Salesforce CRM Unlimited Edition Helps Standardize Processes Companywide at Kaiser Permanente

Challenge

• Kaiser Permanente, America's leading integrated health-care organization, wanted to consolidate sales management on a national level to allow for a common view of sales and account-management information across the eight regions in which it operates
• With no national oversight of sales operations, CRM was nonexistent; internal salespeople used disparate systems depending on the region
• Because the organization had to deal with various state and national health laws, as well as unions and individual brokers outside Kaiser Permanente, it became increasingly difficult to ensure deals were being managed optimally; reports sometimes took as long as three months to generate
• Kaiser Permanente needed a simple CRM solution that could be easily integrated with its various legacy systems by using minimal hardware and IT resources

Solution

• After evaluating a number of solutions, Kaiser Permanente chose Salesforce CRM based on such strengths as its Web-based model, security, and Force.com's sandbox testing environment, which replicates the production ecosystem for quality assurance (especially important given Kaiser Permanente's need to adhere to strict industry regulations)
• Salesforce.com Consulting helped Kaiser Permanente roll out Salesforce CRM to 120 users; salesforce.com partner Accenture led the next phase, including business process alignment and legacy integration, with the help of Salesforce.com Consulting application and data migration architects
• Overall national deployment to initial 400 users took less than four months and will encompass 850 users
• Kaiser Permanente built a custom sales-planning application using Force.com's builder and customized fields specific to the business, but to enforce common processes across the regions kept 80 percent of the standard features in place
• Dashboards that consolidate key metrics into a single view help managers run weekly meetings and create incentives to drive user adoption
• With the sandbox testing environment, unlimited applications, and Salesforce CRM's mobile access included, Salesforce CRM Unlimited Edition was the right choice for Kaiser Permanente
• Plans to integrate wireless capabilities using Palm Treo PDAs will provide sales teams with anywhere, anytime access

Results

• By aggregating sales information in one centrally accessible system, managers and executives have a clear enterprisewide view of operations at the national level
• Standard processes across the company's eight regions will create companywide efficiencies and generate accurate reports
• Salesforce CRM has smoothed the process of changing the company from a regionally-focused to nationally-focused business culture
• Because Salesforce CRM removed previous data ambiguities and confusion, salespeople are more inclined to use it, fueling user adoption and productivity