Fiberlink Communications Customizes Salesforce, with Help from Salesforce.com Training and Certification, to Achieve Goals

“Salesforce.com provides role-based, on-demand training providing better on-boarding of sales reps and facilitates on-going knowledge refresh better than anyone.”


Challenge
  • Fiberlink, a provider of enterprise software and services that simplify and secure mobile working, needed to jumpstart its use of Salesforce CRM.
  • The company wanted to increase adoption to more effectively manage their sales cycles; it also looked to put an end to Excel-based sales reporting.
  • As a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, Fiberlink wanted to continue using a solution that aligns with its own vision.
  • Executives envisioned business owners managing the Salesforce implementation with minimal IT involvement.

Solution
  • Fiberlink Sales and Marketing teams were using Salesforce Enterprise Edition in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France and Japan.
  • Management participated in online training sessions and an administrator course led by Astadia, a salesforce.com Authorized Instructor; upon completion managers revamped their use of Salesforce.
  • A customized opportunity page more closely aligns Salesforce with Fiberlink’s sales process.
  • Custom dashboards provide real-time business visibility. Each sales manager now has a unique set of reports.
  • Salesforce Marketing email and web-to-lead functionality provide integrated campaign management and real-time measurement.
  • Fiberlink shares documents and registers deals with partners with the Salesforce Partners custom portal. 
  • Integration with Sage Accpac ERP keeps Salesforce records and billing data in sync.
  • A custom application built on Force.com calculates, approves, communicates, and processes commission payments.
  • Fiberlink installed LucidEra from the Force.com AppExchange for more detailed pipeline management reporting. 
  • Jigsaw for AppExchange provides a reliable source for contact data.
  • Force.com for Lotus Notes enables seamless email, calendar and activity integration. 
  • Webinars and official Salesforce.com courseware helped drive high adoption rates.
  • Salesforce.com partner CRM Manager is providing support for additional customization.

Results
  • Training helped managers adapt Salesforce to fit the company’s unique needs; educating business owners reduced IT and outsourcing expenditures.
  • Training also drove high adoption rates, helping Fiberlink get the most of its Salesforce investment.
  • Better insight into sales pipeline and forecasts, and increased product knowledge, facilitates better decision making and enables sales to focus on deals.
  • The Partners portal increases channel communications and gives management end-to-end pipeline visibility. 
  • The commission payments application builds sales team enthusiasm. In addition, management now has greater insight into how and where commission dollars are spent.
  • Fiberlink is considering adding finance and legal users, and future deployment of the Salesforce solution for customer service and Salesforce Content.
 
View All Snapshots