International IT equipment distributor and manufacturer of its own line of servers and data storage systems, ITPOD, has automated its commercial and marketing processes using SimpleOne B2B CRM. The project impacted more than 20 company employees and over 100 partners in 4 countries.
About ITPOD
ITPOD is a distributor of IT solutions, providing both its own solutions for building IT infrastructure and those created in collaboration with technology partners.
Currently, ITPOD has more than 150 partners and 1500 deals with major B2B clients, as well as its own technical laboratory for performance testing and compatibility checks of hardware and software products. The deal cycle for selling IT solutions takes from 3 to 12 months, requiring careful planning and control.
The equipment offered by ITPOD has stood the test of time and industrial operation in data centers around the world, including Tier III level facilities. Besides organizing the supply of IT solutions, ITPOD specialists also handle the technical maintenance of new equipment and equipment from discontinued vendors.
Why CRM Was Needed
The old system used by the company did not meet all of ITPOD’s needs for sales automation:
- It lacked functionality, requiring modifications that took a lot of time;
- Due to modifications, the system lost performance and worked less stably;
- Sales processes were poorly structured;
- There was no capability for analyzing partner performance;
- The integration of sales with marketing was limited.
To build effective business processes in sales, ITPOD decided to choose a new system.
Choosing a Solution
It was necessary to choose a solution that covered all the main tasks of the company in terms of partner sales, deal data analytics, and marketing management. The company had a number of requirements for the new system:
- Specialization of the system in consultative sales in the B2B segment;
- Low-code/no-code technologies for quick functionality modifications and system customization to the company’s needs;
- Performance and stability;
- Opportunities for integrating sales with corporate marketing;
- Comprehensive analytics and data visualization;
- Tools for managing certification of specialists, partners, and clients.
The company considered the largest players in the CRM automation systems market for B2B and eventually chose SimpleOne B2B CRM — a solution that ensures comprehensive support for all business processes related to deal and marketing management. This solution helped the company not only increase the volume of partner sales but also significantly improve the efficiency of marketing activities.
SimpleOne B2B CRM
The B2B CRM product is developed on the low-code platform SimpleOne, which allows quick implementation of customizations aligned with customer processes. The system’s functionality is specifically designed for the B2B segment, enabling managers to work in CRM in accordance with complex sales methodologies.
SimpleOne B2B CRM allowed ITPOD to automate critical business processes:
Sales through partners:
- Management of partner funnels and programs.
- Registration and support of deals through partners.
Analytics:
- Quick generation of reports and interactive dashboards.
Marketing:
- Content analytics and its impact on deals.
- Automation of feedback transmission for adjusting marketing strategies.
Creating and using content:
- Automatic delivery of relevant content to sales managers in the context of a specific deal.
- Analysis of content effectiveness and feedback collection.
“For a CRM to be truly convenient, it needs to be easily customizable. Tasks vary, so sometimes there’s a need to add a new field to a card that will seamlessly sync with other data. Configuring the needed fields in SimpleOne CRM can be done in just a couple of days — no need to rewrite the code extensively and involve developers; everything can be done in-house,”
— comments Alexey Lyubimov, Commercial Director of ITPOD.
Implementation of CRM (Project Progress)
ITPOD began using SimpleOne B2B CRM in May 2023 — the implementation took 2 weeks, and a complete data migration from the previous system was carried out, including more than 3200 records of clients and deals. The short timeframe was achieved because the out-of-the-box CRM had most of the needed functionality.
Result: +80% in Partner Sales Volume
After a year of usage, ITPOD notes a positive effect from working with SimpleOne B2B CRM:
| Metric | Change |
|---|---|
| Deal registration time | From 3 working days to 1 working day |
| Partner satisfaction index | +43% |
| Partner sales volume | +80% |
| Number of registered projects | +50% |
| Project discount approval time | From 2 working days to 1 day |
| Marketing campaign efficiency (ROI) | +35% |
Prospects
ITPOD is looking forward to the release of a new expanded product for vendors from SimpleOne — the VCSM (Vendor Customer Service Management) solution, which will allow for complete automation of partner sales. The system will integrate not only marketing and sales processes but also end-customer support processes.
With VCSM, the vendor will receive full information about their products and installations, and partners will be able to see information about end customers. The solution will further automate interaction with partners and provide more data on product consumers.
