“We needed powerful design and specification software to improve our dealers’ capacity to configure and specify our furniture products. DPT methodology helped us identify, evaluate, select, negotiate and recommend the best package to our dealers. Now 96% of our dealers use the new software, with very positive feedback.”
First, We Listen
A mid-sized pension benefits administration firm was preparing to deploy a Customer Relationship Management application to align and standardize its sales and marketing processes. Additionally, this third party administrator (TPA) firm, responsible for managing the pension and benefits plans offered by companies to their own employees, realized they needed to centralize data located in several functional silos and in different systems to improve overall access to customer data. Better access to customer data would improve the ability to deliver an exceptional customer experience every time, as well as make it easier for firm staff to build and maintain information pertaining to key business relationships built on trust, such as with benefits providers.
The firm engaged DPT for assistance with development of their CRM strategy. After listening to their business challenges, we helped the firm realize that an initial focus on plan administration processes and data would be the best choice and set a solid foundation for the eventual deployment of sales force automation (SFA) and marketing campaign support. DPT then aligned the improvement drivers with the right solution mix of process definition, system configuration for end users, data cleansing, and end user training support.
DPT developed a CRM roadmap, broken down into discrete project phases, which also fit with the investments the firm could reasonably make at given points during the business cycle. We also provided the project management and analytical support necessary to achieve the objectives described in each phase. One plan process in particular has already delivered meaningful savings in time dedicated to issue discovery and resolution, allowing firm staff to “spend more time fixing problems than just finding them.” With a solid base built on easy access to data and communications history, the firm can now leverage their improved client service model as part of their sales and marketing efforts.