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possible. after a market analysis comparing
various products and providers, the final preference
was for oracle’s siebel software.
“according to our analyses, oracle’s siebel
Crm solution is the best fit for all our requirements
as defined by our cross functional
project team,” almahamid adds. “This product
has a proven track record in other companies
in the medical technology sector, could
be integrated into our back-end systems, and
seemed to us to be incredibly user-friendly.”
The designs of the application started early
July 2010, and a pilot project with 15 users
went live in France in november. The pilot
confirmed the initial project plan and led
to a rollout across France, which ended in
late march 2011 and gave almost one hundred
users in sales access to decision-relevant
data and analyses via the customer management
system. What’s more, all this is avai-
lable via a single user interface and a single
mobile device thanks to full and complete
integration of the Crm solution into reporting
at stryker France.
No longer any acceptance
problems
From the start, the Crm project focused on
the ease of use of the system. The fact that
stryker sales reps travel extensively should
not stop them being able to use the full range
of key data in real time. “The ability to use
the Crm system on the road was a priority
for us,” says almahamid. “in some past
Crm projects the acceptance for these
applications was low with our field service
reps because there were some limitations
compared to the desktop application. so in
this current project we are focusing on
usability of the mobile application.”
it was not all plain sailing for almahamid
and his project team as they tried to implement
Crm. not all Crm on demand
functionality designed and available for
some specific smartphones. almahamid
clarifies: “The only things you could do
with the smart phones was to make calls and
read data. you couldn’t input data, which was
not acceptable for us.”
stryker took appropriate action and resolved
to continue using blackberrys as a
means of communication. They decided to
deploy a high-end device for using the Crm
software and exchanging data, and eventually
settled on apple’s iPad. “by giving them
iPads, we’ve made sure that our sales team
have high-performance devices that cover all
the mobile functions they need, which guarantees
immediate acceptance,” says almahamid.
“These tablets also allow us to show
clients high-end presentations for stryker
products, reinforcing our company’s image
as an innovator”.
once the Crm solution has been rolled
out to all local offices across europe by the
end of 2011, the members of the sales team
can access and use the Crm via their iPad.
“This will give our team a more comprehensive
overview of their field of activity and help
them work more efficiently,” says almahamid
looking ahead to when the pro-ject ends. “The
new sales efficiency processes enabled by
the Crm solution will make us more
competitive and puts us in a position to gain
additional market share.” ima buxton
SpoT, a cRM magazine –
now also an iPad app
New issue due out in early May
a production of Strategic marketing Services, idG business Media GmbH, Munich