LabStats + Vtiger CRM

INDUSTRY

Computer Software

LOCATION

Idaho Falls, Idaho

BENEFITS

  • Increased customer renewal rate
  • Improved collaboration

FAVORITE FEATURES

Company

Labstats provides cloud-based software solutions that help educational institutions track the usage of their technology assets. LabStats works with various schools and universities, setting up software solutions that help in spotting available computers in labs, identifying computers that need maintenance, knowing which applications are most used and which are under-used, and more.

Challenge

When LabStats started thirteen years ago, they developed a CRM system to manage sales process. However, as the business grew over the years, its needs grew increasingly complex. While the sales team needed a system to manage the sales process and customer accounts, the accounting team members needed a system to process sales orders and invoices. And because the sales and accounting teams worked closely, LabStats also needed an effective collaboration tool. LabStats wanted a CRM solution that could solve needs of different departments without duplicating customer data, but most of the CRM systems available solved just one or two of its many needs.

The Solution: Vtiger CRM

“Vtiger is the most integrated CRM system and has helped us accomplish all of our sales, customer support, and accounting goals”, says Christian Hayes, the CEO of LabStats.

“Vtiger was the most well balanced CRM system of all CRM systems we evaluated. Vtiger helps us manage clients and processes before, during, and after a sale. It’s an all in one solution” says Christian. LabStats evaluated more than 20 different CRM systems before selecting Vtiger. “Other CRMs we looked into required us to have 2 or even 3 separate solutions to keep with our sales, support, and accounting process. We even used Salesforce for a while but soon realized that it did not meet our business needs. Salesforce had too narrow a focus on the process of tracking a prospect to conversion and it required extensive customization to help us continue tracking a customer throughout their time with us.”

For Labstats team members, managing all customer related data in Vtiger not only saves time and effort but also eliminates miscommunication. “Our sales, support, accounting, and operations teams use Vtiger every day to get work done. And having one system ensures that all our customer related data is in one place – making sharing and searching for information quick and seamless. Since our employees don’t have to push or pull customer information or status from multiple systems there is no room for human errors.”

Vtiger’s customizations and automations have accelerated LabStat’s business process

Christian has automated tasks and notifications in Vtiger to help his team work efficiently. “Because Vtiger is easy to customize to our specific business needs, we streamlined our business process.” A prime example of improved efficiency comes from LabStats’ order creation and fulfillment department. “When an order is received and marked Approved, Vtiger creates a Case that has complete details of the order and customer and assigns it to the technical team for order fulfillment. Then when that Case is marked Resolved by the technical team, the Account Manager is notified to follow up with the customer to make sure they have everything they need.”

Vtiger’s customized workflows have also helped LabStats team stay notified on important issues. “We use customized workflows to trigger notifications when a condition is met. One example is to notify account managers if a customer fails to renew before their subscription date. Account managers receive renewal due notification at three points in time – 60 days before subscription expiry, 2 weeks before subscription expiry, and on the day of subscription expiry. These notifications help our account managers connect with customers who are due for renewal and understand if they have any issues in renewing or have any new requirements and forward those to the right team”

Vtiger has helped LabStats improve its customer renewal rate by 15% YOY

“We have configured Vtiger in such a way that it helps us pay the right attention to the right customer at the right time.” LabStats has a few unique customer facing processes in addition to the regular sales process. “We created a new module in Vtiger that helps our account managers know when to check in with customers, and track the completion of those check-ins. This saves account managers at least 30 minutes a day because they don’t have to comb through lists of accounts in order to decide whom to contact and when. Vtiger automatically creates new opportunities for account managers before a customer comes due for subscription renewal, allowing them to stay ahead of renewal dates and get quotes out on time to customers. Since we prefer personal touch, we don’t send automatic renewal reminders to customers. And because Vtiger captures all interactions that our customers have with their account managers, our sales associates can review those interactions to provide a better solution.”

Vtiger’s workflows and @mentions keep LabStat’s teams in perfect sync

“Before using Vtiger all our internal communications happened outside CRM. For instance, when sales associates wanted the accounting team to generate an invoice, the request and follow-ups would happen through exchange of emails. This was a time consuming process and induced unwanted delays. But now we have workflows that instantly notify concerned people on completion of tasks. Sales associates are notified when their customer’s support ticket is closed. The accounting team is notified when a deal is closed. Our accounting team processes an order at multiple stages and at each stage our technical team is notified to initiate order fulfillment. Once the order is fulfilled, the accounting team gets notified for invoicing the customer. This process of internal communication saves a significant amount of time which was otherwise spent on manual searching for information outside of CRM”.

LabStats team members use Vtiger’s @Mention on records to grab concerned people’s attention instantly “@Mentions have helped us reduce communication delays. Since we have enabled desktop notifications for @Mentions, the team member mentioned on a record sees notification instantly and is able to take quick actions.”

