Rapid Integration Helps Manage Rapid Expansion

Barracuda Networks, a provider of enterprise-class spam-firewall solutions, experienced a surge of contacts when spam ballooned: The company was awash in new-business inquiries and needed to implement a solution to process orders immediately, as well as to handle the burgeoning number of customer contacts. "We had a business that was taking off very quickly, and needed to get something up and running that was cost-effective," says Dean Drako, president and CEO. In November 2003 Barracuda Networks selected Salesforce.com's on-demand CRM solution. "We wanted it up and running in 24 hours and [there's] no other system we could have gotten up and running in less than a month." By deploying Salesforce.com's custom tabs feature, the company now has the ability to build new CRM modules to manage quote generation and product-return processes, in essence providing the company with a mechanism to extend its CRM implementation across its sales, shipping, and warehousing capacities. "We had to very quickly put in place some automated systems for processing orders and handling customer inquiries, and we were able to do that with Salesforce.com by integrating into their APIs and integrating it with our shipping, charging, billing, and customer systems," Drako says. "Without that we never would have been able to do or handle the sales growth that we experienced. We would have had people basically running around here with the orders falling through the cracks and the customers being abandoned. Our customer service level would have never been where it is without the Salesforce.com system and our integration with it." Barracuda Networks was able to integrate Salesforce.com with an order processing system, as well as with Microsoft Outlook and Office applications. In addition the company can also automatically capture incoming Web and telephone traffic. Through the use of Salesforce.com Studio Barracuda has also created new custom applications, including a quote tool and a return merchandise authorization system. As a result of its CRM initiative Barracuda is experiencing 40 percent month-to-month growth. "We now we are expanding internationally...opening offices in China, the U.K., and other places and [for] me to go expand into those other [international] offices and put in the same system would have been very difficult," he says. "With Salesforce I don't actually have to do anything...our international sales have taken off and are growing at a similar rate. Salesforce has been there to make it easy for us." Related articles: Salesforce.com Reports Quarterly Profit Salesforce.com Announces Summer '04 Release