H.I.G. Capital More Effectively Manages Deal Flow and Investor Relations With Cloud Computing

Challenge

• H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private investment firm, wanted a technology platform solution to manage its deal pipeline, streamline investor relations and fundraising processes.
• The firm spent a considerable amount on licensing, development, and other costs in order to deploy another system, but found it cumbersome and too complicated to customize.
• To access the on-premises CRM system, users had to connect via Citrix or WAN--resulting in low adoption and wasted time.
• H.I.G. Capital wanted a cost-effective and easy-to-deploy solution. Mobile access to vital data was also important.

Solution

• H.I.G. Capital signed up for a 30-day free trial of salesforce.com and found the cloud computing solution straight forward, easy to customize, and flexible enough to match its multiple business processes.
• The firm replaced its in-house CRM system with Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition and rolled it out to its employees in North America. Today, over 150 investment professionals in North America and Europe use the salesforce.com platform.
• Investment professionals access vital deal data stored in Salesforce CRM from iPhone, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile devices running Salesforce Mobile. Now deal professionals who often travel for meetings and conferences can look up prospective investment information in real time while on the road.
• H.I.G. Capital’s business development team uses Salesforce CRM Service to track communications with investment prospects and sell-side advisors. Integration with the firm’s Cisco telephony application makes it easy for users to call their contacts directly from Salesforce CRM.
• Force.com workflow functionality keeps deals moving toward close and allows the investment evaluation process to be more efficient. Personalized reports and dashboards give users critical insights about their deal pipelines.
• The firm extended Salesforce CRM by installing applications such as Arrowpointe Maps, OneSource Account Intelligence, and DemandTools from the AppExchange.

Results

• By replacing its on-premises CRM system with Salesforce CRM, H.I.G. Capital has reduced annual maintenance and infrastructure spending by more than 50%.
• Salesforce CRM’s cloud computing model means IT can focus on innovation instead of infrastructure and maintenance.
• Web-based and mobile access to data has resulted in high user adoption of a firm-wide technology platform throughout H.I.G Capital’s multiple offices.
• Investment and Investor Relations teams have benefitted from time savings and increased efficiencies by streamlining their information and activities inside Salesforce.