PLEASANTON, Calif., October 6, 2003 - ACCPAC International, Inc., a subsidiary of Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), announced today that U.K.-based EEF South has implemented ACCPAC CRM(tm) to better manage client relationships for its rapidly growing employment consultancy.
ACCPAC® won over EEF South, which had experienced problems with previous CRM initiatives, with a very successful first-stage implementation of ACCPAC CRM. The ACCPAC solution allows EEF South to generate better value for its existing members and has enabled EEF South to produce up to £100,000 (approx. $167,000 USD) per year of increased contribution.
EEF South, part of the Engineering Employers' Federation, provides advice and consultancy to over 800 manufacturing companies in London and the South East (U.K.), and has tripled its number of contacts over the past two years. Implementation of a national CRM initiative by the EEF's central body became unacceptably extended, which led EEF South to press ahead with its own CRM solution to support its current rapid growth rate. EEF South selected ACCPAC CRM following a competitive tender.
"Our organization's previous experience of CRM had been fairly negative," said John Starbuck, Director of Administration and Finance at EEF South. "The toolkit solutions that we'd used in the past had proved to be drawn out, and the projects were never completed because the goal posts kept moving. By comparison, ACCPAC CRM could deliver everything we wanted off-the-shelf."
The ACCPAC CRM solution is being rolled out in three phases with the first being the consolidation of EEF South's disparate databases. Immediate benefits include the elimination of duplications and the ability to provide all consultants with a real-time, single profile of EEF South's members.
"We reviewed several CRM solutions including Microsoft® Navision®," said Mr. Starbuck. "ACCPAC CRM was the only one that had our required level of technology in place for remote access. It was vital for us to have this level of functionality as half of EEF South's 63 employees work in the field or from home. ACCPAC CRM was the only solution we saw that allowed us to deliver exactly the same product and functionality through a Web browser no matter how, or from where, the CRM system was being accessed."
Another key business driver for selecting ACCPAC CRM was the ability to better integrate the internal management of EEF South's business with their external client-facing operations. Having completed Phase 1, the next stage is for EEF South to use ACCPAC CRM to significantly improve internal processes to develop the most value for its members. The software will be used to analyze members' use of EEF services, streamline EEF South's event management operation, analyze use of consultants' time, and improve processes such as logging and tracking of projects.
Ivan MacDonald, ACCPAC Senior Vice President, Worldwide CRM Operations and GM, ACCPAC Europe, said: "It is not unusual to come up against hesitancy from staff and Boards of companies who have become disillusioned with CRM because of previously failed projects. ACCPAC's ability to complete EEF South's CRM project on budget and ahead of schedule, combined with EEF South's strategy to roll out the solution gradually, on a team-by-team basis with proper training, has restored the organization's faith in CRM. ACCPAC's objective is to deliver real business benefits to our customers, and we're committed to seeing companies like EEF South achieve rapid return on investment through the implementation of ACCPAC CRM."
