By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is - here’s a surprise, something you’ve never seen here on First CoffeeSM before, better be sitting down – Robert Earl Keen’s What I Really Mean:
Sage Software has been busy with the ol’ publicity mill here recently, trumpeting their Dublin deal a couple days ago and now announcing that Yocream International, Inc., a leading producer of frozen yogurt marketed under the Dannon Yocream Frozen Yogurt brand, has implemented Sage CRM to “automate sales processes and enable consistent information sharing for its on-premises and field sales representatives,” according to Sage officials.
Yocream also uses the Sage Accpac ERP system to manage its general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory control and order entry processes.
“Our biggest gain from Sage CRM is the ability to share customer and prospect databases with all users,” explained Brad Gaylor, information systems manager for Yocream International, Inc. “We were aiming to better manage leads and accomplish more sales growth, which is what we are seeing as a result of implementing Sage CRM.”
Yocream provides frozen yogurt and beverages for food service distributors who sell to customers at convenience stores, restaurants, schools and hospitals.
Twenty-four Yocream employees use Sage CRM, including nine sales team members who are equipped with the Sage CRM Solo client for remote synchronization. Field representatives use the system on wireless laptops, at home and during travel by synchronizing prospect and customer data to the company database whenever convenient to their schedules.
“There has been a significant increase in communication among our sales team,” Gaylor said. “Our rep in Florida, for example, knows what our rep in Michigan is doing without having to pick up the phone.”
Demand for front and back office applications continues to be strong among growth-oriented small and mid-sized businesses, said Bob Neeser, vice president of CRM sales for Sage Software.
In a related development, according to Datamonitor, Sage has “bought non-exclusive rights to certain Timeline Inc. software patents that automate the design of data marts and OLAP cubes, a move that will guard against possible patent infringement lawsuits down the road.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Datamonitor says, Sage will be provide integrated data mart capabilities within its ERP, accounting, CRM and business intelligence products which are aimed at small and medium-sized firms.
“Timeline, which is based in Irvine, California, is a curious company to say the least,” the research firm writes. “Its corporate boilerplate bills the company as a developer and marketer of patented Microsoft Windows-based financial management reporting software… however it seems the company also makes a fair living out of defending its patents in court, rather than selling software.”
In 2004 the company won $1.75 million from Canadian business intelligence firm Cognos, and has also filed successful suits against Oracle, Sagent Technology and Clarus.
Hey, why get your hands dirty working?