News sul CRM e helpdesk

CRM never goes on holiday!

2011-07-28T00:00:00Z

A CRM system never close: all the information on your customers, commercial conditions, products buyed remain at company's disposal.
Information are the most important heritage for a company. That's the most benefit of CRM: to be able always to consult data of your customers, via web or via mobile, wherever you are and during all the years, also if you are on holiday.

C as Customer, Comprehension but especially Context

2011-06-01T00:00:00Z

What's the Context and how can we improve the customer's comprehension? First of all consider that clients/users are living in a new dimension: all is via web! So a company with the right strategy have to understand that trend and exploit it: content strategy, social marketing, marketing automation, social selling, demand generation and buyer experience marketing.

The technological revolution has radically changed the behavior of the buyers/customers, and undoubtedly old un-contextual methods are insufficient to analyze the social and market-driven buyers. This market must be analyzed considering the following aspects: the buyer's behavior, the behavior patterns shown by buyers, the procedure followed by the buyer, the buyer's characteristics, the knowledge of the buyer and the buyer interactions.

That's the context! So, understand exactly how is the context means to adopt the correct strategy to have success.

R as Relationship

2011-04-01T00:00:00Z

CRM bases itself on three foundations: strategy, technology and communication. Strategy defines targets. Tecnology explanes how to hit them. Communication allows to hit them.

Three focal point that must have the same importance: so not only technology, but also a correct strategy that has to be the base of the project and has to make provision for a correct relationship managment of clients.

In that contest the R" of CRM, that means relation, becomes very important: the relationship needs the communication.

Communication consists of all the customer care activites and and of all that is relation marketing (direct marketing, internet marketing, events). These activities have to be plan and done, guaranting the correct customer management.

A company customer centric: a policy to carry out

2010-11-02T00:00:00Z

To be customer centric" for a company must not only to mean to get a CRM software, instead it must mean that the company has to spread the message that customer is the center of all business activities.

How is it possible to create a customer centric strategy? First of all there are company's resources and culture: if one part it's simple to train employees on the activities of the company (business or instruments), from the other it's more difficult to impress a mentality and a customer-oriented attitude. In addition, a correct training on each customer should be made to employees, so that the customer becomes actually a known person in the company.

The aim is only one: to reassure the customer that will have all the attention and the answers he needs.

It's important that all departments reflect the internal customer-centric culture for two reasons: first, because this strategy helps you work better, the second because the gap between the treatment that a client receive from an expert collaborator than from another, that doesn't know the customer, risk undermining the relationship that hitherto has been built.

Three Steps to Create a Successful CRM Strategy

2010-06-01T00:00:00Z

We quote an interessant Gartner article on Key Elements of CRM Strategy.
Building a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy is a unique process for each organization that nevertheless should always involve three key steps, according to Gartner, Inc. The three steps needed to create a successful CRM strategy are: setting the destination; auditing the current situation; and mapping the journey to the destination.
"A CRM strategy cannot be developed in isolation. It must be relevant and linked to the overall corporate strategy, and it must build on existing sales or marketing strategies that are already in use," said Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Following these three steps will provide a solid framework for CRM success.

Set the destination: The vision of the company and the goals derived from this vision are the intended destination of the CRM strategy. The vision will be heavily dependent on the leadership of the company and on the selected CRM strategy.
"Ensure that the CRM vision is to articulate the future environment for the organization in terms of profitability and customer experience," said Mr. Thompson. "During the initial stages of the CRM initiative while the CRM vision and strategy are being developed the leadership and governance structure must be agreed upon and roles allocated before it is stressed by the impact of change management upon employees."

Audit the current situation: Skills, resources, competitors, partners and customers all need to be consulted in assessing the starting point. Before beginning the CRM initiative, organizations need to identify how mature their existing approach to CRM is. Most organizations have some existing or past attempt at CRM; even if these were deemed failures, there are usually some foundations that can be leveraged rather than ignored by the new team.
"Use the audit to evaluate the organization against equivalent organizations in the same or a similar industry," Mr. Thompson said. "A competitive benchmark is an excellent way to gauge how far behind or ahead the organization is in comparison. Along with these two approaches, there are many other types of audit. Ultimately, companies should use as many of these assessment types as possible to prepare for the development of the CRM strategy."

Map the journey: The journey may take many years, and the map will change en route. It is important to plan for this before starting.
A CRM strategy explains how an organization will achieve the CRM vision. It is the integrated blueprint for how the organization will achieve its sales, marketing and customer service goals. Therefore, it must give quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the ideal customer base? What products or services is it going to sell, to whom, at what price and through which channels? However, it must also be able to give much more subjective answers to more-holistic, organization-wide questions such as: What is the best way to build customer loyalty? How will the organization connect with a customer to create a positive "gut feel"? What will drive customers to recommend the organization, brand and products to others more often to the point that they are willing to pay a premium price?

