Plantronics unifies sales and support data across global offices with Salesforce for a 360-degree customer views

Challenge

• World leader in personal audio communication solutions for professionals and consumers needed a CRM solution to better integrate sales, service, and marketing and provide 360-degree customer views
• Needed a central repository of partner and customer data with support for multiple languages and currencies to assist offices around the world
• Wanted a solution that could be easily integrated with existing material requirements planning (MRP), email marketing, and knowledge base solutions; rapid deployment was also important

Solution

• Selected Unlimited Edition for its integrated sales force automation (SFA), marketing, and service and support capabilities as well as the range of applications available on the AppExchange
• With assistance from salesforce.com consulting, deployed to 400+ employees in less than 6 months with no business disruption
• Account, contact, and opportunity information is consolidated in the Sales Cloud
• A custom order management app developed by Appirio provides tracking and fulfillment of “spare” parts
• A custom interface integrates call, email, and interactive chat handling and tracking in one, easy-to-use console
• A knowledge base gives agents easy access to articles and streamlines day-to-day functions
• A customer portal helps customers access articles and knowledge information for self-service
• Salesforce Live Agent Web chat is fully integrated with the Service Cloud so customers can reach support agents in real time from the portal
• Postcode Anywhere from the AppExchange makes it easier for customer service to capture correct addresses at the time of entry by cleansing data and correctly formatting addresses
• Integrations with Oracle MRP and the corporate website ensure data continuity
• A custom application, developed for the call center by Appirio, guides agents through product symptoms and solutions, and call flow guidance system with Visual Workflow helps them resolve issues quickly
• Applications from the AppExchange marketplace provide customer satisfaction surveys, advanced dashboards, partner recruitment, channel planning, funds management, and more

Results

• Complete customer views enable more efficient marketing and better customer service
• High adoption has resulted in more than 90% of customer calls logged to cases
• Dashboards show integrated views of top product and customer issues directly from call center environments for better reporting
• Custom knowledge base application lets support respond to customers more quickly; integration with Salesforce CRM provides better issue tracking and measurement
• Knowledge base translations into 12 languages allow for customer self-service support when direct support in that language is not available
• Customers can self-service through the portal or get fast answers to questions via chat
• Postcode Anywhere and the custom order management applications have dramatically sped up customer mailings, reduced returns, and increased overall satisfaction