WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM

Transcription

1 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM

2 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 2 ABOUT There are two main types of data within the enterprise: structured and unstructured data. Structured data is managed in databases (customer records, orders, invoices...). It is classified, indexed, categorized and its treatment is simple and fast. Running an accurate search such as Find all customers aged over 18 is very easy these days, with the proper tools. Unstructured (or semi-structured) data includes paper documents, photocopies, resumes, contracts, faxes, s, meeting reports, videos, and audio recordings that enrich the knowledge about the customer, for example. Content management within a company (or ECM: Enterprise Content Management) means managing unstructured data for business. The aim is not to classify it in the same way as structured data, but so that it can be accessed quickly and easily. A search such as Find all contracts signed by a specific customer from a central location no longer is a problem and can be done in seconds. It then becomes possible to manage all the information of a client in a single infrastructure. What if this was your CRM structure, where structured data is already present?

3 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 3 ACCUMULATION OF BUSINESS DATA Enterprise Content Management has become one of the most dynamic markets in the Information Technology sector. With an estimated growth of about 11.4% per year in 2015 (source: Gartner 2011 ECM Magic Quadrant report), ECM became one of the priorities in the development of business IT infrastructures. Given the amount of data, a company can feel overwhelmed by the data volume, and reach the crisis point of information overflow. How can we deal with, or simply organize the enormous amount of information that is produced every day, every moment? Because this data is an added value and a gold mine to better management of customer relationships, it becomes essential to address this unstructured information flowing in our organization. The estimated annual growth of data volume is 36% and the evolution of technology obliges the company to analyze more data forms and in countless formats. TOOLS TO MANAGE DATA For a long time, and still for some companies today, the only way to manage data was by hand. Whether structured or not, paper data about a customer can be stored in a simple plastic folder between dividers and put away on a shelf. Fortunately, nowadays, databases have provided fast management of structured data. Regarding unstructured data, the issue remains difficult to solve and hours of searching are required. So how to answer these questions? How to provide a result to this searching in a timeframe that is adapted to your economic challenges? You might face situations like: In a pile of resumes, how to automatically find the files related to one particular person, or people with a bachelor degree? Where to find the written in 2001 which deals with the implementation of the calendar synchronization with Lotus Notes for a specific customer? Is it possible to find the definition of a technical term in a set of installation documents? How to find the workshop picture taken the same day as the inauguration of the new assembly lines? Which sound recording deals with a particular feature of my application? Unstructured data, shown in the image above, represents 80% of information circulating within a company. Only 20% of the data stored in your system is structured. Therefore, it is necessary to find a solution to better analyze, understand, manage and drive this information. In all these examples, it is apparent that the solution would be easier to find if the information was indexed, or in other words, structured. Obviously, it is not about indexing and normalizing every single unstructured item. It is important to extract the main components and to define the links and distinctive parameters that can be easyly used in a search.

4 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 4 There are tools to help you better manage this data: ECM solutions. Content Management aims to cover the entire life cycle of unstructured data.: Its collection or capture Its organization Its use Its publication Its disposition Its archiving for proof management purposes CUSTOMER SHEET: STRUCTURED AND UNSTRUCTURED DATA Let s go back to CRM and content management, and focus on the information we gather or can gather about a customer. The opposite diagram shows the different kinds of data, structured and unstructured, and how they are associated with the customer. The complexity of analyzing this data increases with the lack of data structure. ERP and CRM : Often displayed in a single system, the CRM, this data corresponds to the basic information that characterizes a customer. It also contains all the activity exchanged with the company: quotes, orders, invoices... This information helps to define a first summary sheet. Customer interactions: This represents, for example, all s, meetings and other interactions with the customer. This information is important because it characterizes the relationship with the customer. Social media : This includes all the information given by the customer or about the customer on social media. Mail and documents : All paper materials (resumes, signed contracts, fax, official documents...) related to the customer. These documents are important because they define legal constraints and must be easily reachable. Shared data : All non-structured data that can be associated with the customer: articles, photographs, videos, sound recordings... This data is difficult to index entirely but it is still important. We may need to manage or deal with a representative part of this data. Word of mouth and other sources of information: Anything about the customer, but where a complete structure is impossible (rumors, talks, unofficial information...). This data can have an impact on the customer. The total absence of management of this information can have a negative impact on the relationships.

