Johannesburg, 27 Jun 2012
Capsol, a luxury holiday villa and apartment marketing and rental company in Camps Bay, has adopted a Sage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution with the help of AccTech Western Cape, greatly aiding Capsol in its strive to offer superior customer service to its unique client base.
The Capsol Group was established in 1996 as a family-run business, providing upmarket accommodation and related services to the burgeoning filming industry in Cape Town at the time.
Since then, Capsol has developed alongside and helped pioneer the luxury villa marketing and rental industry in Cape Town, especially along the sought-after Atlantic Seaboard in areas such as Camps Bay, Clifton and Bantry Bay. Today, Capsol is a leader in Cape Town's villa industry and is highly respected for its knowledge, integrity and professionalism.
Having been around since the very beginning, we know this industry inside out; we know the best villas and apartments available to rent, we know how to market our properties in order to achieve the best possible returns; and through our Property Management division, we are able to provide peace of mind for our property owners.
Most importantly, we have learnt through experience what our local and international clients want and expect when renting, marketing or managing a villa in Cape Town.
Over the years, we have experienced significant growth, offering various specialised services via each of our sub-divisions. However, the Capsol Group still operates like a close-knit family that aims to provide you with the most comprehensive and professional service available.
Since 2009, Capsol experienced significant growth due to increased marketing and demand in the market. “Our clientele base had grown significantly, which necessitated the need for more sales staff,” says Philip Meyer, CEO of Capsol. “Our operational structures and systems were simply not sufficient to handle the rapid expansion. We needed a CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that would suit our needs,” says Meyer.
Embarking on a thorough analysis and comparison of around 35 comparative CRM and ERP platforms, Capsol decided on Sage. “Sage's ease of use, proven track-record and ease of customisation were key factors in our decision. AccTech Western Cape was by far the most professional and proactive company we dealt with, and given the size and importance of the project, we needed to ensure that we were in capable hands,” explains Meyer.
Capsol was in need of a comprehensive CRM solution that is able to drive key performance indicators that the company expected from its staff. “Increased conversion from sales leads into revenue is key to our success, as is detailed reporting and analysis that can aid us in making informed decisions. Sage CRM provides all of this at an affordable price tag, with the functionality further lowering our operational costs and increasing productivity of our staff,” says Meyer.
AccTech Western Cape was able to offer Capsol a hosted solution with automated back-ups for less than R1 000 per month. “The benefit far outweighs the cost,” says Henri Hattingh, CEO of AccTech Western Cape. “We are able to offer guaranteed high-speed access from anywhere in the world. The cost savings are impressive and the service further offers the client the peace of mind of running a business without having to worry about the maintenance and support of infrastructure, which effectively becomes our responsibility as the service provider,” explains Hattingh.
There has been a significant increase in the uptake of cloud services in South Africa, says Keith Fenner, Senior Vice-President of Sales for Africa, Softline Accpac and Sage MMD Africa, part of the Sage Group. “The cloud offering across all our ERP and CRM products has increased as a result of the mobility and real-time data availability that the cloud offers. More clients are realising the benefits of savings that can be made on capital expenditure. The proliferation of South Africa's broadband capability and affordability is further underpinning the move into the cloud,” explains Fenner.
What an amazing difference and lean way to operate our business, says Meyer. “In the past, we used to maintain manual files for all our customers and our properties. With Sage CRM's hosted server, the entire solution is available in the cloud, providing us with access to the information from anywhere, as long as we have an Internet connection, keeping us mobile and informed, which is exactly what we needed at Capsol,” concludes Meyer.
The Sage CRM implementation at Capsol is set to be finalised by July 2012, whereupon stage two of the Sage ERP installation will commence.
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