Bandwidth.com, a provider of Internet and VoIP services, outgrew its homegrown CRM system -- but its partners required controlled access to the Bandwidth.com CRM, This meant they needed a system with enough security but still easily accessible over the Internet.

The company’s specialized pricing engine, a component of the sales process, needed “sophisticated, bidirectional integration with the new CRM,” company officials said, adding that because Bandwidth.com is a reseller of communications services providing first-line customer support, “the efficiency of the company's service teams was critical to profitable operations.”

So after looking at their integration, customization, and functional requirements, Bandwidth.com selected Salesforce CRM. Using Salesforce CRM Service, Bandwidth.com officials say, they “coordinate and manage customer service and support across the numerous telecommunications parties involved in delivering service to customers.”

Force.com enabled integration between Bandwidth.com's proprietary pricing engine and Salesforce CRM, according to Bandwidth.com officials, adding that the company used Salesforce.com's customization tools to help track inventory, business initiatives, and referrals.

To meet the needs of four different customer support operations, Bandwidth.com implemented multiple case record types -- “a standard Salesforce CRM capability,” company officials said adding that VoIP integration “boosted call center and inside sales productivity through incoming call screen pops and outbound autodialing.”

Read more here.

...

Contact Solutions, a vendor of on-demand contact automation products including IVR, email/text messaging and Web transactions for business and government, has doubled its call volume to 2 billion over the past 18 months.

Company officials say this is “a strong indicator of not only strength during the recession,” but also that the vendor offers “world-class service” that allows its customers to provide superior customer service to the end user.

The company began offering IVR services to companies across the United States in 2002. They reached the 1 billion call mark in 2009 and doubled that amount in less than 18 months, according to Paul Logan, Contact Solutions CEO.

"This achievement is about much more than the number of calls," Logan said. "We have helped all of our customers get through rough economic times by helping them reduce operating costs through increased usage of self-service to automate their customers' inquiries and other activities.”

Read more here.

...

The great CRM Click War is back.

The good folks at Soffront ask “How many steps does it take to create an ad hoc report in your CRM software?”

They helpfully supply the answer: “Nine. That’s how many steps it takes to create an ad hoc report in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.” And then they go screen by screen showing in detail that yes, by golly, it really does take nine steps to create an ad hoc report in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

“Is there such a thing as express Ad Hoc reporting?” they ask, and you knew they had an answer, that’s a rhetorical question if you’ve ever heard it: “There is with Soffront CRM software. Check out the amount of time and energy you can save.”

And then another screen by screen process of creating an ad hoc report in Soffront: “Step 1: Pick the report type. Step 2: Define the parameters. Step 3: Run the report for desired output.”

Read more here.

...

NetSuite, which sells cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, has announced that The Chefs Toolbox has implemented the NetSuite OneWorld solution to run its international cookware sales and distribution business in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Choosing NetSuite OneWorld saves The Chefs Toolbox “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to NetSuite officials, “including reduced accounting hours and consulting fees, as well as eliminating the costs and IT overhead of maintaining expensive enterprise servers.”

The Chefs Toolbox relies on NetSuite for accounting and ERP, inventory, CRM, reporting, analytics, and integration with key production applications.

The Chefs Toolbox was founded in Australia in 2003 with the mission of "inspiring cooking in every home." The company migrated to Microsoft Dynamics GP, but “after one year of intense investment and effort, the project was abandoned. The system was cumbersome, expensive, and opaque. Reporting was virtually unavailable and a permanent solution would have required another six-figure investment,” according to NetSuite officials, who pass up chances to knee Microsoft in the groin the way Lindsay Lohan passes up free drinks.

Read more here.