KI delivers customer satisfaction with the Service Cloud

Challenge

• KI, which manufactures innovative furniture and wall system solutions for education, healthcare, government and corporate markets, needed a better way to manage its customer service workload and measure the team’s effectiveness
• KI support employees had been using a manual system with paper call logs and project folders to provide client project coordination from pre-sales through order management to post-sales, and field a range of requests including providing quotes, changing order information, and expediting product warranty issues
• Unlike other contract furniture manufacturers, KI markets directly to customers and through dealers; the company required a customer service system flexible enough to support its unique model and that could be expanded over time

Solution

• KI chose the Service Cloud for its extensive feature set, cloud computing model, and ability to be adapted to meet its unique needs
• With help from SalesForce.com Consulting, KI customized the Service Cloud and deployed it to more than 100 customer support reps and quote specialists
• KI administrators participated in SalesForce.com Training & Certification programs to learn to configure the solution and create custom tabs; customized salesForce.com training materials have helped drive high adoption rates
• Activity management capabilities help KI’s support team manage project workflows and tasks related to supporting more than 100 phone calls and emails per day per coordinator; dashboards and custom objects provide fast access to important data
• KI installed the Cast Iron Systems integration appliance from the ${key.brand.AppExchange} for bi-directional integration with its existing BPCS ERP solution, keeping account information in sync and providing 360-degree customer views
• Outlook integration keeps a record of customer communications so account information stays up to date
• The company purchased an additional 275 Sales Cloud licenses and completed deployment to the sales team at the end of 2009

Results

• For the first time, KI’s customer service and sales teams can share information for complete, unified customer views
• Automated activity tracking helps employees be more efficient, so the customer service team can support more accounts without additional resources
• Information can be easily shared so the support team can shift workload and support customers through employee absences, significantly improving overall service
• Detailed data on support team workloads helps support managers plan effectively and facilitates better business planning and decision-making
• The company is considering rolling out salesForce.com’s marketing and partner solutions, integration with CTI through i3, and mobile access in future phases of deployment