Tying Up Cable's Loose Ends

Molex Premise Networks (MPN) has annual global revenue in excess of $70 million, providing structured cabling systems to enterprises, but busywork -- tracking and recording customer and project activities -- was getting in the way of business. According to Neil Taylor, global information systems manager, MPN needed to be able to record projects and their expected life cycle and review them on a global basis. Previous systems attempted to share databases, but proved unmanageable. Cooperation was difficult, and reporting was fragmented across systems. To log project, customer, and contact information -- and share all of that among locations -- MPN turned to b2bCRM for its CRM application. "It wasn't a large, complicated system, but it still had all the elements we were looking for, including the ability to customize fields so that the system reflected the way we worked, not the other way 'round," Taylor said in a statement. "Because it is Web-based, we could coordinate globally without having to invest in infrastructure." The monthly price tag? Less than $20 per user. "Reporting is definitely faster -- we didn't use anything on a widespread regional basis before," Taylor said, adding that the company previously relied on informal networks and anecdotes of contract proposals and wins. MPN staffers can now share information when fielding multiple bids, where before they had to rely on personal networks. Additionally, completed installation sites can now be used for reference, something not previously possible. "We have a system in place that allows us to cooperate on sales and projects where before we had nothing," Taylor said.