On-Demand Call Center Application Service Provider Promero Finds the Perfect Fit with SplendidCRM

 

Benefit Highlights

·        Alignment with company’s internal strengths and knowledge

·        Lower licensing fees

·        Easily modified to meet customer needs

·        Leverage of full menu of Microsoft tools, technologies and best practices

 

 

Company Profile

Founded in 2001, Promero is a leading application service provider of on-demand, call-center software and customer relationship management software. The company’s online software applications support corporate, home-based, and offshore users. Promero's current software offerings include a virtual call-center application; on-demand customer relationship management software; lead management, voice/data routing, and marketing analytics software developed by Promero. Also offered is fully integrated call-center software, CRM and lead management unified platform.

 

Business Challenge

Applications that Promero has hosted since 2001 had revolved around a number of different CRM applications. Promero began with a non-open-source CRM component, but found it difficult to customize for their – and their customers’ -- particular requirements. Their search for an open-source solution first brought them to SugarCRM, a good solution for their need to do some integration. But the application proved problematic since all previous work at Promero had been done in a .NET-centric space by employees who were well-versed in Microsoft architecture. The time and effort required to get up-to-speed in PHP and Apache became a stretch for Promero’s IT resources.

 

Situation Overview

Enter SplendidCRM, the Microsoft-centric, open-source, CRM solution that proved to be dramatically easier for Promero developers to work with, saved them money in the long run through free run-time and hosting, and even made an impact on not only the types of products they offered, but also the types of customers that they attracted.

 

With the integration of SplendidCRM, Promero has found a “clean fit” with both open-source and .NET architecture in the same CRM product, a combination not easy to come by. The short journey into Linux made Promero highly thankful to return to the technology with which they were most comfortable.

 

The deployment of SplendidCRM at Promero also opened up new avenues for the company to explore with their customers, in terms of changing the old-school definition of CRM as an application used mainly for tracking customer sales, to a new way of thinking about CRM as the foundation upon which a company’s entire operations can be built. Promero found that using SplendidCRM as a base on which to add and customize a number of business back-end functions to answer customer needs opened up new product potential. They’ve added -- or are in the process of developing -- features like Chat, Click-To-Talk, Work List Queing, Custom Reporting, Screen Pops from their Contact Center application and more. In all, Promero’s work with SplendidCRM has resulted in a product offering that is much more broad-based than before.

 

SplendidCRM has also helped Promero to gain traction in growing their business because potential customers are familiar with and widely accept the open-source, Sugar-based architecture that makes deployment very easy. 

 

Results

“We found SplendidCRM very easy to work with,” said Roman Schepis, Chief Technical Officer of Promero, Inc. “They were very supportive, and open with any discussions about what their plans were. They were key in allowing us to establish our on-demand service offering, with one code set revolving around many different clients. That really opened up our ability to deploy products in a multi-tenant environment. We’ve been able to do some things that are a real value-add, and these things are differentiators that our clients are really happy with.”

 

And moving forward?

 

“We’re really excited about SplendidCRM version 1.4,” said Schepis. The latest version incorporates the .NET 2.0 programming framework, which allows integrators like Promero to add user-customizable features like .NET 2.0’s Master Pages, Themes, Web Parts and AJAX to their applications. “Our developers are enthusiastic about using things like AJAX as a new technology with the application…it opens up a whole new world for us in terms of features and functionality.”

 

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