We are a manufacturing company that primarily performs inside sales on for military and aerospace components. Our sales process is rather complex due to working with large primes like Lockheed, Raytheon, etc, and we currently manage our sales department using outlook, and Epicor. It’s a bit of a mess!
Anyway, we are considering purchasing a CRM system to help us improve our sales processes, but whatever system we work with we will need to integrate with E10 as we simply can’t justify having to double-load information.
I have looked into Salesforce and that is going to be pricey. We will probably need around 17 users so we are talking about $25K a year. I have also looked at Act! CRM but was able to find very little information in regards to integrating the system with Epicor.
So, I am wondering what other companies out there is cyber-land are using and if you have any recommendations and/or warnings!
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
Hi Tom,
In regards to your current sales processes, what did you (your company) hope to improve by investing in a CRM package? Have you looked at the obvious solution, the CRM module for E10?
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 11:26 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
We are a manufacturing company that primarily performs inside sales on for military and aerospace components. Our sales process is rather complex due to working with large primes like Lockheed, Raytheon, etc, and we currently manage our sales department using outlook, and Epicor. It’s a bit of a mess!
Anyway, we are considering purchasing a CRM system to help us improve our sales processes, but whatever system we work with we will need to integrate with E10 as we simply can’t justify having to double-load information.
I have looked into Salesforce and that is going to be pricey. We will probably need around 17 users so we are talking about $25K a year. I have also looked at Act! CRM but was able to find very little information in regards to integrating the system with Epicor.
So, I am wondering what other companies out there is cyber-land are using and if you have any recommendations and/or warnings!
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
Our company has a generally long sales process that includes initial contact, engineering work, contractual reviews, estimating, quotes, follow up and eventually a sales order. Once the order is placed we often have additional details to work out before the final product ships. Thus, it can get rather convoluted and it is easy for a potential order to get lost in the process.
Even if it doesn’t get lost, this cycle can be time-consuming (slow from the customer’s perspective). It also is very difficult to maintain visibility. Emails between a buyer and a sales rep can be difficult to retrieve, and it is often difficult to review what happened (and what was communicated) on a particular sale.
Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure. In fact, our company’s lack of familiarity with CRM (and Sales Management in general?) makes it difficult to identify clear goals. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of what it was like we when we implemented ERP software some years ago. We had a few goals loosely defined, but once we discovered what we could use the system to accomplish, the user’s demands grew and grew.
In regards to Epicor CRM, We actually own the Epicor CRM module, and… ugh…, that is a real beast. Tasks are horrible (no simultaneous tasks?) and inflexible, and integrating email communication into the system (with both rich text and searchability) is border-line impossible as far as we could determine. Perhaps if we had a real expert in house that could guide our development work, we could build Epicor’s CRM into something useful, but we lack that skillset currently.
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 9:29 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
Hi Tom,
In regards to your current sales processes, what did you (your company) hope to improve by investing in a CRM package? Have you looked at the obvious solution, the CRM module for E10?
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 11:26 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
We are a manufacturing company that primarily performs inside sales on for military and aerospace components. Our sales process is rather complex due to working with large primes like Lockheed, Raytheon, etc, and we currently manage our sales department using outlook, and Epicor. It’s a bit of a mess!
Anyway, we are considering purchasing a CRM system to help us improve our sales processes, but whatever system we work with we will need to integrate with E10 as we simply can’t justify having to double-load information.
I have looked into Salesforce and that is going to be pricey. We will probably need around 17 users so we are talking about $25K a ye ar. I have also looked at Act! CRM but was able to find very little information in regards to integrating the system with Epicor.
So, I am wondering what other companies out there is cyber-land are using and if you have any recommendations and/or warnings!
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
At my prior employer we did similar to what Bruce has done. We used MS Dynamics CRM and pushed customer changes from Vantage 6.1 to CRM via some integrations involving change logs (done by PowerObjects). Very simple rudimentary integration. The primary driver for Dynamics CRM was message tracking in Outlook. I had a horrible time dealing with reporting message threads using SSRS – hence a bad taste now with E10 and SSRS. Still once it was working it was a great tool for capturing the “conversations”. Now, on E10 & SQL Server , I could see where the whole integration thing would be much easier (especially with DMT) and more MS stack friendly.
But the biggest hurdle was getting people to use the features and make it a way of life. Dynamics CRM requires a lot more discipline than many sales or account management people are willing to put up with. Any little issue was an excuse to skip steps or work around the system – many were red herrings with lots of whingeing about a few seconds here or there costing them time when the could be selling (really?). My 2 cents - if they had the temperaments to put up with the details they would be in Accounting, not Sales. Thus making implementing CRM an uphill battle from the start. Square pegs in round holes. Work on buy-in and commitment before spending on any CRM system.
-Todd C.
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 12:09 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com' <vantage@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
Our company has a generally long sales process that includes initial contact, engineering work, contractual reviews, estimating, quotes, follow up and eventually a sales order. Once the order is placed we often have additional details to work out before the final product ships. Thus, it can get rather convoluted and it is easy for a potential order to get lost in the process.
