Ad Victoriam Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a national customer satisfaction manager at Polyglass USA. We're a roofing manufacturer with five manufacturing plants across the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

We use a Salesforce platform, and we were looking to advance our database and our customer relationship management. We needed a vendor to help us develop a CRM and customize it to our needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We shared our vision with Ad Victoriam, and they built out a CRM for us. It's a community portal that is completely customizable for our customers and allows them to submit warranties. The portal also has a dashboard for our contractors where they can see all the data related to the warranties. Ad Victoriam built the CRM according to our requirements so that we can track the processes and our lead conversion rate. They also helped us launch the platform and continue to update it regularly.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with Jenny (Director, Solutions Delivery, Ad Victoriam Solutions) and Erin (Salesforce Analyst, Ad Victoriam Solutions).

How did you come to work with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

They were listed as a preferred vendor on a Salesforce website.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2016, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

All of our customers say that the community portal is more user-friendly, informative, and transparent than anything they've seen in our industry. The platform also offers a loyalty rewards program, which helped us attract new customers and close deals with them.

How did Ad Victoriam Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Ad Victoriam understood our business and our customers’ needs. They're very knowledgeable, so they were able to give us valuable recommendations about the process and the timeline. We have conference calls every week, and we use email to stay in touch in between the calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very organized, so they were able to keep us on track with the project despite some internal issues we were dealing with. They understood our goals and helped us accomplish them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They started growing rapidly just around the time we began working with them. We had some members on our team who were not entirely grasping everything that was going on with the project, but Ad Victoriam quickly noticed that and made changes, giving us all the resources we needed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that everyone on your team has signed off on the project. We had some issues with our day-to-day operators who weren't comfortable with the change, which slowed down the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the recovery program manager for a retailer that's primarily storefront and consumer based. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

We’d signed a contract with Salesforce and realized we didn’t have the experience necessary to successfully implement the CRM, so we needed a partner to help us. We later needed help with Marketing Cloud, as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began our partnership by working on our telesales campaign in our call center. Ad Victoriam Solutions helped set up everything from distributing incoming leads to dispositioning to page layouts and permissions. They integrated a reporting dashboard and did a full implementation for our sales team. After that, we implemented Service Cloud for our customer service department. They set up routing for cases, the layout, profiles, and permissions, etc.

We then transitioned over to the Marketing Cloud implementation. They helped integrate RingCentral, which is our computer telephony integration (CTI) that manages how call center callers and field reps make calls and send text messages. We wanted analytics and visibility for our call history, so integrating the CRM with the CTI via the app exchange was the best option. 

Other customizations included using Google Maps so that our callers can see where things are in relation to businesses or when giving directions to customers. Ad Victoriam Solutions also configured our old and new interfaces in different departments to ensure everything worked properly. 

What is the team composition? 

We typically worked with three or four people at any one time. We probably interfaced with about ten people in total, including their COO and president

How did you come to work with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

They were a recommendation. We were looking at the highest rated firms and asking around, and Ad Victoriam Solutions was mentioned numerous times.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $300,000–$350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from February–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The largest portion of the project was for telesales, but some internal changes made us not be able to use it. However, the work for our customer service team improved efficiency and customer experience. Our company has grown quite a bit since our partnership with them, and we’ve barely had to hire any new people because the system they put in place is so effective.

For analytics, we have more visibility into our sales and transactions, and we’re able to see who’s calling and access their account before we even say hello. They’ve improved our operating costs and enhanced the overall system and experience.

How did Ad Victoriam Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Quip to access the project plan and track the hours that were used and remaining. We had weekly calls and sometimes on-demand calls, and they were always accommodating. Whenever we issued a statement of work or discovery questions, they answered them quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a knowledgeable team that always seemed to have the answers to our questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We didn’t have a lot of insight into what was being built, but that was mainly our fault for not requesting the documentation.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have a strategy for what you want to accomplish; they excel at implementation but need some guidelines to optimize the relationship. If you know what you want to leverage the CRM for, they’ll help you get there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former executive director of operations for a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

I’ve worked with them at two companies. We’ve contracted them to do a full transition from Microsoft Dynamics to Salesforce, CRM sales forecasting, ERP integration, marketing automation, and product integration. For the purposes of this review, I will discuss a project that centered around staffing and third-party labor forecasting, in conjunction with ERP and APS integration with Salesforce.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a highly consultative relationship and built the whole platform from the ground up. We brought some of our business goals to them, including ways to automate processes that were strategic to our operations. Our aim was to convert a sales pipeline into a labor forecast, and we spent time walking them through our entire business flow. We presented our database and workflow design, and talked about how users would interact with the platform.

Most of our users are business developers who are selling long-term staffing services to third-party clients. They went through the sales cycle, specifications, and staffing solution design, and came up with a platform that could track relevant information and anticipate future labor demands and recruiting needs. Third-party analysts could then aggregate the data from the platform and build a pipeline to match the demand for resources.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager, two or three developers, and an administrator.

