In last week’s post, we provided the background on a challenge presented by one of our clients, a leading pharmaceutical company who wanted to realize its goal of Email Management Service (EMS) capability driven by Microsoft Office 365 and the Pivotal 6.0 CRM. The challenge of course was that Pivotal EMS was not compatible with Office 365, and had no clear timeline by which that integration would be natively possible.
Tokara’s team of seasoned CRM engineers, led by Director of System Engineering Hector Santos, quickly went to work researching a solution that would allow the required integration. After significant research and testing, Santos selected an open-source, multi-platform third-party application that provides Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) tunneling services. The application was configured to allow SSL connections and tunnels to Office 365 from the Pivotal CRM application, allowing the customer to successfully implement EMS.
This innovative solution is now serving as functional stop-gap while back-end development continues on a more permanent integration approach. Perhaps as importantly, it clearly demonstrates that ‘no’ is not an option for Tokara engineers facing challenges on the client’s behalf — and it is this tangible ‘going the extra mile’ that has earned us the reputation of being a true partner.
Says Tokara’s Hector Santos, “Developing an innovative and practical solution that could sustain business growth and expanding needs required not only our functional knowledge of CRM, but also a deep understanding of how CRM works for this particular customer, in their specific industry position, for their specific EMS objectives. The key to customer satisfaction, in this case and every case, is personalization through partnership, and thinking outside the box to design an approach that not only maximizes CRM investment, but encourages its use with other, existing software and applications, for a unified solution tailored to each customer, every time.”
While it may not have been the original plan, this temporary solution has enabled the company to move forward, increasing employee productivity, and reducing downtime. The innovative and timely approach has not only saved the customer valuable time and resources, it has also helped them maximize their CRM investment by ensuring their programs work together to achieve their overall business goals.
Says Shawn Grant, President of Tokara Solutions, “On average, our consultants have about 15 years of CRM experience each, alongside more than 50 successful implementations to their credit. And while this technical capability is a huge part of our success, it’s not the only factor. Tokara was founded more than 6 years ago to redefine this landscape and demonstrate a new breed of CRM consultant. We act as partners and trusted advisors to our clients, ensuring they see the business results they need from their technology investments. That is, and will remain, our only measure of success – and stories like this one just underscore how committed we all are to this goal.”
If you’d like greater detail on the performance benefits Tokara clients are seeing from our technical expertise and partnerships, we’d love to speak to you. In the meantime, to learn more about how our seasoned CRM consultants can deliver this functionality to your business, please contact any member of our consulting team at [email protected]. We also encourage you to contact Tokara’s VP of Business Development, Mark Fillingim, directly at +1 972-719-0213.