Astea Brings Portable CRM

This week Astea International, a CRM software developer, and MultiMedical Systems, a testing and support provider of medical equipment, announced a joint solution that marries the two companies' expertise.

The new AllianceEnterprise MedServices solution enables medical equipment manufacturers, hospital asset managers, and third-party service providers to handle equipment in the field while having the latest service contract and other vital information about the equipment at their fingertips, through notebooks and pocket PCs. Moreover, technicians enter results of tests in real-time, which is then fed into Astea's system and used to bill the client.

"This marriage of CRM and biomedical equipment testing with the AllianceEnterprise MedService solution will slash the cost of service delivery for all types of medical-equipment service providers. And MultiMedical Systems will join us in marketing this solution to our fastest growing vertical," said James Kriby, vice president of sales and marketing at Astea.

MultiMedical Systems claims other field-based solutions fail to support managing service contracts, the capture of all expenses, and prompt customer billing. Indeed, a mobile solution means technicians have a better way of documenting work quickly and electronically.

The field technician, however, represents a single prong in Astea's integrated suite. Other individuals entering data into its CRM system include the salesperson, contact-center representative, dealer, and customer. By gathering information from these touch points, "when someone need information, it is there in one secure real-time system that provides 360-degree views of your business and customers," Kirby says.