How did you come to work with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

I met them at my previous employer through our Salesforce account executive. We wanted a local, highly consultative partner who was willing to split the technical burdens. They offered a much more involved option than a lot of larger Salesforce providers, which was in line with what we wanted. They also offered fantastic scope and pricing options.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $40,000–$50,000 for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran March 2017–August 2017. They could have moved a lot faster, but we took a while to decide what we wanted.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Everything they've ever done for me came in under budget and within the original time estimates. They do a great job managing scope and cost. This particular structure didn't exist before we started, and they brought up important processes for us that we simply didn't have. This was a very successful collaboration, and 100% of our sales and labor forecasting now comes from that platform.

How did Ad Victoriam Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We spoke with our project manager every other day. Sometimes we would meet in person at our offices or theirs. We also used Trello to track the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their breadth of expertise across all aspects of the platform was impressive. They helped with high volume data, integrations, basic admin, and complex development. There were no areas that they couldn't handle, and they always supported us when we needed them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I've used them for three projects at two employers and can’t think of anything they should improve. They're consistently good, and are my go-to Salesforce integrator.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them differently than you would a big-box integration partner. Let them into your operational structures and allow them to advise you. They have a lot of expertise, and will recommend strategies to improve your business process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the senior system analyst and Salesforce administrator at Carauster. We’re a recycling company that purchases fiber to make paper, cartons, and tubes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ad Victoriam Solutions?

We were looking for a development team that could help us rebuild our Salesforce CRM. At the time, our Salesforce environment was a bit of a mess—we had recently purchased another company and merged their CRM with ours, which became difficult to manage. Ad Victoriam Solutions decluttered our system, automated processes, and installed a new Salesforce product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

In the beginning, Brian (CTO, Ad Victoriam Solutions) came on site and led discovery sessions to better understand what we wanted out of our CRM. He listened to our needs, making a point to explain the ramifications of our requirements so that we could make the best decision. Rather than having a different process for each of our divisions, Brian recommended a centralized process that would facilitate all four divisions.

His team then helped us streamline our Salesforce environment, cleaning up and building out automated processes. They also installed a custom Salesforce CPQ (Cost Price Quote) software for our carton division, which allowed us to provide estimates, quotes, and forecasts. To develop the solution, they brought in additional products from the AppExchange. 

Our Salesforce system went live in 2016, and they provided comprehensive software training for all of our employees to explain how everything worked. Since we had previously worked with a consulting firm to develop new procedures for our sales reps, Ad Victoriam made sure to implement those methods as part of the CRM.

What is the team composition?  

Natalie (Director of Client Insight & Strategy, Ad Victoriam Solutions) is our current main point of contact. She manages the account and keeps us up to date on our projects. If we have a problem or want to start a new project, we run things by her.

We also engage with Nancy (Analyst, Ad Victoriam Solutions) who is our project lead. She oversees all of the reps who work on our projects and communicates updates to Natalie. Over the years, we’ve worked with several reps and have been impressed with everyone. It’s a reliable process that works well for us. 

How did you come to work with Ad Victoriam Solutions? 

Our former VP in the carton division had researched numerous vendors before finding Ad Victoriam Solutions. They’d cultivated a positive reputation in the Salesforce development field, and it was reassuring to know that Salesforce thought highly of them. We also liked that they’re a local company.

How much have you invested with them? 

We spent between $10,000–$50,000 on this particular project.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with them in 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. For this project, they developed the CRM for an April 2016 relaunch and wrapped up some time in 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The new CRM is an integral part of our sales process, and we use it heavily to do reporting, track sales, and monitor business. It’s pretty reliable. If there are any crashes, we can always reach out to Natalie to troubleshoot. 

Recently, our CPQ product had an issue with some of the quotes and forecasting. They had assigned a specialist to resolve the error, but it was taking some time to get things to work. Once we spoke to Natalie, she provided a second specialist for support, and we were able to fix the problem within a few days.

How did Ad Victoriam Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m impressed with their project management skills. We have weekly calls to keep us up to speed on our current projects, and I can look at their Jira board to see what’s active. It’s a good system, and I’ve had no problems.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Ad Victoriam is diligent in training us and making sure that everyone understands how to execute processes. This is especially true for things that we’ll have to maintain later on. By walking us through the process and documenting everything, they’ve made us more self-reliant. That way, we don’t have to go back to them for minor problems.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, I haven’t had any issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

On any project like this, come into the discussion with well-documented business processes. We spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to translate what we call tribal knowledge. That is to say, we knew the information in our head but had a hard time explaining it to Ad Victoriam Solution’s team because we used terms and phrases that they weren’t familiar with and vice versa. This isn’t a detriment on either of our parts, but having documentation and flowcharts that could present that information in another way would have facilitated the process.

It’s also important to include the end users in the development process, not just upper-level management. A manager might think that a process should go a certain way, but an end user may have shortcuts that are more indicative of what’s actually going on. They’re able to provide useful insight because they use the tools on a daily basis as part of their core role.