Applix (NASDAQ: APLX) a leading provider of customer relationship management and business intelligence solutions, announced the following success from the Applix London, England office.
One of the greatest advantages that global media organisations have over their smaller competitors is the opportunity to cross-sell services to its key customers on a regional basis. Despite this, most miss huge
opportunities due to lack of integrated and current customer information across regional offices. Determined not to fall into this category, Saatchi and Saatchi, one of the world`s largest advertising agencies, has
selected Applix`s Enterprise CRM software to manage its new business leads on a global scale. The system will enable all account staff responsible for new business to view sales activity in other geographies. This will enable them to uncover cross-selling opportunities, avoid client conflicts and share sales and marketing materials, including new business presentations.
The pilot for the system is scheduled to go live in November 1999 at Saatchi and Saatchi`s London office. The second phase will roll out in the US, China and Hong Kong eventually going live in all of Saatchi`s 152 offices in 92 countries.
Although this is a very large scale rollout, Saatchi and Saatchi is optimistic that the implementation will be straightforward thanks to Enterprise`s unique Java-enabled Web client. The only equipment needed to run the application on the Client side is a standard Web browser. This means that time and costs associated with adding new users and maintaining the system are extremely low when compared to traditional client/server software.
Saatchi and Saatchi chose Applix Enterprise over a number of competitive CRM products for the following reasons:
. Enterprise was the easiest to customise thanks to its Applix ESP (or "Enterprise Solutions Platform") foundation. ESP consists of a suite of application design and customisation tools that require no programming skills to master.
. Enterprise includes a very powerful workflow engine that is bundled with the software. Competing products required the purchase of an add-on solution.
. Enterprise enables users to update the central database via e-mail through its virtual incident processing engine.
. Enterprise offers a fully functional Java-based Web client; competitors only offer HTML interfaces that do not enable real-time data transactions with the server.
. Enterprise`s support for multiple languages was essential for Saatchi and Saatchi`s pan European rollout.
. Users who experimented with Enterprise during the evaluation were very pleased with the product`s functionality and ease of use.
"The main reason we chose Applix as a vendor was because of its people," explains Clint Witchalls, business systems manager for Saatchi and Saatchi. "They really did their homework, taking the time to understand our business and speak to us in our language. Other vendors were treating us like a
manufacturing company. When it came to choosing a CRM solution, we felt that it was important to select a vendor that actually understood its own customers."
Unihold Business Solutions are the South African distributors of Applix. They can be contacted at (011) 709-7000.
Share
Applix
Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ: APLX), headquartered in Westboro, Mass., develops,
markets and supports web-based, front office business solutions, which
allow organisations to improve decision-making and corporate productivity.
The Front Office Business Solutions include a suite of thin-client Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) applications, which include the Applix
Enterprise and Enterprise Anyware product lines, and a set of real-time
Business Intelligence applications, which include the Applix TM1 product
line. In addition to its Front Office Business Solutions, Applix also
provides a set of Decision Support applications, consisting of Applixware
and Applix Anyware products. The Company`s products are available on a
variety of software platforms, including Windows, Windows NT, UNIX and
Linux environments. More information can be found at http://www.applix.com.
Saatchi and Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi plc is a world-wide creative marketing communications
group operating in 152 offices in 92 countries and employing approximately
5,200 people. The Group consists of: Saatchi & Saatchi; Rowland
Communications (integrated communications and PR); Cliff Freeman & Partners
(advertising); a 70% shareholding in The Facilities Group (pre-production
services) and a 50% shareholding in Zenith Media Worldwide (a leading
global media services and planning agency).