When the Genesis Group switched from a custom-built CRM and paper filing system to Accelo client work management platform, they quickly saw a 25% increase in productivity thanks to accurate time tracking and automated tasks.
Every day, we grow more dependent on technology to do our jobs, so it can cost us time and money when it doesn’t work as intended. But for first responders on the front line, technical glitches are literally the difference between life and death.
The Genesis Group, a software company that enhances two-way radio systems, knows that waiting for radio devices to respond to network failure is not an acceptable strategy.
“Think of us as the dashboard to a radio system, which shows live information such as busy radio frequencies, creates forensic reports or sends critical alerts,” says Maintenance and Total Support Administrator Mandy Jentes.
When terrorists struck the Boston Marathon in 2013, tremendous resources were mobilized to treat the injured, respond to further threats, and hunt for the perpetrators. This placed an incredible demand on radio networks. The Genesis Group’s efforts before and during the event ensured critical lines of communication remained open.
“Without adequate resources allocated to radio users, operators can’t communicate with each other in scenarios like natural disasters or terrorist attacks, where every first responder on the ground needs to be able to communicate via their radio,” Mandy explains. “Our products can predict potential issues like this in order for our customers to be better prepared. So, in an indirect way, our software really does save lives.”
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Ironically though, for all their technical prowess in helping their clients run reliable communication operations, the way The Genesis Group was running their own operations was slow, congested, outdated and failing their business.
Until mid-2016, the Genesis Group was running their operations with two primary systems: a custom-built CRM system and a complex physical filing system.
"We were leaders in the software industry but running our own operations on paper — literally walking around with physical files and photocopies of purchase orders! It was a mess,” Mandy says. “Tracking details lacked efficiency, working remotely lacked accuracy, and both lacked easy accessibility.”
While the freedom and flexibility of customizing their own CRM system seemed good in theory and possible for a team with so many technical experts, the reality for the business was a nightmare.
"We were monopolizing our developers’ time on something that didn’t make us money, so instead of writing software that generated income, we had them fixing administrative challenges," explains Mandy.
Additionally, while designing software that could predict chaos for mission-critical businesses in real-time comes naturally for their developers, building something that could support and streamline The Genesis Group’s operations was not their forté.
As Mandy puts it, "Our software products have developers thinking on a very different wavelength than what a CRM solution requires, so as you can imagine, it wasn’t the best path to success.”
The issues were overwhelming, Mandy says.
“We had no way of documenting communication between an employee and a customer when they submitted an issue. We’d literally print out important emails and store them in their physical file. That is a lot of paper to sort through and very time-consuming. We were in the dark ages.”
Despite the importance of being face-to-face with their clients, the team did a lot of work remotely, yet their systems weren't cloud-based. When people in the field needed a document, they had to call the head office and ask for a copy.
Mandy describes this tedious process: “I’d have to locate the right documents in our filing cabinet, take them over to the copier, scan it and email a PDF version to someone in the field.
“We desperately needed a platform like Accelo that could automatically record tickets, track their progress and give us centralized visibility, especially if we wanted to expand our technical team internationally.”
Since making the switch to Accelo, The Genesis Group has ultimate visibility into all external and internal communication.
It’s been a relief for Mandy.
“This means I’m no longer a personal assistant to people working remotely and that's a huge time saver for me.”
She adds that the level of customer care has skyrocketed with the increased visibility Accelo enabled.
“By using automatic triggers, our sales reps get email alerts when tickets are opened for their clients. This allows our sales team to proactively check in with their clients and proactively pursue new opportunities based on technical needs in the ticket. It puts us on top of our game and positions us to function proactively versus reactionary.”
The improved communications even allowed The Genesis group to open a London tech support office with no detrimental effects on team unity.
“When our sales and support teams work in tight harmony, customer service improves,” Mandy says. “When customer service improves, our overall sales increase.”
Overall productivity at The Genesis Group has increased by 25% as a result of moving to Accelo. That’s more than one day a week they’re getting back — time they can spend serving clients and generating revenue.
Mandy believes many of the efficiencies gained at The Genesis Group can be attributed to Accelo’s automatic time-tracking feature, which they use primarily to run internal forensic reporting to see where the most time is spent on customer issues.
She explains how they use it specifically: “We can track the life of a ticket. So for example, how long has it remained unopened? Or how long has it taken to go from unassigned to assigned to closed? More importantly, how long was it ‘waiting on client,’ a custom-created status?”
And the results: “Consequently, we’re able to run more accurate reports, which in turn makes us more profitable, because we can see exactly where we are losing the most time.”
Accelo has been a game-changer for Mandy because she's been able to save time on repetitive admin work, like contract renewals that used to take hours.
"Before Accelo, I would have to send hundreds of individual emails to clients when it was time to renew their maintenance contract. Due to the volume, I was frequently behind schedule, which caused customers to receive insufficient notice. With Accelo, we use triggers to send renewal reminders 90 days prior to expiration automatically. As a result, our customers are informed in a timely manner, which has a direct effect on revenue and customer rapport."
In fact, Mandy predicts a further 20% increase in revenue and is confident that once she starts using Accelo’s flexible quote creator, she’ll get back 50% of her workweek just by automating that process.
“Last year, I ran over 1,000 manual quotes, one by one. So if I do even half of those with Accelo’s automation I will definitely gain more time to focus on additional sales opportunities.”
The Genesis Group is thriving with its newfound digital confidence.
“I really don’t know how we survived for so long as a business without Accelo.”
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