Challenge

• Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana—the largest dental benefits carrier in the Midwest—required a CRM system to manage its pre- and post-sales efforts targeted at employer groups.
• Previously reps used individual Microsoft Excel and Access documents to manage $1.2 billion in sales, making the creation of a verified view a manual process.
• Delta Dental had allocated IT resources to another large-scale project and could not spare them for a lengthy, complex CRM implementation.
• The company wanted an easy-to-use, customizable system that would accommodate integration and unify disparate business groups for universal information access.

Solution

• After selecting Salesforce CRM over SalesLogix, NetSuite, Siebel On Demand, and other CRM contenders, Delta Dental deployed Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition to 80 people in 13 weeks.
• Salesforce.com Consulting brought CRM expertise to the implementation process. 
• Dashboards give managers visibility into sales activities, win/loss ratios, new products, and top performers.
• Based on information in Salesforce CRM, semi-monthly reports provide an overview of the entire business.
• Custom fields and custom-built apps such as Quotes/RFPs and Zip Codes add tailored functionality to Salesforce CRM.
• To drive user adoption, the company requires that sales reps input all information into Salesforce CRM to receive a quote.
• From AppExchange, Delta Dental installed dashboards to track sales activities.

Results

• Comprehensive reports encompass all sales activities and histories for more accurate forecasting.
• Quicker access to data with streamlined processes drive consistency companywide, accelerating the sales cycle.
• Salesforce CRM's cloud-computing model eliminated the need to shift IT resources away from a large-scale project.
• With information unified in one system, executives gain greater insight into business activities and performance for more effective decision-making.
• Easy customization allows the company to seamlessly adjust to business growth.
• Integration capabilities will accommodate the future assimilation of a claims processing system and a ratings application system for underwriters.