PSG invests in Maximizer Enterprise

Leading financial organisation PSG Investment Bank provides a comprehensive range of services including corporate finance, trade finance and treasury and trading. Many of the bank`s profit centres are staffed by small teams people working together and it is imperative that team members are aware of each other`s activities, appointments and contacts with clients to avoid duplication of effort.

It is also important that each team understands what the other teams are doing so that new business opportunities can be identified quickly. To date, PSG had relied on Microsoft Outlook and various applications built using Excel and Access to share information about customers. Towards the end of 2001 Mich Nieuwoudt, PSG`s IT Manager, decided to look for something which would enable staff to share this information more effectively.

"It was clear to me that we needed to move towards some sort of CRM solution," Nieuwoudt says. "To get started we wanted something powerful which would be quick and simple to implement and use, and which would work with Outlook." Nieuwoudt looked at several well-known products before being introduced to Multiactive`s Maximizer Enterprise by Camsoft Solutions, a leading South African CRM solutions provider and Multiactive Platinum business partner.

"Once I had been introduced to Maximizer by Camsoft it was quite clear that the product was exactly what we were looking for," Nieuwoudt says. "It was more than capable of providing what we needed, it was so flexible that it wouldn`t have to be customised in any way, and, importantly, it was network aware so we could use it over our WAN to link our Cape Town and Johannesburg offices."

Camsoft implemented Maximizer in January 2002 in just two days without any hitches. Following this Nieuwoudt provided Camsoft with a list of 30 users, who Camsoft contacted individually to arrange one-on-one training with Maximizer and to import the necessary data into the software. The total cost of the deal was R150 000. "I am very happy with Camsoft," Nieuwoudt says. "They are close to Multiactive so they know what they are doing, they were very responsive to our needs and they were cost-effective."

The benefits of using Maximizer were realised by PSG almost immediately. "Now we are using Maximizer we have been able to consolidate our efforts and work more efficiently. Staff now have a much better understanding of what other staff members are doing, so they are able to co-ordinate their dealings with clients."

Implementing Maximizer has been a profitable decision for the bank, Nieuwoudt concludes. "It`s difficult to put an exact figure on how much we have made by using Maximizer, but I could point to some valuable deals we have done already that we were able to initiate at least partly because of Maximizer."

Maximizer has an installed base of over 1 million users worldwide and the product shows the benefits of over 16 years of development as a leading CRM solution. Businesses using Maximizer`s Personal Edition, Enterprise and eCRM products range in size from SOHOs to corporations employing tens of thousands of employees. Robust and user-friendly, Maximizer is cost-effective and quick to provide a return on investment, with installation and customisation typically taking days or weeks rather than several months, as is common with many other CRM products. Maximizer 7.0 was the latest version to be released and Camsoft Solutions launched the product in SA in May.