Atmos Energy Deploys SFA Software to Centralize Data Management
Still haven’t made the leap to sales force automation software (SFA software)? You know how much benefit it can provide to your sales team, but you also know it will cost you some time to make the changes, deploy the solution and get everyone trained. Can you afford the downtime and will you lose revenue in the process? Perhaps the real question you should be asking is whether or not you can afford to NOT implement SFA software, given the proven benefits it can provide for your environment. Atmos Energy sought to implement SFA software that would make sense within its environment and learned how much the company could benefit from centralized data management.
A Lack of SFA Software Presents a Challenge
As the largest natural gas-only distributor in the U.S., Atmos Energy was seeking an SFA software solution to help assimilate acquired utility assets. The company also needed to consolidate operations that were spread out over six different business units. The company was trying to manage 3.2 million customers in 12 states and needed an SFA software solution to centralized information for tracking contacts and accounts. Atmos Energy was searching for improved efficiency and effectiveness. The company had been relying on a homegrown application, as well as Excel and Outlook to manage all of its activities. To leverage SFA software for its complex environment, Atmos Energy turned to Salesforce.com.
The SFA Software Solution to Drive Results
Atmos Energy knew that it needed a powerful SFA software solution and turned to the Salesforce platform instead of Oracle CRM. The company believed Salesforce offered more flexibility, scalability, ease of deployment and was more cost effective as an SFA software solution. The overall SFA software deployment was completed in 2 ½ months, which included complete integration with current systems, and full training for users in marketing, sales, public affairs and management. The company also completed the creation of custom objects to integrate external data to enable consolidated reporting through the SFA software. VerticalResponse from the Force.com AppExchange marketplace was also installed to allow for the easy creation and management of targeted e-mail campaigns. Custom, on-demand surveys and response forms are now created within the SFA software platform with the help of Pollzter from the AppExchange.
SFA Software Solution Delivers Results
Results were certainly a key focus for Atmos Energy when the company turned to Salesforce.com for its SFA software implementation. One of the primary benefits the company experienced was an improvement in its operations without a significant capital investment. The company also enjoyed greater knowledge and training in its SFA software platform to enable its managers to expand the scope of its solutions without incurring additional consulting support costs. To date, the company has already experienced a 600 percent return on investment for its SFA software deployment. In addition, Atmos Energy is also enjoying consolidated account data and pipeline views that enable the creation of better sales projections and business planning. With faster and more complete reporting, business leaders can make faster decisions to more quickly impact business results.
Overall, Atmos Energy has gained measurable benefits from its SFA software implementation from Salesforce.com. Is this the right platform for your company? You may need to do a little more research to know for sure, but the proven platform has been recognized as a powerful solution in 2011 CRM reviews for key industries throughout the world.