F&C Investments Capitalizes on Consona CRM Suite to Enhance Client Relationships and Realize New Sales Opportunities
Leading Global Investment Manager Captures and Employs Comprehensive Customer Information with End-to-End Consona CRM Solution
Indianapolis, IN (August 06, 2009) –
Consona Corporation (Consona), a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes, today announced that F&C Investments, an acknowledged world leader in global asset management for institutional and retail investors, has implemented a comprehensive CRM suite from Consona to achieve holistic business growth and improved customer satisfaction. F&C initially deployed the Consona Customer Management solution in 2000, which has evolved into the end-to-end suite of CRM functionality that now acts as the foundation of the company’s CRM initiative.
F&C Investments, which launched the UK’s first investment trust in 1868, now manages £98.6 billion of assets and is renowned for its promotion of best practice corporate governance and socially responsible investments. The company’s business strategy, which aims to deliver top performance in all company activities, relies on the building of lasting business partnerships with its clients, intermediaries and consultants. As a result, first-class CRM facilities are crucial to the company’s success, to encourage the growth and superior management of all its retail business relationships.
While F&C initially implemented its CRM solution from Consona specifically to track the flow of information to direct clients, the company gradually expanded the system to include interactions with intermediaries. Later, following a merger with ISIS Investment Management in 2005, the system was enhanced to encompass all pre-sales and marketing activities, including campaign management, segmentation, market analysis and targeting for all channels. “That was when we made the strategic decision to leverage the full potential of the Consona solution, greatly increasing its scope with the objective of using CRM to drive the business forward,” said Shelley Mussett, senior manager of information systems at F&C.
Since the full deployment of the solution, the Consona CRM suite has proved to be a powerful, flexible and scalable tool for empowering both the B2B and B2C sales teams, from the prospect phase through to the analysis of campaign efficacy. Sales staff across the organization benefit from the consistent repository of partner, customer and prospect information that is accessible from anywhere. The system is also set up to manage outsourced activities such as literature fulfillment, so that these activities are still coordinated by the CRM software, and F&C retains full control of the process.
According to Mussett, “Before the implementation of the Consona Customer Management solution, we had no way to relate our sales and marketing efforts to the results obtained. The detailed and accurate information provided by the system gives us deep insight into the effectiveness of our actions, which allows us to optimize our resources for the maximum benefit in terms of sales.”
Empowered by the Consona CRM solution, F&C has achieved the following major benefits:
* A greatly improved customer experience as a result of having a consistent view of its clients across all sales and service interactions;
* More cost-effective marketing campaigns through better targeting based on comprehensive tracking and analysis of client attributes and behavior; and
* Better monitoring of customer satisfaction levels, which drive business process improvement and consequently, service quality.
“The key measure of a CRM system is its ability to drive business and make a positive impact on the bottom line. Since the full deployment of Consona Customer Management, we have seen business growth, as well as kept up with the pace of volatile economic conditions,” said Mussett. “F&C’s customer service team has a consistent view of the client across all types of interactions, including outsourced services. The quality of this data and the benefit to our organization is nearly impossible to calculate.”
“F&C has truly embraced the potential of CRM to unlock the power of customer information across diverse departments and customer-related activities,” said Tom Millay, general manager of Consona CRM. “We are proud to support F&C in its dedicated CRM initiative, positioning the company for continued growth and accolades as a leader in the investment world.”
About F&C Investments:
F&C Asset Management (F&C) is a London Stock Exchange listed asset management group which traces its origins back to 1868 with the launch of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, the first ever publicly listed investment fund. Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust remains a client of F&C.
F&C is an active fund manager with a multi-specialist investment model where individual teams have strong accountability for their products and processes. The group is also an active shareholder with a leading franchise in governance and sustainable investment.
F&C now manages £92.7 billion (EUR101.1 billion) of assets* for a diverse range of institutional, insurance and retail clients across all major asset classes – equities, bonds, cash and property – as well as alternative and specialist product classes such as Socially Responsible Investment funds, hedge funds, private equity funds and Liability Driven Investments. F&C invests globally and has been a longstanding investor in emerging markets.
F&C REIT Asset Management is the group’s global property asset management business. It was formed in 2008 from the merger of F&C’s property division and REIT Asset Management. F&C REIT operates from offices in London, Dublin, Munich, Mumbai and Stockholm.
F&C manages assets principally from three investment centres: London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. The group has a global office network spanning a number of countries: China (Hong Kong), France (Paris), Germany (Frankfurt & Munich), India (Mumbai), Ireland (Dublin), The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Portugal (Lisbon), Sweden (Stockholm), Switzerland (Geneva), UK (London, Edinburgh, Dorking) and the United States (Boston).
In March 2009 F&C signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Hua Xia Bank, one of China’s twelve nationwide joint stock commercial banks, to establish a joint venture fund management company in China in which F&C will have a 19.5% interest.
* As at 31 March 2009.
About Consona Corporation:
Consona Corporation is a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes. Consona is dedicated to becoming a valued business partner by helping each and every customer continuously improve business processes over time. Toward this mission, Consona invests in the people, processes, technology and tools needed to provide its customers with a unique combination of customer care; product fit; a broad range of consulting, IT and business services; and industry expertise. Consona serves more than 4,500 customers worldwide and across a variety of industries. Battery Ventures VI LP and Thoma Bravo LLC jointly own Consona. For further information, visit www.consona.com, e-mail infoATconsona.com, or call (888) 8 CONSONA.
Source: Consona