Farm Credit Services of Missouri

Background:

Farm Credit Service of Missouri (FCSM) has been providing financial support and services to farmers, ranchers, and rural inhabitants since 1917. The Farm Credit system is a Government sponsored program offering assistance exclusively to those in agricultural development, or in very remote regions of the United States. The organization functions like many large financial services enterprises (excluding checking account systems) holding loan accounts in excess of $1.3 billion. The firm operates out of 29 offices, and maintains 185 employees.

Situation Analysis:

Two years ago FCSM went through a merger, during which time they experienced the overwhelming need for a contact management system that would facilitate systematic and time-efficient information allocation. Most importantly, in July 2001, the firm’s new loan officers mandated the need for a competent contact / sales management tool. The years prior to the merger, FCSM had attempted to use a contact management tool that is very well known. However, this tool was inefficient due to its inability to migrate and merge pertinent information with an increasingly important email system—a system the company relied on both to communicate and to function. Their database and information systems were functioning at an unacceptably low level.

FCSM employees were faced with the added tasks associated with researching, generating, maintaining, and following-up with established clients, as well as supporting all of these needs for ever crucial future prospects. The need for hands on, inter-personnel, customer knowledge was simply going unmet.

The Solution:

After several months spent researching nearly every contact management solution available, FCSM came across GroupLink’s ContactWise software solution. Upon discovering ContactWise, Dennis Risinger, CIO of FCSM, was able to easily install a demo program and immediately get a feel for the system. After the decision to buy had been reached, the process unfolded rapidly and installation began. “No sooner was the installation complete than we were loving the integration,” said Risinger. “The interface is so intuitive; my employees could figure it all out on their own. It was accepted right off the bat.” With the inherent ease of operation associated with GroupLink software solutions, Risinger and his limited IT staff of five were able to get an immediate feel for how ContactWise would increase the effectiveness of communication channels, and therefore generate a significant increase in business productivity on the whole.

Risinger was able capitalize on an established investment of either Novell GroupWise or Microsoft Outlook, while concurrently leveraging an existing operating system. The seamless integration of GroupLink’s ContactWise with existing infrastructure provided FCSM with a contact management system that enables its staff to handle contacts and clients with the care necessary in any successful business.

“The majority of feedback I receive from my staff is in regard to the just how easy it is to incorporate all aspects of contact management into one completely interactive and user-friendly package,” said Risinger. “We are particularly impressed with the capabilities to facilitate the mail, merge, documents, and labels instruments that have always been lacking within our previous system.”

“There are many new avenues open to us at this point that were not before we integrated to ContactWise,” said Risinger. “Our employees are encouraged and rewarded by our incentive programs. Be it new money growth and retention, operating cost efficiency, risk management, net operation rate, or corporate operation differential, our performance incentive structure will continue to be expanded through the implementation of GroupLink solutions.”

A recurrent theme among GroupLink customers is the company’s emphasis on customer care and satisfaction. The one-day, on-site installation by GroupLink’s installation personnel is as user-friendly as the solutions they provide. “GroupLink’s on-site sales work-force training was great. They had no trouble in walking us through each and every step. While the product itself was extremely intuitive, any gray area was met with care and concern. Each and every question, both in person and over the phone, was answered right away. We were pleased to have established such a positive relationship.”

Conclusion:

FCSM’s need for contact management was met by GroupLink through the seamless integration of ContactWise. Mishandled leads, misappropriated information, poor communication, and wasted time translate into poor customer care, inefficient time-allocation, and ultimately lost business. The ability to direct and maintain specific efforts through information sharing via email was a necessity for FCSM; this was easily met through the implementation of GroupLink’s ContactWise. Important contact information sharing, as well as company-wide employee time management is now a reality for Farm Credit Services of Missouri.

www.farmcreditofmissouri.com