Sage CRM is Umsinsi Health Care's engine for growth

Umsinsi Health Care, a distributor of medical products, has enhanced customer service and streamlined its business processes by implementing Sage CRM as its customer relationship management platform.

The company is the South African distributor of the ConvaTec products for advanced wound care, stoma care, and incontinence management. Umsinsi was established in 2008 and did not initially put a CRM solution in place. But as its business expanded, it found it could no longer effectively manage a growing customer database from Excel spreadsheets.

When Umsinsi explored the market for CRM solutions, it found that Sage CRM was the mid-range product that best suited its business needs, particularly because of its customisability, says Thokozile Nzama, Senior Partner: Marketing at Umsinsi Health Care.

"Most CRM packages are made for retailers and financial service organisations, so it was a challenge for us to find one we could adapt to the language we speak in healthcare," she says. "We segment our customer base very differently to most consumer-facing businesses, and we wanted a CRM solution that would be flexible enough to accommodate this."

With the help of Sage ERP Africa business partner, Lorge, Umsinsi was able to rapidly roll-out the Sage CRM suite as well as adapt the software to its business. The solution supports the segmentation of the customer base into public and private sector accounts, and also helps Umsinsi to keep track of its relationships with doctors, nurses and specialists throughout South Africa.

Sage CRM plays an invaluable role in helping the sales force stay on top of their contacts with customers, so that they can sell more effectively and cultivate better client relationships. In future, sales reps will be able to track inventory in the warehouse so that they can discuss stock availability with customers on the spot. Sage CRM also helps Umsinsi to use e-mail and SMS to communicate efficiently with its customer base.

In the longer term, the goal is to make Sage CRM the engine that powers the business, says Nzama. "Sage CRM gives us the flexibility we need to be flexible and responsive," she adds. "We still have a lot of work to do, but Sage CRM is already helping us to be responsive to our customers as well as drive better performance in our sales and marketing."

Says Lorge Senior Consultant, Michael Camacho: "Sage CRM has provided Umsinsi with a solution that streamlines its business processes while enhancing the customer experience. The processes in this industry are very different from most consumer businesses, but Sage CRM could accommodate Umsinsi's needs because of its inherent flexibility."

"We understand that our customers don't necessarily want to have their business processes dictated by their enterprise software," says Jeremy Waterman, Managing Director at Sage ERP Africa. "For that reason, we have always followed a design philosophy in our software of making it flexible enough to fit in with how the business operates."