Consona ERP, Bahama Power Phones, HP and LTE, You Grow CRM Worldwide

David Sims : First Coffee
David Sims
| CRM, ERP, Contact Center, Turkish Coffee and Astroichthiology:

Consona ERP, Bahama Power Phones, HP and LTE, You Grow CRM Worldwide

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is a general Creedence Clearwater Revival iTunes mix:
 
CRM and ERP vendor Consona Corporation has announced that its Intuitive ERP solution has achieved what company officials call "exceptional customer satisfaction levels for educational resources and support services."
 
The company's Intuitive ERP software is designed specifically for the business needs of mid-market manufacturers, Consona officials add.
 
Based on customer survey results cited by company officials, 89 percent of Intuitive ERP users were satisfied with their support experience in 2009: "Remarkably, compared to the same time period the previous year, case volume decreased 24 percent and the case backlog plummeted 26 percent, marking a significant increase in case resolution."
 
The company says they favor proactive support through educational resources as a tool for customers to learn directly from Intuitive support staff and instructors, "as well as from peers who share tips and experiences, through Consona's database of online educational courses and Knowledgebase articles in the searchable Expert network that is accessible at any time."
 
At present, Consona offers more than 50 classes on the Intuitive ERP product, which has seen "over 8,000 customer downloads." Consona Education now offers personalized training online, which allows customers to schedule classes to meet their schedules on a one-on-one basis.
 
...
 
The Grand Bahama Power Company has announced that they are finalizing the launch of their phone system "expected to improve the customer service experience."
 
According to GBPC officials, a team comprised of members of the GBPC management, engineers and line staff have been working on the implementation. They noted that the new Integrated Voice Response System is equipped with "several features that will allow customers to access their account information via their phone."
 
According to Katherine Demeritte, GBPC Director of Customer Service, the phone company is "excited about this new feature to our Customer Service Department. The best feature is that our customers will be able to access their personal account information from home. They will be able to obtain their account information, have billing queries addressed by an interactive automated system and receive real time information in the event of an outage in their area."
 
Company officials say they'll also be delivering disconnection messages, which they assured the public they would implement in 2010. "This unique feature of the IVR system will allow the Customer Service department to send all residential, commercial and industrial customers a disconnection notice prior to having their service disengaged," they note.
 
In order to enhance this process and begin a March start of the program, the Grand Bahama Power Company will be rewarding customers that submit updated information. "We appreciate that our customers are very busy but for those who can assist us they will get to enter into weekly drawings for a $200 credit on their account," added Demeriette. "The quicker we can get this information in the faster we can implement our program."
 
...
 
Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a telecom product billed as helping service providers serve the millions of mobile customers who use the Internet through high-speed long-term evolution networks.
 
HP Subscriber Data Management is supposed to help service providers integrate the customer (subscriber) data dispersed across an organization in multiple repositories, including the Home Subscriber Server, location solutions, data services platforms, user device profiles, and operations and business support systems.
 
"By creating a unified, in-depth view of each customer, HP SDM helps service providers assemble an integrated picture of their customers' profiles," company officials explain, adding that "with this knowledge, providers can enrich the applications they offer to drive customer satisfaction and new revenue through highly personalized mobile services."
 
This capability will probably be even more important as networks evolve from third generation to 4G and LTE, because with faster networks and smarter devices, data traffic and service options are rapidly increasing. Mobile users now can pick from thousands of Web-based applications, many of which are delivered by "over the top" Internet service providers and smartphone vendors.
 
HP officials are saying in a competitive market with rising customer expectations, "service providers can use HP SDM to use their unique assets: customer trust, detailed customer data, and powerful network capabilities that can enable a personalized, context-aware mobile experience."
HP SDM lets service providers choose among three broad approaches to achieving a unified subscriber profile: federation of existing repositories to dynamically link data from across a network, consolidation into a single repository, and replication of data in different repositories and moving it to a different entity that can allow the proper access.
 
...
 
Escaping Oz: With its February 2010 release, Adelaide, Australia-based You Grow "is set to break the stranglehold held by international companies on CRM software for small to medium sized businesses in Australia and New Zealand," according to company officials.
Good on yer, mate.

"Most small businesses in Australia use either MYOB or QuickBooks as their accounting or Point of Sale software," says Managing Director Cathy Allington, describing youGROW as CRM software "which takes advantage of all the relevant customer and sales information they already have, and makes this all available directly within Microsoft Outlook. There is no rekeying, and no double entry."

Other than being a hometown candidate, Allington believes youGROW will beat the majors due to three key factors:
 
First, the dominance of Microsoft Outlook. YouGROW is operated from directly within Outlook. "With other CRM systems, users have to open yet another program. We are all so busy that we just won't do it. Most SME's have Outlook open most of the day. If you have Outlook open, then you have your CRM open."

Secondly, making use of all existing information. YouGROW "takes all customer and purchase information, held in the accounting or Point of Sale program, and intergrates it with customized Microsoft Outlook contact forms," she says, adding that "the biggest difference with what we do is that we started from focusing on the information businesses already had within their accounting or point of sale software. We did not add this on as an afterthought."

And thirdly, she points to the one-on-one training -- YouGROW includes eight hours of training with its software to maximize the benefits.  "Our training is customized to suit the business. We teach the business the key things they need to do to build those relationships, and how to use our software to do that."

She says she's been consulting on CRM for 16 years. Adelaide businessman Martin Baily bought 40 percent of You Grow Pty Ltd in 2005.
 
"CRM is about communicating with the relevant customers or leads, about news that is relevant to them," Allington says. "It is about building a relationship of trust with your customers, so that they want to deal with you because they feel they have a relationship with you. It is not about just buying a CRM software programme and thinking 'Now I do CRM'!"
 


Featured Events