Using CRM to Compete--and Win--Against Larger Companies

In industries like telecommunications, trying to compete with the giant players can be a losing battle. But TransACT, a telecommunications firm operating in Australia's capital, Canberra, has been able to differentiate itself by using CRM solutions from Onyx Software. "Our biggest challenge was competing against dominant carriers, and the only way we could compete was to offer high levels of customer service," says Dan Lauder, operations manager at TransACT. "We entered this market in 2000, when our competitor, Telstra, owned almost 100 percent of the market. Now, just a few years later, we already own 35 percent of the market for every Canberra suburb in which we operate." TransACT is using its Onyx system to provide the coveted 360-degree view of the customer, which includes instantly knowing customer location, products installed, products ordered, and history of usage. The order entry and product configuration solutions built with Onyx have enabled faster delivery of product and reduced the cost of new connections, Lauder says. In addition, TransACT can now more easily introduce new products, according to Lauder. It used to take TransACT up to four months to get a customer's information populated throughout the front- and back-end systems, but with Onyx it now takes less than seven days. "The Onyx system has also proven invaluable in correcting service issues," Lauder says. "For instance, it used to take three days to identify, investigate, and correct a fault in one of the cables, but with Onyx it now takes less than half a day." First-call resolution has also increased with the implementation of Onyx. Today a representative can address issues on the first call 90 percent of the time, and Lauder notes that since representatives can do more, the company is seeing cost savings due to not having to hire more agents. All in all, Lauder says, there has been a 200 percent improvement in response time to customer requests. "Right from day one of the implementation we have been using Onyx as a cornerstone of our business, which is structured entirely around the customer," Lauder says. The Payoff Since rolling out the Onyx solution to 200 employees across its marketing, sales, and service departments, TransACT has seen major returns, including:

a 200 percent improvement in response times to customer requests;

a first-call resolution rate of 90 percent;

a reduction in cable fault repair time from three days to half a day;

a 35 percent market share after only three years in business.