Microsoft .NET jogs corporate memory for NEC

• Rapid deployment of highly integrated CRM portal
• .NET solution slashes implementation time by two thirds
• System tracks sales leads through entire cycle

Microsoft .NET and XML Web Services are the basis of a major Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration project at NEC Business Solutions that has significantly improving the company’s sales process.

Streamline Solutions (http://www.ssolutions.com.au) implemented its eTouchPoint CRM suite for NEC, including full integration with the company’s existing applications. “Other leading IT providers were unable to meet NEC’s requirements,” says Rob Sadedin, chief software architect at Streamline. “But our company was able to deliver very quickly with the help of Microsoft’s tools.”

“In essence, eTouchPoint is a sales tool,” adds Sadedin. “It allows NEC to track and manage progress from an initial sales lead right through to win or lose. It’s a corporate memory for the entire sales team around Australia. That’s especially important for NEC as some sales projects tap into resources from multiple offices.”

Using Web Services, Streamline developed a portal-style interface that fetches and stores information using either Web Services or direct APIs from eTouchPoint and NEC’s legacy systems. These include customer and solution databases, directory and reporting systems, ERP and Microsoft Exchange.

“Previously, sales-related information was trapped within silos but now we have an online, real-time CRM system that lets us share knowledge across the entire organization for the first time,” says NEC business development manager Keith Payne.

A technology review at NEC had led the company to adopt Web Services as a strategic platform in early 2002. “We didn’t see any strong alternatives to Web Services for the things we needed to do,” says NEC data centre manager Ralph Stone. “Microsoft’s .NET toolkit and related software was rock-solid from day one.”

Significantly, the integration provides users with single sign-on access to information held in disparate systems, and enables consolidated reporting from multiple data sources. “You can get a whole-of-customer view from one place,” says Sadedin. “Yet access to each piece of data is correctly controlled according to the individual’s job or membership of particular project teams.”

Users include sales executives and engineers, channel managers, marketers and state managers. Acceptance is very high, with an estimated 98% uptake after the first two rounds of training. While around 100 people initially used the system, that number increased to 150 within two months, and ultimately may reach 600.

Four developers were able to complete the project in three months thanks to the combination of Streamline’s software toolkit, Microsoft .NET and NEC’s use of Web Services within its existing environment. The software was written in a mixture of C# and Visual Basic .NET, using various .NET components including .NET Web Services and ASP.NET.

The .NET products are estimated to have reduced the development time by about two thirds. “Other companies quoted between six and twelve months for the project,” says Sadedin. “The excellent Microsoft tools contributed to our ability to complete the project quickly and successfully.”

Other Microsoft products used were Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Office.

“Administrative time has been slashed and we’re getting 100 percent visibility of the entire sales lifecycle in real time,” says NEC business tools project coordinator Neville Drake. “Web Services has made our software integration projects cheaper and shorter as we can simply publish our Web Services interfaces and external developers can do the same.”

Additional Talking Points

"We had been migrating eTouchpoint to the .NET platform, and when we learned that NEC had designed a .NET framework to integrate their business systems, we were very keen to work together to provide the CRM component using the new Microsoft technologies. Streamline and NEC engineers worked together to provide a solution which surpassed expectations."

"For a small local company to win such a prestigious account against Tier One CRM players is very satisfying. This project represents a great endorsement of our people and our locally developed product. We hope other companies will follow in NEC footsteps to consider adopting Australian technology over expensive branded solutions." says David Tang – CEO of Streamline Solutions.

"Streamline was extremely professional in the delivery process. We were fortunate to have found a local Australian partner that understands complex CRM and more importantly has the underlying product and technology to deliver to our challenging timelines. The rollout to the users went smoothly and management is delighted with the outcome. The Microsoft .NET platform has served us well." says Tomio Furukawa - Vice President of NEC Business Solutions Technology Group.