To help companies hire, develop and keep talent: here is the mission of Fœderis, an HRIS (Human Resources Information System) long-time expert software publisher in several fields of activities. A little over a year ago, the company decided to add new sales and expense report modules to be interfaced with Salesforcm CRM system. Audrey Guérin, billing and audit management specialist of the project, is sharing her experience with us.
Why did Fœderis need an ERP solution as well as a CRM system?
We had initially developed internal tools to manage our prospects and customers: sales, invoicing... But with the evolution of the company and the law, these "homemade" tools quickly became limited, and to keep them afloat, we needed to update them. The problem was that when it comes to tools that are 100% customised, it can quickly become very complicated to actually do so!
Eventually, management was asked to help us, and we began our search for a tool. Before that, our new sales director had already initiated a project to set up a CRM system. So we had to launch two projects at the same time: the CRM project with Salesforce, and the ERP project with Akuiteo - only for the sales and expense reports.
Why did you choose Akuiteo?
To choose our editor-integrator, we drew up a set of specifications and researched to find a service provider who would be able to support us specifically for the sales and expense report modules, but with a global vision of the technology. The choice range was fairly limited: with either very simple tools, or other without the modular approach incorporated. That’s why the Akuiteo solution easily became the one!
How was the Akuiteo deployment with Salesforce?
We started working with Akuiteo in early 2019, and the deployment took place in July. It may seem long at first glance, but the implementation was complicated, with a very small team... It’s not easy to manage everything at the same time! We ensured a module-by-module deployment with sales first, and then the expense reports.
Between April and October 2019, we made progress on both projects with the sales director in charge of the CRM part while I was in charge of the sales part. The invoicing/sales part took a lot of time because of significant data recovery being, while the prospecting part was quickly done. Once the two tools were in place, they needed to be able to communicate with each other, which required Akuiteo modules to be linked to Salesforce’s system.
Now that it’s done, how is it working, what do you make of the results?
Well, Salesforce manages the entire pre-sales process, from the prospects to the transformation into a customer, i.e. the contract signature. The follow-up of contracts is therefore done via Salesforce, with a validation system. Thanks to the interfaces put in place, management automatically switches to Akuiteo once contracts have been validated and signed. This automatic synchronisation avoids retyping and make up for a huge time saving. I'm very satisfied, especially with the reporting and follow-up part, which really eases our day-to-day life!
Akuiteo's sales and expense modules were successfully interfaced with Salesforce CRM. A particular issue that can make deployment difficult but is far from being mission impossible! If you wish to go further in your research, discover the experience feedback from another editor-integrator in ERP deployment!
Thank you to Audrey Guérin for having shared her experience with us.
