Advanced User Systems was
established in 1992 to distribute software products that help businesses operate more efficiently through automation technology, information management, and advanced user interface design. We have built our business on providing powerful software solutions along with responsive, quality support and professional consulting services.


Advanced User Systems Pty Ltd - 2 Rudd St. North Ryde NSW Australia 2133 - ABN 54 054 718 311
Phone: (02) 9878 4777 - Fax: (02) 9878 6951 - Email: info@aus.com.au
www.aus.com.au
 

CRM for Small to Medium Size businesses in Australia

Contact Management and CRM

In the early 90s, simple personal information systems were being used to track customer information - mainly at the level of name, company and other contact details. As businesses began to realise the benefits of personal information systems, they found there was a need to share this information and these systems expanded to provide workgroup facilities, communicating across the company network.

Today these systems are referred to as Contact Managers, and used by companies that need to track simple contact information such as Company details, Contact names, address, phone, fax, notes, etc. 

As businesses realise the benefits of Contact Management, they recognise that the technology can be expanded to other departments, customised to their particular requirements and business processes, and integrated with their other systems. To achieve these goals, a true Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is required.

CRM is all about building long term business relationships with your customers, blending the internal business processes of sales, marketing and customer support with technology. CRM solutions empower businesses to more efficiently and effectively manage the activities that affect their relationship with their customers - having the information you need, in the right format, when you need it.

Commence RM: Australian Edition

In Australia, we have found that the CRM requirements extend much further than simple sales automation, which many off-the-shelf packages seem to focus on. Customer Service and in particular, Help Desk operations, are very important to Australian businesses, and we have seen significant demand for functionality in these areas.

We developed Commence RM: Australian Edition to meet these requirements. Some of the key features of Commence RM: Australian Edition are:

  • Advanced Help Desk with call logging & escalation, service level agreements, product register & knowledgebase
  • Sales Automation with built-in drag & drop generation of quotes and invoicing
  • Automated postcode lookup
  • Optional AccountLink integration with MYOB Accounting

CRM Implementations

Advanced User Systems provides true CRM solutions, tailored to meet our customer's business processes. We learn about our customer's business and requirements, and then customise the CRM solution to automate their operations and make the business more efficient. 

Our typical customer is providing high technology products, with requirements in Sales Force Automation, Help Desk and Marketing, with 20-50 users. To take an example, one of our customers had a need to track in detail their installed base, including serial numbers of both systems and the detailed components to go into making up a system. They needed to be able to handle support questions, based on customer name (and support contract) or a given serial number.  

We customised Commence RM: Australian Edition to add the categories and details for the installed base, and then automated various lookups and relationships between the companies, installed base, service level agreements and help desk incidents. This automated many facets of the day to day operations, just one example is automatically alerting the technician if the customer has an expired service level agreement, or if the component/system is out of warranty.

We have also developed systems from the ground up, to meet specific business requirements and automate the business process. For example, Megasealed Bathrooms is Australia's leading leaking bathroom repair specialist, operating a call centre to handle enquiries from their extensive advertising and marketing campaigns. Commence RM handles the gathering of information required to quote and then book the job, as well as the daily scheduling of Megasealed's large team of technicians performing the service. 

The Managing Director of Megasealed made the following comments after the system was implemented: “From a customer service perspective, I can’t compare the difference Commence has made to our business. It has taken our business to the next level in terms of customer service and efficiency in the office. We are now able to focus more effectively on the job at hand and be sales driven rather than paper driven”.

Future Trends

We have seen many businesses embrace CRM technologies and reap the benefits of these solutions. In the future we expect to see CRM Solutions provide additional functionality in the areas of

  • Enhanced integration with email. Merging of the CRM database with the email folder database.

  • Further demand for ease of customisation of CRM solutions.

  • Increasingly a requirement for the CRM system to integrate with other applications that are in use at the customer site. CRM systems with open interfaces to facilitate integration. 

About Advanced User Systems

We are the Australian distributor for Commence Corporation, and we are a Certified Microsoft CRM Software Advisor. We can provide advice on your CRM requirements, configure a solution tailored to your needs, and provide the consulting and implementation services to ensure you get the benefits of CRM. 

More information is available from our web site, www.aus.com.au. Commence RM: Australian Edition and AccountLink can be downloaded from www.aus.com.au/commence/commence_download. For general enquires, please email to info@aus.com.au.

 

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