Fulcrum Collaborations

BACKGROUND

Please provide a brief description of what your company does for some background information

I currently work for a full-service property and facilities management company and I am currently responsible for financial institutes that handle our properties in the mid-Atlantic.

What’s your position exactly?

Regional Director.

And what’s your role as a regional director?

I am responsible for a team of approximately sixty people across five states for management of the physical facilities where the bank operates. We manage contracts, services, and all changes. We take care of anything that the bank’s doing within the facilities that are housed. This includes both branch, high rise, and mid-rise facilities. It also includes operation centers and data centers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company’s business goals or reasons for undertaking the project that you did with Fulcrum?

At the time, I didn’t work for this company. I worked for a different company but it was very similar work under a contract that I was the Account Director for. And Fulcrum was utilized by us to provide real time data for our critical data centers because at that location.

Our bank has many critical data centers that require consistent reporting processes across all the management companies. At the time, I worked for a Facilities Services company and we managed about 7 million square feet of the portfolio. Other companies similar to us did the same work for other areas. We were looking for someone who could allow us to have a common platform real time data and be able to have a user friendly, easy interface that we could go in and out and be able to get information about the facilities at any time.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Fulcrum?

It came down to experience. They had worked with us in various capacities. Their President, Michael,  was someone we know through the acquisition and working on that particular location. We did interview other companies but Michael understood the project. We did have other companies that looked at the process and the bank had proprietary ways of handling this information as well. But using Fulcrum again through the Salesforce cloud process seemed like the simplest, most direct way for us to all communicate between the other companies. The price was good too.

Can you tell me more about the scope of the project? Did it include the design, the development and support and did you in-house any aspects of it yourself?

In-house to the bank, yes. The bank did. We did not. But the bank was the one that was really driving a lot of the way they wanted the project to look and the rate of speed at which it happened because they were funding this. So working in conjunction with not only the corporate real estate but their IT people was important. We were working side- by-side with Fulcrum to make sure that we were getting the facilities in there correctly. We were making sure that we got the support that we needed. We had to get the financial part right while making sure that we had the cloud piece through the access that we needed. So it was really a combined effort.

Are they still doing support work for you?

They’re not for that specific account although I’m trying to get them to do so. In fact, there’s a meeting that’s planned soon. But they definitely are with my account in a larger capacity than previously.

Do you remember any of the technologies that you used at all?

No. Again I’m not an IT person. I’m a real estate person.

No I completely understand. That’s fine. Can you give me a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms?

I don’t really think I should.

No it’s fine. You can provide a range if you’d like.

It was hundreds of thousands of dollars but I don’t think I can provide a range.

How recently was the Bank project finished?

They’re still working with them and creating projects. I met with Fulcrum just last week and talked about the fact that they could possibly do business on this account that I’m on at some point. I was told by Michael that they are continuing to grow that business and have a new project that they're waiting for approval on any day now. It’s been two years since I’ve been connected as the person that could really be a decision maker there. But it’s continuing to grow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are some of the results of the project? if you have any statistics or metrics, I’d love to hear them.

There is definitely improvement and efficiency, easier to use. We have users form all skill levels using it from tech people to completely non-technical people. So we had a wide range of people to train and have a lot of different skill sets and users. The top result, was that it became easier and more flexible to train for and be able to use the platforms that were developed.

Developing on Salesforce, do you still feel that’s the right decision made?

Yes, absolutely. I was a decision maker in getting this in front of the bank and I still feel like it was the right thing to do.

How did Fulcrum perform? Do you feel like they covered the agreed upon goals, deliverables and agreed upon schedule and even budget?

Yes, absolutely.

Did you want to expand about their performance, how you felt about it?

I feel like it was a great program. They’re easy to work with. They came in on budget. Fulcrum continues to provide new ideas and always takes it to the next step when they see what the customer needs. We enjoy a very positive relationship from what I recall and I’d work with Fulcrum again.

Looking back is there anything unique or special about them that you identified that maybe you don’t feel like you could have found in another company?

I think probably just the personal interest in what someone really needs. It’s not all about sales. It’s about making sure that there’s a relationship there.

Looking back was there anything that you wish they could’ve done differently or could’ve improved upon?

Probably just trying to get the buy-in of a large bank sooner is the only possible improvement. I don’t think that there’s anything that Fulcrum could’ve done about that. It’s just the way the banks work. You’ve got to find the right decision makers, the right champions of any project and that just takes a long time. I don’t know that that’s even reflective on Fulcrum.

And do you have anything else you’d like to add about your experience with Fulcrum?

Sure, they are just a very professional group. For finding their niche and having to compete with huge companies, I think they’ve done very well and I see them continuing to grow.