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• The existing system using Excel spreadsheets was producing islands of information with individual salespeople "doing their own thing." It was taking four days a month just to chase up salespeople to compile weekly reports. Quality of data and visibility of sales pipeline and customers was poor.

• Captor rejected a traditional client/server approach because of cost and length of time to implement. The company also rejected stand-alone systems on individual PCs because they did not solve the "islands of information" and coordination issues. Captor selected salesforce.com's Professional Edition, which delivers on-demand CRM via the Internet.

• The multilingual and multicurrency Salesforce solution works seamlessly across countries. Captor is experiencing better sharing of information, leading to more repeat business and sales and cost savings of at least four days a month in coordinating data. Better quality data provide improved sales pipeline visibility and information that helps to manage the business.

Poor Quality Data from Labour-Intensive Old System

Captor Group is a Belgian-headquartered, pan-European company that helps organisations manage people and time with human resources and advanced time and attendance solutions. It is one of the world's leading suppliers of data capture hardware. Over 300,000 terminals are installed worldwide in applications such as factory data collection, time/attendance, and access control. Founded in 1987, Captor also provides software to manage the HR process.

As well as Belgium, Captor operates offices in France, Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom and in addition has a network of 80 distributors. With over 5,000 customers located across Europe, Captor required a system to manage its sales process.

"We had been using Excel spreadsheets," comments Jean de Crane, CEO of Captor. "Individuals were doing their own thing. We had islands of information, and it was taking four days a month just to chase up the salespeople so we could compile weekly reports." Apart from the labour involved, the quality of information was limited. "We had no clear view of our sales pipeline. It was difficult to get a real-time, single view of our customers."

"We Liked the Idea of No Software"

Captor began to evaluate customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. "We rejected a traditional client/server approach firstly because of cost and secondly because of the length of time it would take to implement," says de Crane. They also looked at stand-alone solutions on individual PCs. "Once again we were back to islands of information and the time and trouble to coordinate it."

Captor gravitated naturally to an application service provider (ASP) model. "We liked the idea of no software and everything out the door," says de Crane. Captor selected salesforce.com's Professional Edition, which delivers on-demand CRM via the Internet. As a result there is no need to buy, install, or maintain hardware, software, networks, or hosting. Neither did Captor have to invest in upfront licensing charges. Salesforce.com provides on-demand CRM as a pay-as-you-go service for a monthly fee per user.

"Salesforce.com is the market leader in on-demand CRM. It has reached critical mass with thousands of customers globally. It is available in multiple languages and currencies so we can work seamlessly in English, French, and other languages as well as in Euro or Sterling," says de Crane.

Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Solution

Captor implemented Salesforce in the Belgium head office first and then rolled it out to other countries. "Actual setup took a couple of days. It takes about two hours to brief the salespeople, and this training is all done online so staff can take the training wherever they happen to be," explains de Crane. Captor currently has 25 users of Salesforce.

The first major benefit is time saved in compiling weekly sales reports. "We have saved at least four days a month in terms of a sales assistant's time chasing and compiling the data," says de Crane. The second major benefit is in the quality of the data. "Salesforce incorporates valuable tools that give us a much better picture and clarity of the sales pipeline," says de Crane.

Information is now more easily shared throughout the group and across countries. "Salespeople are now far more aware if a prospect or customer in one country is already a customer in another," says de Crane. "Sales managers can easily track history and progression, making it a valuable communication tool."

Unlike the previous system, reporting is automated. Salespeople don't have to continually input the same data. Reports are also easily customised to deliver the information Captor requires to help manage the business. And on top of it, salespeople love it. "We specialise in HR systems, but Salesforce helps us manage our own sales team. We have greater transparency on the number of calls our salespeople make, the number of deals they close, and other productivity information," says de Crane.

With 5,000 customers, the system helps Captor manage its existing customer base, and—because the company has a better customer picture—Salesforce makes it easier to generate repeat business.

There are differing levels of Internet access across Europe, so what was Captor's experience of using an Internet-based system? "All of our salespeople have Internet access from home. This may be as basic as dial-up in some cases, and we have found no problems," comments de Crane.

At this stage Captor is not using salesforce.com's Offline Edition. "If our salespeople do not have an Internet connection at any time it is quite easy to load data into a PDA or Outlook and synchronise it later," explains de Crane.

Captor began with Salesforce SFA, the sales force automation portion of the solution. "Our next step will be to use the campaign management tools, and we are also looking at implementing the support systems. What is good about Salesforce is that it is scaleable and won't cost us any more as we develop from sales force automation into full-blown CRM," says de Crane.

"In summary, I am a happy customer. This is a low-cost solution that is easy to use and implement. Apart from the sales benefits, it provides me as CEO with a much better picture of what's happening," says de Crane.