PAT COMPLETES THE ACQUISITION OF H-CARE AND GIVES NEW IMPETUS TO THE GROUP'S GROWTH

2010-03-20T00:00:00Z

Already in possession from June 2009 of a majority of H-care, Pat now becomes the only owner of the assets of the company, to further strengthen the synergy between the solutions of both companies. Expected development plans abroad.

Montebelluna - PAT, the Italian company specialized in designing and implementing solutions for CRM and helpdesk, has completed the acquisition of H-care Srl, leader in the develop of innovative solutions for the self-service customer care, of which Pat had already acquired the majority holding in June 2009.
With the end of the acquisition process, Patrizio Bof President and CEO of Pat, now holds also the posts of President and CEO of H-care, in order to strengthen the integration of the two companies.

In this way, Pat and H-care may further increase the synergy existing between the solutions of the two companies: the Pat application suites HelpdeskAdvanced and InfiniteCRM, recognized by the Italian and international companies as reference solutions for deployment of advanced projects of CRM and Customer Service", and the H-care's multi-channel customer care solutions.

Pat acquires 52% of H-care

2009-06-14T00:00:00Z

The goal is boosting business growth and technology developments!

PAT announces new shareholding structure: acquires majority share of H-care (www.h-care.eu), leader in developer
of user-friendly platforms for multimodal, multi-channel, self-service and customer care.
Comdata Group, that before got the majority, keeps its presence as an investor in H-care, and as industrial partner for business process outsourcing leveraging on H-care's technology.

H-care, founded in 2005, is one of initiatives started in H-Farm, Italy's leading research and innovation center in technology and design, founded by a team that pioneered developing and marketing Internet-based technology solutions. H-care develops the Human Digital Assistant platform, that solves the challenge of making online customer interaction and self-service a human-like customer experience.

Becoming major shareholder, PAT has the goal to boost business growth and business plan, in particular the goal is a new offer of innovative and integrated products and services.
Both the application suites of Pat (InfiniteCRM® and HelpdeskAdvanced®) will be integrated with the H-care technology, guaranting a new and more affordable offer.

PAT presents BDA2008. The new release of the interactive tool for the analysis of company data using geographical representation.

2008-01-01T00:00:00Z

PAT has announced the immediate availability of BDA2008 (Business Data Analyzer), the new release of the software which analyzes company business in a clear and intuitive way using geographical maps.

BDA2008 perfectly complements the CRM or ERP solutions, to assist key staff in marketing, sales, customer service and logistics departments to correctly interpret the results obtained and make quick decisions about what action to take. BDA2008 is state-of-the-art technology and offers the possibility to import data coming from other systems by the use of webservices technology, ensuring information is constantly updated and providing companies with crucial support for their most important decision-making needs.

Information is constantly updated using an agreement with Microsoft and by means of the MapPoint technology. BDA2008 includes maps for all current European member states as well as a vast array of statistical information (population density, qualifications etc.). The new release is faster than the previous version, is more intuitive and area definition is dynamic. Being fully interactive, it substitutes the application interface, thus enabling data to be interpreted easily.

BDA2008 can:
- Generate lists based on geographical location and user-defined criteria
- Carry out multiple tasks on seleted points
- Export data, import lists, printouts and reports,
- Offers both online and offline functionality

BDA2008 is the indespensible tool for sales and marketing departments because it enables precise analysis of the trends relating to a particular product in a chosen area or the sales of a particular agent, to coordinate technical staff and so reduce the number of requests for support received by the customer services department. With BDA2008, the logistics department can get a graphical snapshot of the current situation of orders and organize movements better.

Since the system is completely integrated with our InfiniteCRM (iCRM) and HelpdeskAdvanced software solutions, the bidirectional intraction and representation of the data contained in them is instant. BDA2008 is available for local setups and connection through webservices; alternatively it offers the possibility to import the required information from other databases quickly and easily.

HelpdeskAdvanced 6.5 for outstanding client service. The latest version of HDA is now available.

2007-06-01T00:00:00Z

The new version of our flagship professional solution is dedicated to companies of all sizes which need to provide helpdesk, support services and customer care to add value to their clients and create a more personal, solid, long-lasting and beneficial relationship.

Our 15 years' experience in the design and development of eCRM solutions make our HDA one of the industry's leading solutions for customer care. Available in three versions for large, medium and small companies and 100% web-based if required, the new version of HelpdeskAdvanced 6.5 can be used using a normal internet browser and integrated with email, and portable and mobile devices.

Our Helpdesk solutions incorporate management tools for personalized Service Level Agreement (SLA) based on differing company needs. Every request for assistance can be assigned a priority level and a series of specific actions which enable escalation of the request as advised by an operator and/or team member, automatically monitoring the necessary activity. In addition, the system offers the possibility to manage notification and warning messages in different forms, bi-directionally, via email, text message (SMS) and Wap.

