Customer Relationship Management System for Tyco Plastics

Now Tyco Plastics Oxford, United Polythene Limited (UPL), took the strategic decision, prior to becoming part of Tyco, to improve their sales focus and customer service. Central to this was identifying the need for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System.

The company had been operating paper-based management systems for a number of years, and knew that their ability to stay competitive in the market and maintain efficiency were becoming compromised by their lack of a computerised management information and Contact Management System to track sales leads and order placement.

The sales force, in particular, were finding it increasingly difficult to respond to clients quickly and accurately, as accessing correct information manually was unacceptably time consuming. The company found itself relying on the excellence of individuals who kept vital information in their heads and then took it with them when they left the company. This information and expertise drain was resulting in missed business opportunities, duplication of effort and ineffective use of resources. The project, consequently, was categorised as mission critical.

An investigation of off-the-shelf contact management systems concluded that no existing application would be able to handle the huge volumes of data, the multiple sourcing requirements and the information management needs of the company or cope with the specific complexities of the plastics industry.

UPL approached Active Media Business Solutions and asked them to design a bespoke CRM system, completely customised for the plastics industry. The Active Media team worked very closely with the company's sales department, the back office and support team to ensure that their solution would resolve all contact management and management information issues.

The solution was designed to cull information from multiple sources, manage it according to categories and contact priorities, analyse and predict according to ordering patterns and the manufacturing process, search and maintain high volumes of product data, calculate quotes, produce statistical analysis of all accounts, summary regional (international) statistics, and allow the sales force to share information without compromising the system's security.

The solution handles over 6,500 accounts and all manages all the product and back office data. It has an easy-to-use 9.x / XP style interface and was interfaced to the accounting system.

The solution Active Media designed and implemented has clearly moved the company from individual to organisational CRM best practice. It has not only met all the multiple sourcing requirements and the information management needs, but proved instrumental in maximising revenue opportunities.