Cape Town-based AGS Solar has implemented Sage CRM to support its growth and extend its leadership of the market. The company selected AWCape to supply, design and implement the solution in a hosted virtual server environment.

A member of the 30-year old Saban group of companies, AGS Solar delivers solar water heating solutions to the commercial, industrial and residential sectors. The company sets itself with a wide range of leading global solutions, including an exclusive relationship with Chromagen, the world's leading solar water heating brand.

The company decided to implement a CRM solution because the growth of its business meant it was no longer efficient or practical to manage incoming inquiries manually or to keep track of customers and prospects in an Excel database. AGS Solar implemented Sage CRM in October 2014.

The hosted virtual server solution frees AGS Solar of the burden of having to maintain an in-house server and taking care of backups and technical issues. The solution was designed to meet the following requirements for AGS Solar:

* Simplicity and increased business efficiency.

* Better availability of information, leading to improved customer service and retention.

* Better targeting of marketing activity and improved visibility of selling opportunities to the various AGS Solar sales team members.

* Faster deal closing.

* Improved order tracking & management

Says AWCape's managing director, Henri Hattingh: "Sage CRM's sales and support benefits in today's challenging economic environment cannot be overstated. It can cost four times more to win a new customer than it does it to retain an existing one.

"Sales and marketing teams are not the only ones to benefit directly from CRM deployments, as business processes should also see improvements. CRM reduces duplication and wastage of time across the company through centralisation of customer information".

Adds Ori Saban, managing director of AGS Solar: "We expect to see improvements in the quality of information available for strategic management decision making. We are also looking forward to the benefits that superior forecasting will have on the cash flow of the company."

"We could install and deploy an opportunity workflow within a few days from installing the software, as Sage CRM comes standard with a number of basic workflows," says Ruan de Bruyn, systems engineer at AWCape. "Other features included in standard Sage CRM are sales force automation, call centre and marketing automation."

"It was wonderful to travel to Europe last week and be able to log into our CRM from anywhere in the world," says Saban. "Sage CRM's mobile integration and the number of apps available for various mobile devices are of particular value to our roaming sales force. The hosted virtual server from AWCape makes CRM simpler and very cost effective at less than R2,000 per month, including the daily on-line backup service."

"Companies need a CRM solution that offers the best value without comprising on features or functionality. The total cost of ownership and the ability to grow and expand with their business are often key considerations," says Jeremy Waterman, Managing Director of Sage ERP Africa. "By supporting hosted and cloud solutions, we make enterprise-class CRM affordable to mid-range customers."