5 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 5 THE BENEFITS OF PIVOTAL CRM Pivotal CRM will display the synthesis of the customer with all information contained in the CRM and the ERP systems. Pivotal CRM can also manage the interactions with the customers thanks to its complete integration with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes synchronization. Interactions with the customer will appear in the summary sheet in Pivotal CRM and complement the basic information contained in the ERP and CRM systems. Pivotal CRM already allows for the structuring, as well as quick and easy indexing, of unstructured data. This solution captures a considerable amount of information from social networks and contributes to the elaboration of your customer database, while also allowing your sales, marketing and customer service departments to interact with these media. Unstructured data like mail and documents, shared data, word of mouth and other sources can be managed within an additional Pivotal CRM module: Pivotal Document Management (and Microsoft SharePoint integration). This module is the answer to your content management needs and is integrated to Pivotal CRM. PIVOTAL CRM AND MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT INTEGRATION: DEEPER INTO CONTENT MANAGEMENT Pivotal CRM also offers an application module: Pivotal Social CRM. It provides your company with the power of social networks where it is most relevant and valuable: within your CRM system. Pivotal Social CRM, an application module developed for Pivotal CRM 6, is designed to work with the most popular and universal social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, InsideView and Google BlogSearch@Bl. SharePoint covers all aspects of a traditional EDM (Electronic Document Management): Acquisition : creation of Microsoft Office files, unstructured content management ( , instant messaging, social networks). Ranking : SharePoint has a centralized server where all files can be stored and indexed.

6 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 6 Storage : the SharePoint server can contain all kinds of files, including multimedia. Administrative operations enable the management of the access permissions and backups. Broadcast : SharePoint can make the documents directly available on a company s internal network, on its intranet or on its website. Microsoft SharePoint also goes beyond Electronic Document Management through the following capabilities: content management, research, BI, creating composite applications, social network. Pivotal Sales Portal The first SharePoint integration is located in the portal. This makes it possible to display Pivotal CRM data in a SharePoint portal accessible via Pivotal or from another application, or to display external data in this portal. Pivotal SharePoint Sales Library The most important SharePoint integration is located at the content management level. Unstructured information can be handled in one single system: SharePoint. This Electronic Document Management enables the control of different versions, the control of access rights and the use of the advanced search features of such tools. Pivotal Document Management allows the linking of records between Pivotal CRM and the files stored within SharePoint. This link is possible through the meta-data in the SharePoint database. This meta-data enables the user to structure these files and, as noted earlier, to extract the main components and to define the links and distinctive parameters easily usable in a search. The documents are available to all the stakeholders in the company with accesss to a SharePoint account. This data is accessible to CRM users from the linked records. A file upload feature is available from the records in the CRM database. This data can be accessed via Pivotal CRM or externally. A search option from Pivotal enables users to search the SharePoint stored files according to various criteria. You can benefit from the power of SharePoint directly within your CRM.

7 WHITEPAPER MANAGE YOUR PAPER MATERIAL WITHIN YOUR CRM SYSTEM 7 Pivotal CRM highlights Microsoft-style interface Personalizable dashboard Role-and-task based navigation SharePoint integration Outlook integration Office suite integration Microsoft.NET Framework Powerful querying capabilities Custom workflows and sales milestones Mobile CRM Low cost of ownership Highly flexible and usable application development platform. More than 5,000 customers around the world rely on Aptean to give them a competitive edge. By providing innovative, industry-driven enterprise application software, Aptean helps businesses to satisfy their customers, operate more efficiently, and stay at the forefront of their industry. For more information, visit: Copyright Aptean All rights reserved.