Even if it doesn’t get lost, this cycle can be time-consuming (slow from the customer’s perspective). It also is very difficult to maintain visibility. Emails between a buyer and a sales rep can be difficult to retrieve, and it is often difficult to review what happened (and what was communicated) on a particular sale.
Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure. In fact, our company’s lack of familiarity with CRM (and Sales Management in general?) makes it difficult to identify clear goals. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of what it was like we when we implemented ERP software some years ago. We had a few goals loosely defined, but once we discovered what we could use the system to accomplish, the user’s demands grew and grew.
In regards to Epicor CRM, We actually own the Epicor CRM module, and… ugh…, that is a real beast. Tasks are horrible (no simultaneous tasks?) and inflexible, and integrating email communication into the system (with both rich text and searchability) is border-line impossible as far as we could determine. Perhaps if we had a real expert in house that could guide our development work, we could build Epicor’s CRM into something useful, but we lack that skillset currently.
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 9:29 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
Hi Tom,
In regards to your current sales processes, what did you (your company) hope to improve by investing in a CRM package? Have you looked at the obvious solution, the CRM module for E10?
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 11:26 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
We are a manufacturing company that primarily performs inside sales on for military and aerospace components. Our sales process is rather complex due to working with large primes like Lockheed, Raytheon, etc, and we currently manage our sales department using outlook, and Epicor. It’s a bit of a mess!
Anyway, we are considering purchasing a CRM system to help us improve our sales processes, but whatever system we work with we will need to integrate with E10 as we simply can’t justify having to double-load information.
I have looked into Salesforce and that is going to be pricey. We will probably need around 17 users so we are talking about $25K a ye ar. I have also looked at Act! CRM but was able to find very little information in regards to integrating the system with Epicor.
So, I am wondering what other companies out there is cyber-land are using and if you have any recommendations and/or warnings!
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
While you are doing your due diligence on other bolt-on CRM packages, I would encourage you to get a 3rd party consulting firm or Epicor to quote you on customizations to enhance and mold Epicor CRM around your business.
Integrating and bolting on an independent enterprise-level application is something I usually try to avoid. The cost of customizing your existing product will likely be cheaper than the long-term integration/linkage costs & hassles between the two disparate systems.
I bet with a few fancy customizations and BPMs you might get 90% of what they’re wanting instead of buying, integrating, supporting, and managing yet another product to get you 95% of what they desire (there’s no out-of-the-box solution that’s a perfect 100% fit).
Just my 2 cents. Good luck.
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 1:09 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com' <vantage@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
Our company has a generally long sales process that includes initial contact, engineering work, contractual reviews, estimating, quotes, follow up and eventually a sales order. Once the order is placed we often have additional details to work out before the final product ships. Thus, it can get rather convoluted and it is easy for a potential order to get lost in the process.
Even if it doesn’t get lost, this cycle can be time-consuming (slow from the customer’s perspective). It also is very difficult to maintain visibility. Emails between a buyer and a sales rep can be difficult to retrieve, and it is often difficult to review what happened (and what was communicated) on a particular sale.
Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure. In fact, our company’s lack of familiarity with CRM (and Sales Management in general?) makes it difficult to identify clear goals. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of what it was like we when we implemented ERP software some years ago. We had a few goals loosely defined, but once we discovered what we could use the system to accomplish, the user’s demands grew and grew.
In regards to Epicor CRM, We actually own the Epicor CRM module, and… ugh…, that is a real beast. Tasks are horrible (no simultaneous tasks?) and inflexible, and integrating email communication into the system (with both rich text and searchability) is border-line impossible as far as we could determine. Perhaps if we had a real expert in house that could guide our development work, we could build Epicor’s CRM into something useful, but we lack that skillset currently.
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 9:29 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
Hi Tom,
In regards to your current sales processes, what did you (your company) hope to improve by investing in a CRM package? Have you looked at the obvious solution, the CRM module for E10?
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 11:26 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Epicor and Sales CRM - Any recommendations
We are a manufacturing company that primarily performs inside sales on for military and aerospace components. Our sales process is rather complex due to working with large primes like Lockheed, Raytheon, etc, and we currently manage our sales department using outlook, and Epicor. It’s a bit of a mess!
Anyway, we are considering purchasing a CRM system to help us improve our sales processes, but whatever system we work with we will need to integrate with E10 as we simply can’t justify having to double-load information.
I have looked into Salesforce and that is going to be pricey. We will probably need around 17 users so we are talking about $25K a ye ar. I have also looked at Act! CRM but was able to find very little information in regards to integrating the system with Epicor.
So, I am wondering what other companies out there is cyber-land are using and if you have any recommendations and/or warnings!
Regards,
Tom Christie | Information Technology & Human Resources Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc. | tchristie@... | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176
>>Integrating and bolting on an independent.. something I usually try to avoidusually I'm the same.
Todd C explained it perfectly!! We also use Dynamics CRM. Fighting the Sales force is a brick wall. They don’t feel the need for CRM, so they come up with any excuse to fight CRM.