoption and success.

The Results
•  Increased visibility and usability of account and sales information through a single,
•  centralized system
•  Streamlined customer and account management processes with additional
•  Value-added functionality
•  Faster and easier reporting

“CoreMatrix customization and implementation of salesforce.com, as well as their system integrations expertise, led to a solution that met our needs as a manufacturer and marketer of power tool accessories, hand tools, band saw blades, torches, and solder in more than 70 countries. We needed a solution that addressed the needs of our direct sales force, as well as our partners and distribution channel providers and CoreMatrix was able to deliver a custom solution.” — Lenox

The Challenges
Lenox® was faced with outdated, stand-alone systems that were no longer able to support the needs of their multi-faceted, expanding manufacturing operations. Their systems were not integrated or easy to use and were slow; therefore, their value to their sales team and sales channels was negligible. For continued growth and operations optimization, Lenox had to migrate from their “old ways” of managing customer and sales data and to a new, integrated CRM platform.

Required a single CRM system
Lenox was using Lotus Notes, Oracle ERP and other internally developed systems to manage their CRM data and accounting information. These systems were not synchronized, required a great deal of manual work in order to extract data and extrapolate meaning, and were not easy tools for the sales team and sales channels to derive value from.

Need for centralization
As Lenox expanded its operations and distribution channels, they required centralized reporting and centralized databases and a better way to manage their product, customer, and sales data.

Need for on-demand sales data and customer information
The Lenox sales team and sales distribution channels required a system that was easy-to-use in the field, had real-time customer order updates capability, and enabled the teams to provide instant feedback to the product management and engineering teams back at the manufacturing facility. In addition, field sales efficiency was an issue with their current systems and procedures.

The Solution
Salesforce.com was chosen as the CRM system for Lenox and CoreMatrix was chosen as the consulting partner to implement and customize the application for the manufacturer. CoreMatrix went to work to provide customized elements to meet the needs of this growing manufacturing
company:

Centralized Database
Lenox now has one central database where employees share knowledge and have access to customers, products, and sales information.

Improved Information Sharing
Through a custom element developed by CoreMatrix, Lenox is now able to link its field sales efforts with engineering, product management and marketing – enabling instant feedback and sharing of information about product trials and demonstrations in the field.

Increased Data Integrity & Ease of Migration
CoreMatrix developed custom coding with advanced data entry logic that eliminated double entries of data and inadvertently entering incorrect data. This feature enabled Lenox to increase its data integrity and ease of data migration.

Increased Sales Analysis Capability
With a rich repository of customer information, Lenox can perform trend analysis and take the guesswork out of tracking product performance over time.

Increased Sales Force Efficiency
Lenox has increased their sales efficiency through custom objects that CoreMatrix developed which interface with Google mapping technology to show sales data at the regional, customer, and product levels.

Efficient Sales Channel Management
Lenox now can link customers to distributors, providing deeper insights into how its products are sold and supported through the channel

The Results
Lenox now has visibility of all of their data through one custom interface. They have better information about their sales channels and more sales analysis capabilities at their fingertips to support their growing operations. They are able to track and share product and sales information with faster and easier reporting to help make better-informed business decisions.

Lamar Advertising Company provides outdoor advertising services in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Lamar Advertising Pittsburgh boasts one of the most dynamic and innovative sales teams in the company. Under new sales management leadership, the Pittsburgh office chose CoreMatrix Systems to implement salesforce.com. The implementation increased revenue, delivered higher value to customers and modernized its sales team. The old sales processes using non-integrated, manual tools such as Microsoft Excel, ACT! and various homegrown solutions made it challenging and time consuming to get accurate and up-to-date revenue forecasts and other critical sales metrics. “We needed to implement an online CRM solution that delivered immediate benefit to our sales team without the barriers characteristic of traditional CRM products such as high costs, long implementations and unnecessarily complex designs,” explains David Shirey, Sales Manager for Lamar’s Pittsburgh office.

After considering other solutions, Shirey chose to deploy salesforce.com to his team of account executives. He also chose CoreMatrix to implement the system based on their industry experience and reputation in the marketplace. “Lamar Pittsburgh needed their internal processes seamlessly integrated with salesforce.com, they needed analytic capability, and most importantly they needed strong user adoption,” says Paul Nix, co-founder of CoreMatrix Systems. “Having completed over 400 salesforce.com implementations, we knew we had both the resources and expertise to help them achieve their vision quickly and efficiently.”

Implementing the system and training users was a quick and smooth process for CoreMatrix. In less than a month the system was tailored to match the Pittsburgh office’s opportunity and account management processes. CoreMatrix guided members of the sales, IT and marketing teams through a strategic business process re-engineering session to determine the best path forward, and to help align the customer’s unique business needs with industry best practices. CoreMatrix also provided project management leadership to help Lamar Pittsburgh customize and deploy salesforce.com on time and within budget. Lamar Advertising Pittsburgh now has a single, integrated view of its sales process, empowering its reps and account teams to access information, collaborate and respond to customer needs, all in real time. “CoreMatrix made sure that our implementation of salesforce.com met all of our business needs and delivered much more than traditional CRM software ever could in such a short time period”, says Shirey. Ease of adoption made change management minimal. Older methods of administering proposals and collating data are now automated and streamlined. Both Shirey and Tim Palochak, Assistant Sales Manager, concur that it is difficult to imagine not having a tailored salesforce.com implementation
to help them run the business.

The next piece in the puzzle was analytic capability. Senior management needed to be able to view data in a summarized fashion in order to make strategic business decisions. “We wanted something simple, which relied on pointing and clicking rather than in-depth software knowledge and a reliance on IT to build reports,” stated Palochak – Enter dashboards. Lamar worked with CoreMatrix and Cloud9 Analytics to develop customized dashboards that provide at-a-glance information with drill-down capabilities into new opportunities, top deals, expired and/or closed opportunities and general adoption metrics. “Integrating solutions like Salesforce with Cloud9 Analytics is something we specialize in,” says Paul Nix of CoreMatrix. “The resulting increases in visibility and efficiency can have a profound effect on a company’s bottom line.”

The ability to drive real-time data throughout its operation generated immediate benefits for the Pittsburgh office. The overall sales process and administrative activities are completed quickly, accurately and with more ease. Moreover, sales management can trust that they receive everything they need to run the business. The Pittsburgh office also benefits from Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator – an innovative analytic application embedded within the familiar salesforce.com interface. The software empowers sales managers and their teams by prioritizing sales opportunities, calculating pipeline coverage, watching for changes in the current opportunity pipeline and connecting reps working on similar deals. Sales managers also benefit from customized Cloud9 Messenger email alerts that highlight key ‘what’s changed’ sales metrics enabling them to lead by detecting and correcting issues proactively. Shirey estimates that the new Cloud9 Analytics software allows him to run his weekly pipeline review meetings in half the time. Thanks to CoreMatrix, salesforce.com and Cloud9 Analytics, Lamar Advertising Pittsburgh has realized its vision of becoming a modern, efficient, data driven company. “The teaming of CoreMatrix, salesforce.com and Cloud9 Analytics was a winning combination for us”, says Shirey. “We look forward to using the team to continue to improve our sales success.”