Leading Business Information and Research ProviderThe company is one of the world's leading suppliers of business information, services, and research. Its database contains statistics on more than 150 million companies in over 200 countries, including the largest volume of business-credit information in the world. The company's risk management segment (the largest segment, accounting for two-thirds of revenues) sells that information and integrates it into software products and web-based applications. The firm also offers marketing information and purchasing-support services. The company acquired a major online purveyor of business information and research in 2003. The firm had adopted Salesforce.com to support their call centre representatives who were taking phone calls and email requests. The firm was also using RightNow, another SaaS CRM solution, to manage its e-mail-based customer service and case management tracking. RightNow’s solution was also being used to provide clients with a ‘self service’ knowledge base on the internet. With call and e-mail support representatives in Manchester, Canada and India, web-based SaaS solutions had been selected in order to grow and deploy rapidly. Their customers are primarily businesses such as large enterprise clients. But by launching two disparate SaaS systems, the contact centre representatives were not gaining a ‘whole picture’ of the customer because the systems were not sharing information. The firm wanted to bring all channels of support under one single system to provide a 360-degree view of the customer to its representatives and provide better tracking and analytics for executives. Call centre managers could not easily access call centre success metrics such as average handling time or number of contacts to resolution since the data was in two different databases and not easily correlated. For example, when a customer called and then later emailed, the contacts were not tracked against the same case. The firm also had a tiered system of four levels of support. Routing the contact to the right level of support was not automated. Finally it was not easy for management to identify trends or recurring issues since the cases were not categorized in any way. And knowing when a case was completely “closed” especially when multiple issues were brought up was not possible with their existing systems. SolutionAcumen Solutions recommended to the client that they combine all the case information into a single CRM system. By standardizing on a single CRM platform, the firm would save expenses on seat licenses and have more leverage for future negotiations with a single vendor. For its particular needs, the firm chose to migrate all the CRM functions to the Salesforce.com platform. The open nature of both platforms enabled a very rapid migration of data. The flexible customization of screens and user interface features allowed the developers to quickly replicate the functions of the RightNow e-mail management system in the new application. By writing web API classes to call data from one system and pulling that data into the other CRM system, the data migration challenge was simple. Salesforce.com also had specific AppExchange classes for e-mail communication handling that solved some feature development challenges. While the client had already decided to choose integration on Salesforce for cost benefits, there were other strategic reasons for choosing Salesforce.com over other platforms. The client’s IT roadmap called for expanded customer portals and the company planned to leverage the Partner Relationship Management module of Salesforce.com to enable that functionality in the future. They also planned to eventually leverage the knowledge base features that Salesforce.com offers in their Salesforce.com Service Cloud solution. Having all support channels under one system gives both the representatives on the phone or answering e-mail a 360-view of customer concerns. But it also enables the firm to deliver comprehensive data via the self-serve customer service channel on their internet website. Specific concerns were addressed with this implementation • Assigned concern code and matching resolution codes gives them insight into most common customer problems to provide better product feedback. Now they have the option to have 5 issues in one case and make sure that there is a resolution to every issue. • The lack of integration was skewing their closed case metrics, so Acumen Solutions helped them changed the logic in the system so triggers would work within shorter time frames or create a new case. • Acumen Solutions wrote logic to route calls or emails to the correct group within the client’s tiered levels of support (4 levels) Acumen Solutions recently improved the client’s reporting to report the “time to close a call” which is now highly accurate and the number of business hours per rep or queue. We are also assisting with roll-out of this solution to the Benelux countries. Technologies & MethodologiesSalesforce.com ServiceCloud and Custom Cloud (Force.com customizations) Business process re-engineering Return on InvestmentDelivering quantifiable results with over 300 contact centre representatives in India alone, the firm is saving money by reducing licenses for the e-mail support by 60 seats. For executives, dashboards of critical tracking information are displayed on-demand to track average case times, call resolutions, total case time and per cent in each queue. This allows the client to better manage their contractual service level agreements with their outsourcing call centre partners. It also allows them to see where there are operational bottlenecks and they can address problems before their customers complain. Workflows enabled by flexible SaaS-based software allow them to pass customer information from one queue to the next. In the previous architecture, the measurement of “time to resolution” in that case would have ‘started over’ each time the customer passed from one queue to the next. Now under an integrated system, the full time to resolution is tracked and accurately reflected in management reports. |
Practice Highlights Acumen Solutions helped Merrill Lynch (now owned by Bank of America) to migrate to a new CRM platform. The new solution allowed them to improve communication between client sales and service teams, avoid duplication of efforts, and improve client services.  One of America’s largest automobile insurance companies was having major problems with their data integration and infrastructure. Acumen Solutions was there to help with the implementation of a lead management system and call center solution using Salesforce.com  "Deploying the right CRM system can make the difference in building customer relationships. Acumen Solutions was chosen because not only are they experts on Salesforce.com implementations but they really understood the importance of and the approach to integrating the ticketing data into Salesforce.com."
