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CRM rollout is automatic for the people

05.11.2008
Microsoft and Calyx have deployed a new customer relationship management (CRM) system for Eurofound that enables the European foundation’s 15,000 users to edit their own details on the CRM database.

The development and implementation of the Dynamics CRM system has resulted in the establishment of a centralised contact database, including the addition of extra modules such as a web interface self-correction facility.

This enables Eurofound – the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions – to automatically generate emails to all 15,000 contacts in the database, which in turn allows customers to log in to the Eurofound website and update their contact information.

Eurofound is a European Union body, and one of the first organisations to work in specialised areas of EU policy.

Based in Loughlinstown, Dublin, the organisation has 100 staff members who are drawn from a number of EU member states to provide information, expertise and advice on living and working conditions, industrial relations and managing change in Europe.

Eurofound had a problem managing contacts, as it had an assortment of databases of customer records that were all maintained in disparate silos from Excel, Access, Outlook and Word.

These differing databases restricted integration and effective support. Eurofound needed to find a way to develop an easy-to-manage CRM solution that would enable employees to develop improved, fuller pictures of their clients by recording all interactions and building customer profiles.

Following the issue of a detailed, open-tender invitation for the supply of a new CRM solution, together with consultancy, installation, customisation, support and training, Eurofound awarded the contract to Calyx.

“We have a 360-degree view of our customers, and these profiles are building up all the time to give us more information on each of them,” Jim Halpenny, head of ICT at Eurofound, explained.

“More importantly, this mine of information is accessible by everyone. The ultimate benefit for us is that productivity and efficiency is improved,” Halpenny added.

By John Kennedy