SMARTCRM supports sales and distribution of FOGTEC Fire Protection

FOGTEC Fire Protection:

• Production and distribution of systems of fire detection and fighting systems

SMARTCRM at FOGTEC:

• CRM replacement
• Connection to proALPHA ERP
• Deployed in sales and distribution
• 32 licenses

Requirements and project goals:

• Standard interface to proALPHA ERP
• Multi-client capability
• Central information pool for all business areas

From now on, our CRM solution supports FOGTEC sales staff. Fire protection systems of this company, headquartered in Cologne, Germany, are deployed all over the world.

The goal of the CRM implementation is to bundle all customer-related data in one system which is accessible to all sales employees since the company is divided into several business units in which different work processes were previously established. Thus, some were already using a CRM system that has now been replaced by SMARTCRM. However, important information was also stored in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, in Microsoft Outlook accounts as well as in the ERP system proALPHA. Both stand-alone solutions as well as local data storage should belong to the past from now on. SMARTCRM impressed in the CRM selection process with its preconfigured standard interface to proALPHA, the most important criterion in the CRM decision. Thanks to our interface expertise, which has grown over decades, we were able to set up the connection at FOGTEC quickly and easily, naturally taking individual requirements in account. From now on, the interface is used to import, among others, addresses, contacts, products as well as turnover and order backlog items from the ERP into the CRM system. SMARTCRM prepares the latter in numerous BI evaluations at different levels and provides the employees with up-to-date data at the press of a button.

The multi-client capability of the software was another key criterion during the CRM decision. Thus, in SMARTCRM, there are different clients for different business units. This has the advantage that employees only receive the information they need for their work. In addition, however, the overall view is guaranteed, for example in case of cumulative evaluations.

Within the standard application, SMARTCRM already offers a Microsoft Office integration with which Microsoft Outlook is also connected to our CRM system. All incoming e-mails are imported in the corresponding customer file at FOGTEC via Microsoft Exchange. This means that the entire activity history for a customer is available to sales staff at a glance in SMARTCRM, and you always know who has discussed what with whom.

The communication related to a project is therefore completely documented in SMARTCRM. In the future, FOGTEC will store each project with all project steps in the CRM system and link all addresses and contacts to the project file. This is a great advantage for the company, as there are numerous parties involved in a project – e.g. the installation of fire protection systems in building, tunnels and rail vehicles. FOGTEC’s priority was also that, conversely, a contact person can be assigned to any number of projects, for example if an authority oversees several tunnel projects – easy with our CRM solution. The respective quotations are automatically imported from proALPHA via the interface or, if required, manually imported into the project file for optimal tacking. Important documents can also be stored with the individual project steps. Forecast evaluations round off the overall view of the project.