Fiberlink Communications Customizes Salesforce CRM, with Help from Salesforce.com Training & Certification, to Achieve Goals

Challenge

• Fiberlink, a provider of enterprise software and services that simplify and secure mobile working, needed to jumpstart its use of Salesforce CRM.
• The company wanted to increase adoption to more effectively manage their sales cycles; it also looked to put an end to Excel-based sales reporting.
• As a cloud-computing business, Fiberlink wanted to continue using a solution that aligns with its own vision.
• Executives envisioned business owners managing the Salesforce CRM implementation with minimal IT involvement.

Solution

• Fiberlink Sales and Marketing teams were using Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France and Japan.
• Management participated in online training sessions and an administrator course led by Astadia, a salesforce.com Authorized Instructor; upon completion managers revamped their use of Salesforce CRM.
• A customized opportunity page more closely aligns Salesforce CRM with Fiberlink’s sales process.
• Custom dashboards provide real-time business visibility. Each sales manager now has a unique set of reports.
• Salesforce CRM Marketing email and Web-to-lead functionality provide integrated campaign management and real-time measurement.
• Fiberlink shares documents and registers deals with partners with Salesforce CRM's partners portal. 
• Integration with Sage Accpac ERP keeps Salesforce CRM records and billing data in sync.
• A custom application built on Force.com calculates, approves, communicates, and processes commission payments.
• Fiberlink installed LucidEra from AppExchange for more detailed pipeline management reporting. 
• Jigsaw for AppExchange provides a reliable source for contact data.
• Force.com's connect for Lotus Notes enables seamless email, calendar and activity integration. 
• Webinars and official Salesforce.com courseware helped drive high adoption rates.
• Salesforce.com partner CRM Manager is providing support for additional customization.

Results

• Training helped managers adapt Salesforce CRM to fit the company’s unique needs; educating business owners reduced IT and outsourcing expenditures.
• Training also drove high adoption rates, helping Fiberlink get the most out of its Salesforce CRM investment.
• Better insight into sales pipeline and forecasts, and increased product knowledge, facilitates better decision making and enables sales to focus on deals.
• Salesforce CRM's partner portal increases channel communications and gives management end-to-end pipeline visibility. 
• The commission payments application builds sales team enthusiasm. In addition, management now has greater insight into how and where commission dollars are spent.
• Fiberlink is considering adding finance and legal users, and future deployment of the Salesforce CRM solution for customer service and Salesforce CRM's content library.