Rapid development of a robust CRM strategy for Investment Managers and Financial Services firms

In order to assist firms that are looking for a fast and effective approach to accessing our expertise, we have devised a series of packages that are designed to build towards a successful business transformation and adoption of a CRM-enabled strategy.  Each of our CRM Accelerator stages develops the business and technology understanding of CRM capabilities to ensure a fully-tailored and focused strategy is defined.  One that meets the individual needs of your firm as the basis for business and technology change that fully embraces CRM as the new "business as usual".

Click on a link below to find out more about our packages:

• a fifteen page report on the Current state of CRM in Investment Management
• a fifteen day project to define business strategy and a CRM Accelerator
• a Distribution and Servicing strategic platform built on our Investment Relationship Management Suite

Our experience in defining, enabling and delivering CRM business and technology strategy over this period has developed unparalleled expertise in meeting sales, marketing and client servicing challenges.  Based upon an in-depth understanding of the Investment Management industry standards combined with comprehensive knowledge of CRM processes, data and reporting, we help firms take advantage of the technology solutions to develop new markets, increase profitability and maximise client retention.

We have devised an approach that is designed to allow firms to pick and choose depending on their stage of CRM development, but work towards our strategic vision of an Investment Management Distribution Platform.  A platform that integrates organisational, operational and technology capabilities to meet the strategic needs of Investment Management firms globally.

Our Current state of CRM in Investment Management report provides unparalleled insight into the drivers, requirements and usage of CRM across the Investment Management industry.  At fifteen pages long, it provides business and technology leaders an immediate step up to developing and managing a shared strategic platform.  Based upon research from the past 18 months, this report provides expert analysis on:

• what challenges and opportunities are firms meeting with a CRM-based strategy, and what does the business look like when it embraces the information, tools and processes
• how are firms developing their CRM capabilities beyond contact management to support sales, marketing and client servicing in new and existing markets
• who are the major CRM vendors in the UK and European marketplace, and where will the technology sit in the Investment Management and Financial Services operating model

The CRM Accelerator package is designed to quickly identify strategic business drivers and deliver a basis for developing the required CRM capabilities.  Over a few weeks, workshops and interviews form the basis of analysis for a fully-tailored Business Strategy and Potential Solutions package.  Our unique and specialised approach is based upon a number of value adding components:

• collected best practices from leading investment management firms covering business development, marketing and client management business disciplines
• template and proforma workshop materials and documentation that quickly capture and reflect business drivers, requirements and solution features to allow a fully-tailored service and outcomes
• industry-leading and independent analysis of the features and capabilities of the leading CRM solutions, resulting in a detailed evaluation of alignment with business drivers and requirements - a firm basis for further decision making

The emergence of CRM, Client Communications, Digital Marketing and other solutions has presented a new set of challenges to Investment Management and Financial Services firms.  These tools are able to dramatically improve the effectiveness of Distribution for these companies while introducing greater efficiencies.  However, while these technologies have developed businesses have yet to fully comprehend how orwhy they should be used.

The Investment Relationship Management Suite is the first platform to be developed solely with the needs of the Investment Management and Financial Services industry in mind.  Rather than a single software product, the platform integrates a series of leading tools to create a set of best-practice processes that quickly take firms to the next level of using web 2.0 technology to signficantly improve their Distribuion functions.

Utilising the integration power of cloud computing and based upon several years development, the Investment Relationship Management Suite enables firms to quickly ramp up capabilities in key areas, including the following:

Salesforce.com have provided a release preview and full notes for the Summer 09 release.  Some interesting points to note. Our views below, please feel free to comment and discuss if we’ve missed anything:

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It’s that time again.  saleforce.com have added the ‘Coming in Summer 09′ tag and we’re looking through for the features we want and wondering where the ones we really need have gone to - multiple contacts on a single event, need we say more.

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Following our survey earlier in the year, we prepared a thought leader presentation for a client.  The generic slides are in the presentation below.

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We’ve been running a survey on how Investment Management companies have been communicating with clients, distributors and markets during the past few months.  We had a good response* and the summary findings are:

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Please note - this survey is now closed.

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The business challenge

We’re undertaking a vendor selection for a client seeking a Marketing Automation and Email Marketing solution.  They want to introduce efficiencies into an already very busy Marketing department while improving the service that they provide to the wider Sales and Servicing communities.

Potential vendors

Based upon an initial criteria of integration with salesforce.com CRM, the shortlist comprises the following:

All of these vendors have some integration with salesforce.com and Investment Management experience.  However, this is a very immature software category in the Investment Management industry.  The salesforce.com integration is a key factor so there are no other vendors in play at present.  However as the industry and software matures, maybe there are some emerging solutions that need to be considered in future.

A wider net

So has anyone experience with other Marketing Automation vendors?  Are there some that don’t currently integrate with salesforce.com but are a strong enough proposition to be considered in isolation? We welcome all suggestions and comments.  In return, we’ll happily share our experience of Marketing Automation within the Investment Management industry with you.

