Tiedemann Investment Group Integrates Salesforce with Back-Office Systems for Improved Productivity

“Salesforce provided all the capabilities we sought as a financial services firm--integration, internationalization, customizations--and thanks to its SaaS model, we didn’t have to burden our IT group with a complex, costly installation.”


Challenge
  • Tiedemann Investment Group (TIG)—a financial services firm specializing in hedge funds and investment advisory services—needed a sophisticated CRM solution to track accounts and opportunities from locations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia
  • Investor relations used a number of instances including ACT!, Excel, and Outlook to manage customers
  • The firm wanted a customizable system that would require minimal internal IT involvement and provide remote access without the use of a VPN
  • With security and privacy a major concern, the solution had to be capable of providing permissions-only access to data

Solution
  • In a CRM review, which comprised a number of solutions including ACT!, SalesLogix, Siebel On Demand, and Oracle On Demand among others, the firm found the upfront costs too high
  • TIG initially deployed Salesforce Professional Edition to 13 users in only two weeks but soon upgraded to Enterprise Edition for its integration capabilities; a subsequent upgrade to Unlimited Edition brought the Force.com Sandbox testing environment, increased storage, and mobile access
  • With help from SunGard, a consulting company, TGI leveraged the Force.com Web Services API to bi-directionally integrate Salesforce with an internal accounting system, Penny
  • Reports track and roll up fund information to give managers a complete view; dashboards help the firm monitor the performance of its salespeople
  • A customized accounts page with multiple pick list fields allow users to drilldown to specific investment, fund, client, and partner information, which is all pulled from a back office system
  • Potential sales opportunities are tracked in the Forecasting tab
  • The firm plans to incorporate workflow capabilities, email-to-case functionality, and wireless access to take further advantage of the benefits inherent in Salesforce

Results
  • Since the deployment of Salesforce, TIG has seen increased productivity
  • A unified view of the business gives management the ability to monitor sales activity and salespeople
  • Integration with back office systems streamline information access 
  • The software-as-a-service model alleviates the strain on the firm’s IT resources 
  • Best-in-class security ensures all of TIG’s financial data is safe
 
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