Elgin Butler

Elgin Butler is no stranger to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The company purchased an older on-premise version of the product but had a lot of false starts with solution.

The company also needed the ability to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM with their ERP solution, Microsoft Dynamics GP, for sales order processing, inventory availability, and to improve overall customer service capabilities. The company was using multiple disparate databases which created a lot of manual activities for staff and made it difficult for management to generate the reports they needed in a timely manner. “Communication throughout the entire organization also suffered because we didn’t have accurate account information or the ability to track projects from start to finish,” he added.

Overall, Elgin Butler needed a CRM solution that would provide:

• Centralized database where all interactions with customers, distributors and vendors could be tracked and be visible by the entire organization.
• Better visibility into the activities of the sales team as well as provide a tool to better capture and manage the sales process.
• Familiar look and feel as other Microsoft solutions to help improve staff adoption and use.
• The ability to automate the sample order process to increase visibility and efficiency, eliminating the need for a separate Microsoft Access database.
• Easy integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP providing ability to track orders and check inventory quickly and easily.
• Access the solution remotely from anywhere, anytime due to decentralized staff.

Under a tight deadline, the team at HCLTech stepped in and was able to get Elgin Butler up and running quickly on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. “HCLTech did an excellent job of understanding our requirements, developing the roadmap and managing the entire process to a tee. We were very impressed with their capabilities and the professionalism of the entire team,” Lopez added.

Now that Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP are integrated, the sales and customer service teams have increased their overall productivity and effectiveness. Before implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, the sales and customer service teams spent hours on the phone and emailing one another each day to check inventory levels, place orders and get overall project status updates. Now that all of this data is in one place, the sales team can remotely access real-time customer and inventory information right at a customer site, saving time and unnecessary requests to the customer service team. “Our sales and customer service productivity and overall communication have significantly increased due to CRM. We’ve saved our team 100’s of hours each week in manual activities, allowing them to spend more time on serving our customers and building more business for the company,” said Lopez.

From sales reporting perspective, they now have better visibility into the sales pipeline, giving staff and management the data they need. “We now have the ability to generate sales reports quickly and easily allowing our sales team to concentrate on selling versus administrative tasks. Prior to CRM, gathering this data was time consuming and now we can pull the information instantly and view it in real-time.”

As a manufacturer of masonry and tile products, the company provides samples to its distributors and end-users as part of the sales process. Prior to CRM, the sales team was using a Microsoft Access database to manually generate hard copy quotes and orders for product samples which created piles of paper making it nearly impossible to manage. “We had no way to track sample orders or worse yet, follow-up on potential new business which became a nightmare for sales management. Now with the sample order system integrated into CRM, we can quickly run a report, track the status of an order and make sure our sales team is following-up accordingly. It’s saved us at least a month’s worth of manual work just sorting and trying to keep track of the orders,” Lopez added.

Lopez feels that the company has realized tremendous benefits because of HCLTech’s guidance and expertise with CRM. “Thanks to HCLTech, we now have an integrated CRM solution that fits our business and in such a short timeframe, has already proven to be a great asset to our company. CRM has certainly provided the framework we needed and definitely strengthens our position as a leader in our market,” he said.