Founded in 1973, Elobau Sensor Technology, Inc. is a global company headquartered in Germany with U.S. operations in Illinois. They employ 300 people worldwide. This international manufacturer specializes in the design of non-contact sensor devices. They offer a range of standard products, such as joysticks, safety controller units and switches, as well as custom-designed solutions for the construction, automotive and agricultural industries.
The Challenges
Elobau lacked any process to track customer follow-up. This was of particular concern when working with clients who needed custom design and manufacturing services. Custom work can take several years to complete. During that timeframe Elobau interacts with many different people. Because they had no tracking system in place they often lost critical information. Without an effective system, it was also impossible for them to track income they could transform into revenue for future projects. Maurice Bastidas, sales manager for the central U.S. region said, “We felt we could improve our customer service and distinguish ourselves among our competitors by using a CRM solution.”
The Solution
Elobau researched their options and decided on Adivian Technologies’ Prophet CRM. Several important factors informed their decision. First, Prophet did not require a local server to operate–an attractive feature. Second, U.S. Operations Manager Francois Mortier tells us, Prophet provided a way for them to “manage complex sales and the follow-up of sales projects involving multiple contacts in one company.” Elobau implemented Prophet OnDemand, Avidian’s hosted CRM solution. This removed the burden of IT management while giving Elobau easy access to critical customer information via the World Wide Web.
The Results
Elobau has experienced impressive results since rolling out Prophet OnDemand almost one year ago. Employee productivity increased since they no longer had to waste time tracking down important custom project details. Prophet OnDemand integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook, enabling multiple users to track, organize and store all contact information in one dedicated database.
Elobau is also making use of Prophet’s valuable integrated marketing tools. After a tradeshow, for example, they create new contacts and assign them to specific categories using Prophet. They later filter these categories to follow-up with customized marketing strategies.
Mortier says, “right now we feel like we have just barely scratched the surface in terms of what we can accomplish with Prophet OnDemand.” Elobau anticipates utilizing more and more Prophet components and increasing revenue capabilities as they do so.
About Avidian Technologies
Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating both cloud-based and on-premise software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and CRM software built inside Microsoft Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit www.avidian.com.