Amstore is a leading Digital Media production company, servicing the corporate and entertainment markets. Amstore has evolved from a commodity manufacturer to a creative production agency with clients, re-sellers, and suppliers around the world. Amstore is also a versatile company with the ability to add new products to its product range which empowers them to continue to grow in their market sector.
Growing Pains
With ambitious growth plans, Amstore quickly realised that they would need a new CRM system. They were previously using Sage SalesLogix and with no easy way to change or adapt the system, Amstore were looking for a CRM that could help them to grow. Amstore’s Director Marcelo Bustamante said “Sage served us well for the time that we used the system. The pain areas were linked to the fact that it couldn’t be adjusted to meet our needs in a cost effective or time efficient way, so we made the decision to look for a new vendor”. Amstore also faced difficulty reporting. Marcelo explained, “Reporting was difficult in Crystal Reports. It is key for any business to have clear visibility of how the company is performing and it was very time-consuming and challenging for us to pull this kind of information.”
Specific requirements
Due to the nature of Amstore’s business, the company needed a CRM system to manage every single part of their business, from the sales team to the accounts department, through to the artwork and finance departments. It needed the full spectrum of CRM and SOP functionality, as well as being effective and easy to use. Amstore found Workbooks through a Google search and they were immediately impressed with the offering.
“We were instantly attracted to Workbooks. Not only did it offer easy integration without a large setup fee, but the pricing was also very reasonable and the amount of support and training, both online and in person, was very appealing,” explains Marcelo Bustamente. “We were also eager to migrate to a cloud-based system and we felt it was comforting that it was a UK-based vendor.”
Up and Running in no time
Amstore sent three members of staff to the two day training session and Marcelo felt that this was pivotal in taking them from novices to competent users.
“By the time we had finished the training, we were eager to get a live system and were excited to start moulding the system to meet our requirements. Workbooks really suited our needs as we are able to customise it. It’s comforting to know we can open up the bonnet of our CRM system and adjust and improve it as we see fit. And the speed at which changes can be made is amazing,” says Marcelo.
Feeling the results
Amstore could immediately feel tangible benefits. For instance, they have many different websites offering a wide range of products and services. The web-to-lead functionality in Workbooks has enabled Amstore to set up an enquiry form that sends contact details directly to their Workbooks CRM system, saving the Amstore employees the manual hardship of having to enter these details into the system every time they receive an enquiry. Marcelo explained, “The web-to-lead functionality is a real benefit for us. It saves at least 10-15 minutes of admin time, several times a day, spread over several people. That is quite a lot of saved minutes per day / week / month / year, and certainly frees up my sales team to spend more time selling and speaking to customers.”
Reporting
Another feature that has saved the Amstore team a lot of man-hours is the Workbooks reporting engine. Marcelo commented,“It is hard to imagine a day without it. It is so easy to run a report and have visibility of any area of your business.”