Sage CRM Customer Success
Sage CRM supports LIFASA as it grows nationally and internationally Customer LIFASA Industry Energy Location Spain Solution Sage CRM
International Capacitors S.A, known under the commercial brand LIFASA, is a consolidated Spanish company that has been selling industrial control and electrical energy control products since 1949. The company specialises in industrial electrical protection and electrical energy control equipment. Background Since it launched its first capacitor for lighting in 1950, LIFASA has continued to grow and adapt to changes in the market. The company now employs more than 140 employees who serve more than 1,200 customers across the globe. The company is based in Santa Perpetua de Mogoda in Barcelona where its design, production and sales teams operate. LIFASA not only sells its capacitor solutions for the brands LV and HV, the company also distributes products from other manufacturers such as low-voltage products and automata from the Korean company called LS Industrial Systems.
Challenge LIFASA had been using its Sage ERP solution to manage customers but this was insufficient to support sales and marketing activity and to foster growth with prospect customers. Solution Sage CRM was chosen as the CRM solution and integrated with the existing Sage ERP solution. The solution was customised and used to streamline the sales and marketing processes across the organisation.
sagecrm.com
With a major focus on the Spanish and Portuguese markets and more recently in Argentina where it established a branch two years ago, LIFASA has two major business divisions: (i) Reactive energy area; selling high-voltage solutions, capacitors and batteries and (ii) Industrial control division; offering a range of products from electronic starters, automata and screens to filters and speed variators. With this growth in sales force, LIFASA realised it needed a CRM solution to help it improve sales processes and manage performance of its teams. Enric Comellas, Product Manager of the Industrial Control Division at Lufasa says, “We needed a solution that was capable of centralising all this sales information into a single database, which would allow us to strictly control business opportunities and track the whole sales cycle at national and international levels.�
Results Implementing Sage CRM has enabled LIFASA to more effectively and proactively manage their customer relationships. Their marketing campaigns and activities are more targeted and responses can be tracked easily and effectively.
Sage CRM Customer Success
‘We have changed the way our sales people work. With Sage CRM, customers are now segmented better and we can ensure a more personalised and proactive service. Thanks to the CRM ERP integration, our sales staff have the information they need at their fingertips saving time and simplifying the training of our sales reps as they only need to be familiar with one system.’ Enric Comellas, Product Manager, LIFASA
Challenge With this vast product offering, the company has continued to grow and it now exports its capacitors to more than 60 countries. Over the last two years, LIFASA has undergone significant growth not only in terms of revenue but also in terms of human resources, offices and warehouses. The evolution in the sales force has meant that it had to take measures to intensify, optimise and automate its sales management and to manage the sales team who are based in various locations around the world. A sales team of 14 people is based at its headquarters and another 10 delegates per country and another 12 non-exclusive agents. On an international scale, it also has three sales people in Buenos Aires and distributors in over 60 countries. Solution Prior to the implementation of Sage CRM, LIFASA used the Sagic Logic Control ERP to manage its customers which they felt was somewhat inadequate especially for managing prospect customers. “We needed a tool that would centralise all sales information into a single database allowing us to strictly control and report on business opportunities and track the whole sales cycle both at national and international level. Our sales relationship with LS Industrial Systems helped us to open new channels which we needed to segment using a CRM tool so that we could focus our efforts better,” explains Comellas. Installation LIFASA worked together with their business partner, Grup Serveis Informatics Vic-Valles who specialise in distributing and implementing integrated IT Solutions. They didn’t evaluate any other alternative solutions as they were confident in their partner’s experience having worked together for more than 5 years. They chose Sage CRM due to its ease-of-use but also due to its customisation capabilities. The Crystal Reports capabilities also appealed to LIFASA and they knew that Sage CRM would integrate well with the company’s existing ERP system. The company also liked the robustness of the platform, which is based on an SQL server, its ability to extend and support the company as it continues to grow and the strength and international recognition of the Sage brand.
sagecrm.com
“Grup Services Informatics Vic-Valles implemented our ERP system some time ago. For us, it was essential that they were involved in the implementation of Sage CRM as we needed to integrate the two solutions. They suggested Sage CRM and it seemed to be the best option for us,” says Comellas. The company initially installed six basic licenses of the standard edition of Sage CRM but quickly extended this to Sage CRM Premium version for 20 users with an advanced module for managing marketing campaigns. LIFASA were quickly able to roll out the system to all the sales people and were able to demonstrate how useful and worthwhile it was for them and this was quickly adopted by the team. Benefits Some of the main benefits that Sage CRM has brought to LIFASA are that it has reduced the time spent looking for and recovering information, it has optimised customer follow-up, quotations and sales opportunities and centralised all the sales information on a global level, making it easier for management to analyse the performance of the operation and of staff. With Sage CRM, LIFASA has been able to improve its territory management system and to control reassignment of areas and of the sales team much more easily. The savings in time for LIFASA employees with Sage CRM are evident and they can now update and access customer information more quickly and efficiently. Sage CRM is synchronised with Microsoft Outlook and with a PDA solution for their mobile sales team providing them with important information about their customers at all times. Above all, staff have found Sage CRM easy-to-use and very intuitive and staff were up and running in a day. To complement traditional sales reports, LIFASA has installed a sales control panel that allows Crystal Reports to integrate with the Sage CRM system, enabling it to find data from both the CRM and ERP systems.
Sage CRM Customer Success
Specific marketing campaigns Sage CRM has transformed how LIFASA now manages its marketing campaigns. Sage CRM provides customer segmentation lists and can create campaigns by area of interest. It also helps the marketing team to improve the management of references and provides greater control and tracking of telemarketing campaigns. Once the campaign has been rolled out, Sage CRM can control mass actions and provide reports and statistics on the success of the campaign. “We no longer need to carry out generic marketing campaigns. With Sage CRM we can run campaigns based on a specific territory or product range and this is proving to be more effective,” explains Comellas.
sagecrm.com
Key to success Management and staff at LIFASA are extremely satisfied with the implementation of Sage CRM and can see the impact that it has had on the operation. “We are growing in turnover and in customers and we owe this in part to Sage CRM. We are very happy with the solution. It is very customisable and easy-to-use; like a tailor made suit that has been built piece by piece from a more generic drawing,” says Comellas. The company is already looking at extending Sage CRM to its technical customer service division which is currently being controlled from the ERP. The key to the success of the project has been the cooperation and advice received from its business partner, Grup Serveis Informatics Vic-Vallesa and it continues to work with them to improve Sage CRM in terms of management system optimisation and evolution.
About Sage CRM Over 14,000 small and medium sized companies across the globe use Sage CRM every day to accelerate sales, drive business productivity and make every customer interaction count. It is used by enterprising, growing companies seeking new ways to interact with customers, leverage the power of social media and take advantage of the latest mobile developments to further grow their business. When combined with Sage ERP, our customers enjoy better business insight, increased efficiencies and productivity, and gain a single, customer-centric view across their entire business. So whether you’re just starting out or have already grown to several hundred employees, Sage CRM can help accelerate your business success. Accelerate your business success with a free 30-day trial at www.sagecrm.com
C
Š 2014 Sage Group Plc.
sagecrm.com
Sage CRM