Cashin Telecommunications, a Dun Laoghaire-based communications company that specialises in the installation and maintenance of telephone systems, has streamlined its customer service through the implementation of Sage’s ACT contact management software. ACT is a cost effective way for small companies to dip their toe in the water with customer relationship management (CRM) and put some structure on those processes, something that is not typically done outside the corporate sector.
Business intelligence in a box
According to Tina Foley, office manager with Cashin Telecommunications, the ACT database is populated with details of customers, suppliers and sales leads – “everyone we deal with” as she puts it. Each contact in the database is categorised according to its type such as active customer, prospect etc. The software contains details of about 1,200 customers, of which about 200 to 300 are what Foley calls live customers that are in touch with the company on a regular basis. “Some businesses have much higher requirements than others,” explains Foley.
Established in 1998, Cashin Telecommunications provides phone systems, software, and other communications services to a diverse client base. It is the Irish distributor for Telrad ISDN digital telephone systems and the Jusan SA range of telephone cost management systems and voice mail/auto-attendant products. It also supplies, installs and maintains phone systems from Samsung and Panasonic Telephone Systems. As well as voice and phone systems it provides e-mail, internet access and file transfer products.
Consultancy by Chawke
Cashin was advised on the selection of ACT by Brendan Chawke of Joseph Computers, the IT division of consulting engineering firm Joseph & Company Design Group. Joseph Computers has considerable experience with contact management and CRM systems having worked with a variety of customers from airlines to banks, courier companies to management consultants and is also an ACT certified consultant.
The software was installed in half a day on a Dell PowerEdge server so that the information in ACT can be accessed by both Foley and Cashin’s managing director Peter Cashin. Existing data in Excel spreadsheets was imported into the database so that Cashin had continuity from their existing systems. Joseph Computers also provided a number of half day training systems on the new software system in order to get staff up to speed.
Customer service benefits
Where the software has really proved invaluable is in supporting Cashin’s field engineers who support its customer base. Cashin has customised the fields in ACT so that it can include details pertinent to its business. When a customer calls in to report a fault or schedule some other work that requires an engineer the call is logged as an activity in ACT, just like a meeting or phone call. This means the progress can be easily tracked from the initial customer call to the completion of the job or resolution of the problem. This is a major advance over the previous manual system based around the use of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
When the activity is created it is linked to the customers contact and other details in ACT. This includes information such as the type of phone system at the customer site and whether they have a support contract. The ability to see whether a customer has a current support contract in place is very important to Cashin when it comes to scheduling jobs. All support contracts include a service level agreement that specifies how quickly an engineer will be on site to resolve a problem, so these customers need to be prioritised when scheduling call-outs for the engineers.
All this data is then used to populate a Work Construction Sheet, a custom form created within ACT by Joseph Computers which is printed out and given to the engineer. It includes all details of the job such as the nature of the work required, the type of phone system involved and all the customers contact details, including the relevant contact person in the customer organisation.
Some customer’s telephone systems have modems that allow for Cashin engineers to dial in remotely to carry out service and upgrades. The telephone numbers of these modems are recorded in ACT. “Out of the box, ACT is a very generic package, but we have modified the various fields to suit our business,” says Foley. “We’ve adapted it to us, rather than having to adopt the business to suit the software.”
Slick marketing machine
ACT has also enabled Cashin to enhance its marketing activities. All queries that come in to the company are now tagged based on how the lead was generated, for example, a recommendation from an existing customer, a Golden Pages advertisement, or through the company’s website.
All customers and leads are also categorised according to industry sector and can be viewed as groups. “If a new product comes up that could be particularly useful to transport companies, for example, we can quickly check how many transport companies we have on the database and send them relevant information,” explains Foley.
Customer quotes integrated
The sales and marketing function is further supported through links from ACT to QwikQuote, a customer quotation system that manages the process of producing estimates, quotes and invoices. The contact details for prospects and existing customers are pulled into QwikQuote from ACT and a quote can then be prepared which will be linked to the contact in the database. Once the quote is ready a PDF document is prepared by QwikQuote which can then be emailed to the relevant contact using ACT. As a result Cashin can quickly see in ACT any quotes that have been prepared for a particular customer. “The software has more than paid for itself in the four years that we have been using it,” concludes Foley. “We are very dependent on it. ACT is what we use to run our day – if it was gone we would be in trouble.”
ROI in brief
The database is a complete knowledge base for the business with details of customers, suppliers and sales leads.
Cashin can identify “live” customers who are in contact with the company on a regular basis.
Cashin customer service has been streamlined through use of ACT contact management software. Cashin field engineers find the software invaluable in supporting customers. Reported faults can be recorded and logged in the system in an automated fashion replacing the previous manual method of recording customer issues in Excel spreadsheets.
The system has provided Cashin with a more advanced marketing function, all queries that come into the company are now tagged based on how the lead was generated e.g. a recommendation from a customer, from a Golden Pages advertisement, or through the company’s website.
The company’s quotation software is integrated with the ACT database so a customer quotation is linked to the customer contact details and history. This makes it easy for Cashin to prepare an appropriate quotation for the customer.
21/03/05
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