| | SMARTSALES INC ("SA-V") ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. ("RCI.A,RCI.B-T;RG-BDNX3") - Rogers Media Uses OutSmart Pilot To Launch CRM Implementation
SmartSales confirmed on Oct 23, 2001, the success of its unique pilot program for businesses considering implementation of an enterprise class Customer Relationship Management sales solution. The SmartSales pilot program enables these companies to deploy a fully functional version of OutSmart into part of their organization prior to making their final buying decision. This allows companies to validate within their own environment the Return on Investment metrics they can expect for full implementation based on the actual and realized revenue gained during the pilot.
"The OutSmart pilot helped us discover where the bears are hiding in the bushes," said Jim Diederichs, V.P. IT & CIO, Rogers Media Inc. "We were able to pinpoint how we needed to evolve in the Radio division to make any business process automation program a success. 80% of the issues we had to deal with involved ensuring that employees understood our own process flow and the benefits to be achieved through automation. The OutSmart pilot gave us the knowledge to target these issues and deal with them successfully before embarking on a full sales automation implementation."
"Our pilot program is a first in the CRM industry," said Nicolas Sleeth, Chief Revenue Officer of SmartSales. "It allows companies to measure pre-implementation the impact of deploying a Customer Relationship Management solution within the sales team, and how OutSmart will help the organization meet its revenue objectives. We know that a successful and effective CRM solution can significantly increase sales productivity and improve pipeline management. But not all companies have managed to achieve this with some CRM solutions. The key is to ensure that the software is easy to use and will be used by employees and management alike. Through our pilot program, we have found that users rapidly become sponsors of the program even before end of the evaluation period. The effectiveness of the pilot approach is evident in our 100% success rate."
SmartSales' pilot program is part of its full solutions delivery process through which SmartSales' technical and business process expertise helps clients to implement a solution tailored to their unique business needs that best fits their organization. SmartSales launched its pilot program with Rogers Media Inc., a leading Canadian communications company that operates radio and television stations, print publications and several internet properties. Rogers Media chose to initially pilot OutSmart into its primary radio markets, in which there was a strong need for automation that could handle varying sizes of user communities and different levels of complexity.
The SmartSales pilot program is customized to fit each company's unique business environment and tailor meet their requirements. Companies usually deploy an OutSmart pilot within a single department, enabling them to leverage its high rate of user acceptance and simple integration to their own business processes and sales methodologies. The SmartSales consulting team offers on-site training for the pilot users and their managers. SmartSales' extensive experience in sales force automation ensures superior consultative services before, during and after the piloting process.
Enterprises that complete a pilot program with SmartSales find that they gain an understanding of their business processes and can articulate the benefits that they require from automation. This knowledge and evaluation removes the risk often associated with enterprise scale software implementations and streamlines the implementation process. Companies realize a return on their pilot investment immediately through the knowledge gained with respect to the business impact of deploying a CRM solution and of their sales team's requirements.
About Rogers Communications Inc.
Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B: TSE) is Canada's national communications company engaged in Digital PCS, cellular, messaging and data communications through Rogers AT&T Wireless; in cable television, high-speed Internet access and video retailing through Rogers Cable; and in radio and television broadcasting, tele-shopping, publishing and new media businesses through Rogers Media Inc. Rogers Media operates three businesses: Rogers Broadcasting, Rogers Publishing and Rogers iMedia. Rogers Broadcasting has 43 AM and FM radio licenses across Canada, several of which are clustered in major Canadian cities, as well as Toronto's multicultural television broadcaster, CFMT, and a national televised shopping services, the Shopping Channel. Rogers Publishing has over 60 publications including a number of well-known consumer magazines such as Maclean's, Chatelaine, Flare, L'actualite, Canadian Business and is the leading publisher of a number of trade publications. Rogers iMedia includes Internet properties such as Quicken.ca, Electric Library Canada and Excite.ca.
About SmartSales Inc.
SmartSales Inc. (CDNX: SA) provides leading enterprises with effective, scalable and easy-to-use Customer Relationship Management solutions within a Microsoft(r) Office (r) environment. SmartSales' rapid implementation, low deployment costs and high user acceptance empower sales forces to quickly increase their effectiveness in seizing their sales opportunities and businesses to outsmart their competition......fast! TEL: (888) 257-5559 Norman Eyolfson, Investor Relations
SmartSales Inc. EMAIL: info@smartsales.com INTERNET: www.smartsales.com |
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