The new functionality of HelpdeskAdvanced 6.5:

IWebPRO: enables easy access by support staff via the web, using a Microsoft browser, and the complete management of activities and requests (tickets). This module guarantees therefore the availability of information, support requests and their management simply by connecting to the internet, enabling technical staff or other operators to manage problems remotely.

More powerful iWeb: the portal dedicated to supporting users and/or clients represents more and more the mainstay of a solid web-based self-service strategy and the provision of 24/7 service, guaranteeing a dramatic reduction in time for the management of requests for information and support while offering services for the automatic resolution of preblems without needing to open an ticket. In addition, it offers an easily personalizable interface for the system administration.

Integration with PowerFinder: this is the solution's search engine" for searching and indexing documents, information, records and tickets archived in the HDA system and company network.

Fully personalized dashboards can be created: it's possible to create personalized graphs in order to analyze the fundamental parameters of the assistance service, such as, for example, the movement of tickets, resources etc.

Support of new languages: today HDA 6.5 supports Italian, English, Spanish, German, French, Polish and Russian.

Strengthening of the supervision interface: this new interface functionality enables the monitoring of up to 20 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and can be completely personalized by the user, thus providing really effective service proactiveness and the constant monitoring of what is happening in terms of customer satisfaction and critical situations.

ITIL support: Improved ITIL-compliant functionality has been introduced as well as the ITIL dictionary, made available with the aim of enabling this standard to be incorporated more easily. Our HelpdeskAdvanced Professional solution, which is listed as fully ITIL Compliant, has already been adopted by a number of Italian and international organizations which have decided to comply with this standard.

Self-service customer support through the web with iWeb.net from PAT

2006-07-18T00:00:00Z

Completely integrated with HelpdeskAdvanced, the new customer support portal introduces innovative functionalities, accessible using any web browser.

Guaranteeing a service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without additional costs. To turn this dream into a reality, PAT, leading Italian company specializing in the design and production of e-CRM solutions, has developed iWeb.net, a new advanced portal dedicated to customer care/service. iWeb.net can be completely configured and personalized a solution designed to fully respond to the demands of all those companies that use PAT's HelpdeskAdvanced platform, and which offers system users the facility to access a personalized environment based on their own specific requirements in terms of information and support.
Using a portal approach, iWeb natively offers web-self-service features, and makes various functionalities available to users based on individual business functions. Thanks to a dedicated management console, the user can add new modules, customize the graphic environment, and produce statistics on various users' access and use, so monitoring the tool's effectiveness and impact.
Customers who decide to use iWeb will receive access parameters on request, using which they will also be able to directly download HelpDeskAdvanced version 6.0.
Thanks to the use of Microsoft .net technology, iWeb.net guarantees high scalability, reliability and performance, and is designed to be completely integrated with HelpdeskAdvanced, without any need for reconfiguration or re-entering of data, so making the most of the support logic and capabilities that the company has set up and used previously. Even those users who already have the HDA web module can use iWeb's functionalities. IWeb.net is available for the SBE, Standard and Professional editions of HDA, and works in a Windows 2000/Windows 2003 operating environment.
Efficiency is a fundamental prerogative for excellent customer support:
iWeb.net offers customers a simple and intuitive approach, support 24/7 without the need for the physical presence of a remote operator, interactive dialogue with other users through a specifically-themed discussion forum, access to an FAQ area, and searches through integration with the Powerquery® search engine. If customers then need online support and to directly contact the company's support service, they can interact through WebSupport by using the chat, file transfer and remote control functionalities, among others.
Offering better services doesn't necessarily mean increasing business costs. IWeb.net signals a new performance benchmark for all those companies that need to offer remote support services and require a reduction in support costs" underlines Patrizio Bof, Sole Director of PAT. Through the use of a simple web browser, you can guarantee not only typical helpdesk functionalities, but also new functions that allow users and customers to carry out real web-self-service activity. All things considered, offering better services reduces support costs".

IWeb.net: Modules and Functionalities

Ticket: opening, reminders management and monitoring of tasks undertaken by the support center
Forum: facility to manage public forums relating to problems or the sharing of information with other service users
FAQ: this function allows the inclusion of Frequently Asked Questions, managed by the system administrator, which give users access to information, cases and types of problems that have already been resolved
Web Self Service: thanks to Powerhelpdesk® technology, the integrated search engine within HDA can be used to dynamically search for and check any solutions that have already been entered into the problems/solutions database; if no solutions exist that can provide suitable answers, a support ticket can be automatically opened
News: dynamic news items can be entered and managed, and will appear according to the type of user accessing the information and support service. In this way users will always be informed.
Link: this module allows you to dynamically manage links to sites or solutions present on websites or in other places.
Download Area: makes files in any format available to IWeb users, so creating a simple and effective catalog that is shared with all users.