Company

Labstats provides cloud-based software solutions that help educational institutions track the usage of their technology assets. LabStats works with various schools and universities, setting up software solutions that help in spotting available computers in labs, identifying computers that need maintenance, knowing which applications are most used and which are under-used, and more.

Challenge

When LabStats started thirteen years ago, they developed a CRM system to manage sales process. However, as the business grew over the years, its needs grew increasingly complex. While the sales team needed a system to manage the sales process and customer accounts, the accounting team members needed a system to process sales orders and invoices. And because the sales and accounting teams worked closely, LabStats also needed an effective collaboration tool. LabStats wanted a CRM solution that could solve needs of different departments without duplicating customer data, but most of the CRM systems available solved just one or two of its many needs.

The Solution: Vtiger CRM

“Vtiger is the most integrated CRM system and has helped us accomplish all of our sales, customer support, and accounting goals”, says Christian Hayes, the CEO of LabStats.

“Vtiger was the most well balanced CRM system of all CRM systems we evaluated. Vtiger helps us manage clients and processes before, during, and after a sale. It’s an all in one solution” says Christian. LabStats evaluated more than 20 different CRM systems before selecting Vtiger. “Other CRMs we looked into required us to have 2 or even 3 separate solutions to keep with our sales, support, and accounting process. We even used Salesforce for a while but soon realized that it did not meet our business needs. Salesforce had too narrow a focus on the process of tracking a prospect to conversion and it required extensive customization to help us continue tracking a customer throughout their time with us.”

For Labstats team members, managing all customer related data in Vtiger not only saves time and effort but also eliminates miscommunication. “Our sales, support, accounting, and operations teams use Vtiger every day to get work done. And having one system ensures that all our customer related data is in one place – making sharing and searching for information quick and seamless. Since our employees don’t have to push or pull customer information or status from multiple systems there is no room for human errors.”

Vtiger’s customizations and automations have accelerated LabStat’s business process

Christian has automated tasks and notifications in Vtiger to help his team work efficiently. “Because Vtiger is easy to customize to our specific business needs, we streamlined our business process.” A prime example of improved efficiency comes from LabStats’ order creation and fulfillment department. “When an order is received and marked Approved, Vtiger creates a Case that has complete details of the order and customer and assigns it to the technical team for order fulfillment. Then when that Case is marked Resolved by the technical team, the Account Manager is notified to follow up with the customer to make sure they have everything they need.”

Vtiger’s customized workflows have also helped LabStats team stay notified on important issues. “We use customized workflows to trigger notifications when a condition is met. One example is to notify account managers if a customer fails to renew before their subscription date. Account managers receive renewal due notification at three points in time – 60 days before subscription expiry, 2 weeks before subscription expiry, and on the day of subscription expiry. These notifications help our account managers connect with customers who are due for renewal and understand if they have any issues in renewing or have any new requirements and forward those to the right team”

Vtiger has helped LabStats improve its customer renewal rate by 15% YOY

“We have configured Vtiger in such a way that it helps us pay the right attention to the right customer at the right time.” LabStats has a few unique customer facing processes in addition to the regular sales process. “We created a new module in Vtiger that helps our account managers know when to check in with customers, and track the completion of those check-ins. This saves account managers at least 30 minutes a day because they don’t have to comb through lists of accounts in order to decide whom to contact and when. Vtiger automatically creates new opportunities for account managers before a customer comes due for subscription renewal, allowing them to stay ahead of renewal dates and get quotes out on time to customers. Since we prefer personal touch, we don’t send automatic renewal reminders to customers. And because Vtiger captures all interactions that our customers have with their account managers, our sales associates can review those interactions to provide a better solution.”

Vtiger’s workflows and @mentions keep LabStat’s teams in perfect sync

“Before using Vtiger all our internal communications happened outside CRM. For instance, when sales associates wanted the accounting team to generate an invoice, the request and follow-ups would happen through exchange of emails. This was a time consuming process and induced unwanted delays. But now we have workflows that instantly notify concerned people on completion of tasks. Sales associates are notified when their customer’s support ticket is closed. The accounting team is notified when a deal is closed. Our accounting team processes an order at multiple stages and at each stage our technical team is notified to initiate order fulfillment. Once the order is fulfilled, the accounting team gets notified for invoicing the customer. This process of internal communication saves a significant amount of time which was otherwise spent on manual searching for information outside of CRM”.

LabStats team members use Vtiger’s @Mention on records to grab concerned people’s attention instantly “@Mentions have helped us reduce communication delays. Since we have enabled desktop notifications for @Mentions, the team member mentioned on a record sees notification instantly and is able to take quick actions.”