 When Acumen integrated eBay's newly acquired payment gateways, the results included improved lead generation, sales, and marketing campaign response rates.  Acumen solutions helped one of the largest insurance and financial services holding companies in the UK automate their claims and audit process so they could make strategic business decisions in minutes instead of days.
 Acumen Solutions made a significant difference to how Sun manages their customer interactions by developing an Executive Briefing Center portal. This tool has become invaluable for field sales, executive presenters, and briefing center staff.  A sales rep can now send an email that includes their personal information in a professional graphic design layout to hundreds of thousands of recipients within minutes.
 The Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Investor Education and Advocacy turned to Acumen Solutions to replace an important legacy application used to manage high volumes of legal and financial issues.
 A leading global, full-service brokerage firm requested assistance with architecting, designing and transitioning its call centers using Acumen Solutions’ expertise to help achieve “world class” customer support and improved business operations.  When RCN wanted to put a greater focus on their customer's experience, they turned to Acumen Solutions. Using Salesforce.com, we delivered a solution that not only improved call resolution but also reduced unnecessary truck rolls and increased sales.
 This high profile regulatory agency needed to improve their ability to address high volumes of advanced legal and financial issues from constituents in a timely manner.  Initial rollout was achieved within 12 weeks to meet an aggressive go-live date. Due to the success of the course, the team’s role was extended to provide on-going training.
 After rising to the top of the credit card industry using its patented information-based strategy (IBS), this consumer financial services company turned to the Internet and to Acumen Solutions to expand its reach.  A leading global management consulting firm challenged Acumen Solutions to deploy a videoconferencing solution that delivers significant ROI, saves time and money, increases productivity, and reduces their carbon footprint. We delivered!  When the Carlyle Group made a strategic business decision to strengthen their Investor Relationship Management capabilities, they turned to Acumen Solutions to deliver a system using Salesforce.com.  Acumen Solutions delivered an advanced customer relationship management solution that unified sales efforts, improved management coordination of 30 nationwide divisions, and allowed executives to achieve operational excellence while improving performance.  Responding to an evolution within music services, this royalty distribution agency found itself at the forefront of administering new licensing deals. Performance of the new Royalties Administration System has completely re-energized the agency’s ability to distribute customer royalties.  When the U.S. Army launched its Army Experience Center (AEC), they turned to Acumen Solutions to develop a recruitment tracking platform using Salesforce.com.
 A major cable provider wanted to put a greater focus on their customers’ experience. Using Salesforce.com, we delivered a solution that not only improved call resolution and handling times but also reduced unnecessary truck rolls and increased sales.  Acumen Solutions was hired to develop and implement a large new web application to function as an end-to-end grants management solution. As a result, we were able to improve processes and increase employee productivity.
 With Acumen Solutions implementation CommerceConnect was able to help U.S. businesses connect with government agencies for aid and become more successful in the global market. Acumen Solutions helped this leading business information and research provider by integrating systems to improve the performance of their customer service case management. 
When this leading power tool manufacturer merged with a Pan-European competitor, they turned to Acumen Solution to deliver sales process improvements and CRM roadmap for a post-merger integration
 From pharmaceuticals and supplies to sophisticated medical workflows, Acumen Solutions helped this multi-billion dollar medical supplies firm reduce costs, streamline processes and, most importantly, improve patient care and medication safety.
 As a growing organization with an increasing number of support services, New Visions urgently needed a web-based solution to manage and track initiatives. Acumen Solutions helped New Visions to achieve this goal by using an innovative adaptation of Salesforce.com. Related VideosQuestions?
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