When ClearTech Media, a 13-employee integration firm, decided to shift from its decades-old focus almost exclusively on project-based revenue and commit to providing managed services solutions, it needed a little help.
First it needed a key employee to over-see the transition, which it found in Adam Mejia (pictured above), client relationship manager.
Second, it needed a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) software solution that allows the firm to elevate its processes to the point where it deliver air-tight contracted services, which it found in ConnectWise.
[related]About a year from the moment the firm began researching CRM solutions, ClearTech president Christina De Bono says “now ConnectWise runs a large portion of our business.”
After Mejia worked with ConnectWise to set up the software, staff accountant Thuy To (left) assumed the task of making sure it’s fully implemented across all aspects of the company and embraced by employees. That part wasn’t hard, she insists, because “everyone was pretty enthusiastic.”
Still, it goes without saying that it can be time-consuming and high-risk for a company to invest and commit to new business software. As such, To walks through the impact that Connectwise business software has had on ClearTech:
Helps with Decision-Making
“It set a procedure in place that will really help us regulate what process works to resolve an issue or even to set up a system with accountability.”
Manages Tasks
“The software that we use is also a ticketing system for our maintenance/service department. That ticketing system keeps track and issues [tickets] to the appropriate person to resolve the issue. Rather than depending on email we have a central location where everyone can see the issue.”
Provides Project Transparency
“ConnectWise really shows you the grand plan of how things are done and what the processes are. Before we had our own procedure and responsibility in relation to a service ticket, but you wouldn’t see where it goes after it leaves your computer. Here in ConnectWise you get to see the mapping of it. You get to see where it goes, how it was resolved, where it came from.”
Employee Buy-In Is Self-Motivated
“We all understand that the more data you put into business software, the more you get out of it. The more data you have available to analyze it’s more collective. We pretty much share our information at a centralized location.”
Training Wasn’t Disruptive
“After [Mejia] did the initial setup of the software I came in during the implementation process and we had a representative from ConnectWise set up training. We had a meeting every other week for an hour or two. We took it one step at a time. We started with our sales people using the sales portion of it. Then we moved to the project and then to our service desk. We’re still working toward it.”
Impact on Project Efficiency
“We also use it on projects to log our time to understand true cost of a project. Before we had someone working on a project and they might not log a time. You don’t understand how much engineering time it really took, how much sales time, how much stock and admin time. Here, everyone logs in their time and you understand exactly what that cost is to complete it.”