Do you have a query about our company, services, projects or website?  We’d be more than happy to hear from you.

Please use the form below to send your query:

Identifying solutions to the key business and technology challenges   At Tomtom Consultants, we have extensive knowledge of vendors and products in the Sales, Marketing and Client Services area. Rather than provide a long list of all vendors that we’ve seen, heard of or encountered, we prefer to identify, understand and add value to partners that we see as market leading. . At Tomtom Consultants we maintain and monitor a full view of vendors, solutions and products. Whether a result of recent engagements or our regular market assessments, we can accelerate your understanding and identification of appropriate solutions in the marketplace.

► Client Communications and Reporting

► CRM and Salesforce Automation

► New Business and Proposal Management

► Marketing Automation

Client Communications and Reporting

	DeskNet Inc. is the leading provider of software solutions for Enterprise Customer Communications. DeskNet’s ContentWelder is a powerful and easy-to-use platform that has been used to deliver proven solutions in areas such as 1-to-1 customer communications and automated compliance workflow. .
	FundWorks is a specialist provider of client communications solutions for the investment community. FundWorks was founded in 2003 by a team of senior industry consultants and managers. FundWorks management team has over 9 years’ average experience in the asset management sector, previously holding senior positions in operations, sales and marketing, project management and IT. The company currently employs 40 staff and is headquartered in the City of London, with support and development offices in Glasgow and Nagpur, India.
	Client Reporting Software Specialists for Asset Management companies. Vermilion Software is an independent software house located in London, England. We are dedicated to developing business excellence through the continued development, implementation, training and support of the Vermilion Reporting Suite (a best of breed client reporting software solution) and Data-Gateway Service (a web-based data gateway / middleware solution) software products.

.CRM and Salesforce Automation

	Onyx Software Corporation is a worldwide leader in CRM, Customer Process and Customer Performance solutions for the enterprise. Onyx provides flexible CRM solutions that enable organizations to automate, manage, and evolve their customer processes quickly and cost-effectively for strategic advantage. By providing an integrated suite of customer process automation applications encompassing customer relationship management, process management, and analytics capabilities, Onyx enables enterprises to reduce costs, increase productivity and grow revenue.
	Pivotal CRM is the customer relationship management (CRM) product suite of CDC Software, The Customer-Driven Company. CDC Software is a provider of enterprise software applications designed to help organizations deliver a superior customer experience while increasing efficiencies and profitability. The CDC Software product suite includes Pivotal CRM (customer relationship management); c360 CRM add-on products, industry solutions, and development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform; Ross ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SCM (supply chain management); MVI real-time performance management; IMI warehouse management and order management; and Platinum China HR (human resource) and business analytics solutions.
	Salesforce.com is the worldwide leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) services. More companies trust their vital customer and sales data to salesforce.com than any other CRM company in the world.
	Satuit Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in On-Demand and On-Premise vertical market sales force automation (SFA) and client relationship management (CRM) solutions that are easy to implement and provide  clients with the precise tools they need to increase sales, better serve their clients, master information-intensive business relationships, and cut costs.

 New Business and Proposal Management

	Kadient helps you improve sales performance by arming your team with the content, messages, and strategies they need to win at every stage of your customers’ buying cycle. Using Kadient’s on-demand sales knowledge application, inciteKnowledge, sales people can sell on value, stand out from the crowd, provide sales coaching, and accelerate their sales cycle. Marketing teams gain more control and consistency in the messages delivered to the marketplace and have greater impact on revenue.
	Proposal Software is the world’s leading proposal technology company, offering support to the proposal professional with ‘best in class’ tools that reflect ‘best industry practices’. The driving force behind our organization is helping proposal professionals achieve superior work group productivity. The underlying architecture and search engine technologies of our solutions mirror today’s most advance database techniques, while Microsoft Office compatibility interfaces ensure immediate user orientation and acceptance.
	The Sant Corporation is a provider of proven software and expertise that improves sales effectiveness. We help companies who provide value-based solutions win more business by accelerating the production of persuasive proposals, RFP responses, presentations, and related documents. Businesses choose Sant to improve productivity, increase sales, and develop accurate, consistent sales documents for their customers.

Marketing Automation

	Eloqua gives you the power to create, execute and monitor powerful multi-channel, multi-touch demand generation campaigns. Automatically score and profile each lead. Deliver only qualified prospects to sales. Show marketing results and drive more revenue.
	ExactTarget offers financial service organisations a single user interface to define, modify, and send one-to-one communications in response to their constituents’ needs
	smartFOCUS DIGITAL, a leader in email and digital marketing, makes it easy to turn every online communication into a powerful business generation tool. Our on-demand software Email Reaction, enables marketers to more effectively deliver relevant personalised and timely communications that inspire customer relationships and improve results.