Proactive AV hit limitations in Goldmine CRM, prompting a migration to Workbooks CRM
Proactive AV provides Audio Visual (AV) equipment, predominantly to the education sector.
The business was using the Goldmine CRM system. However, the creation of quotes and invoices was proving clunky. Manual data exports were required to produce quotations in Word, and to analyse data in Excel. There were concerns over data accuracy, and with the installation being on-premise, remote access was not possible.
The business leaders knew a better solution was needed.
Choosing the right CRM system
The first challenge faced was one of choice. Should they go the with a big, well-known system like Salesforce or Dynamics. Or should they find a system that could be tailored to their exact needs but that might not be so well-known.
Initially, the business attempted to switch to Microsoft Dynamics. However, it soon became apparent that Dynamics was simply too big for its needs.
“Every customisation proved tricky and couldn’t be done in house. Dynamics would have been an expensive on-going solution.”
Jaynes Birks, Systems Support and Marketing
Proactive AV became aware of the Workbooks CRM solution after a meeting with CRM Insights. The lower cost of Workbooks proved attractive.
Choosing a CRM partner
The existing Goldmine CRM system had a lot of data that required cleansing and migrating. Aware that transitioning from one system to another was a huge task, so Proactive AV sought expert help.
A key concern was finding a consultancy that would ensure a collaborative approach – to do things together rather than having things done to them. This is where CRM Insights came in.
“We had 14 years of legacy data in Goldmine CRM. We probably would never have changed system if we hadn’t had the right company behind us doing the Goldmine data migration.”
Jaynes Birks, Systems Support and Marketing
The business-wide benefits of Workbooks CRM
With the migration from Goldmine to Workbooks CRM complete, Proactive AV has experienced benefits across the business.
Marketing benefits from campaigns being built in Workbooks, and contact lists synchronised with Mailchimp.
Sales benefits as it no longer has to manually type out orders. This error prone process has been replaced with the ability to select products from a predefined dropdown list in Workbooks CRM. Quotes are sent via Outlook and automatically replicated to Workbooks. And there’s integration with Docusign to provide digital signing of quotes which result in automatic invoicing.
Customer support also benefits as the team has easy access to accurate customer records.
With most everyone in the business using Workbooks, all staff benefit from remote access capabilities when out in the field or working from home. For those who need reports, these can be created without the need for external assistance.
The CRM Return on Investment (ROI)
During the pandemic the business made use of the flexible furlough scheme. As a result, account managers were not always available, meaning that the Managing Director had to step in. Despite these temporary changes, revenues were not adversely impacted. This demonstrated both the ease in which people can become competent with the system, and the importance and value of the data held within it.
“I don’t know if we'd have fared so well over the last 18 months without Workbooks being in place.”
Jaynes Birks, Systems Support and Marketing
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