The 2nd Annual SMA Customer Interaction Awards
It takes courage and commitment to make change happen-even when that change is for the better. That's just what the five winners of SMA's 2nd annual Customer Interaction Award program have demonstrated. Each in its own way has done the hard research, invested the necessary resources and then made the leap into sales and marketing automation.
All five now also proudly report measurable improvements in their business operations. Just as important, these firms have also taken their customer service to a higher level, making each interaction with clients more focused, efficient and effective.
This year's winners are:
- Marketing Automation (co-winner): Lucent Technologies
- Marketing Automation (co-winner): Quantum, Snap Division
- Inside Sales Automation: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire
- Field Sales Automation: The Mather Companies
- Customer Relationship Management: Datastream Systems
This month, we look at our two co-winners in the fast-growing marketing automation category. In upcoming months, we'll take a look at the remaining companies.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire
Manchester, N.H.
Blue Shield of New Hampshire
Award Category:
Inside Sales Automation
Company Product/Services:
Provides a variety of health care insurance plans, including health maintenance organizations (HMO), point-of-service (POS) and preferred provider (PPO) and indemnity products.
Implementation Team:
Katie McDonald, BCBSNH vice president of sales and marketing; David Irish, vice president of technology for Distributed Information Systems; Nancy Brome, proposal team leader
Datastream Systems, Inc
Greenville, S.C.
Datastream Systems
Award Category:
Customer Relationship Management
Company Products/Services:
Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and enterprise asset management systems (EAMS) for businesses that want to improve maintenance efficiency. The company provides all software, installation, training and consulting to assist customers with controlling spare parts inventories, scheduling tasks that reduce equipment downtime, and expediting the purchasing process.
Implementation Team:
Will McCuen, director of corporate systems
Lucent Technologies
Milpitas, Calif.
Award Category:
Marketing Automation (co-winner)
Company Products/Services:
Corporate networked messaging
Implementation Team:
David Douglass, senior manager, Marketing Services
The Mather Companies
Cockeysville, Maryland
Award Category:
Field Sales Automation
Company Products/Services:
Provides employee benefits and group insurance products to more than 9,300 companies and associations. The products are marketed exclusively through independent insurance brokers.
Implementation Team:
Helen Godwin, broker services manager; Bradley strohl, executive vice president; Maureen Tierney, marketing consultant
Quantum, Snap Division
Milpitas, Calif.
Award Category:
Marketing Automation (co-winner)
Company Products/Services:
Develops and manufactures network-attached storage solutions
Implementation Team:
Bart Bartlett, OEM marketing manager; Greg Swope, vice president of Sales; Steve Sherman, director of Customer Support