General Manager Kiwi Finance
www.kiwifinance.ro

Founded in 2003 under the name Gemini Capital Consult, Kiwi Finance is the leader of the Romanian banking brokerage market.
Kiwi Finance’s activity focuses on three main business lines: individuals’ loan consultancy, corporate loan consultancy and legal consultancy.
Among the financial services provided by Kiwi Finance we find: clients’ situation and financial needs analysis, optimal financing solution identification, credit application processing, consultancy, monitoring and assistance in the approval flow and assistance until the contract is signed and the cash disbursed. The company provides personalized solutions to its clients, according to the needs of every customer. Kiwi Finance consultants’ goal is to understand each situation and to provide the best possible option.
The company is partner with 19 Romanian financial institutions. The partnership’s structure is dynamic and our strategy is to provide in real time a product portfolio that covers all the major market’s aspects regarding incomes, risk assumption, costs, flexibility and complexity.
Kiwi Finance has 9 subsidiaries in Romania: Bucharest, Timisoara, Constanta, Ploiesti, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Campina, Slatina. From it’s beginning in 2003 up until today we have intermediate over 420 million euro in loans, for more than 65.000 clients.
 

In March 2008 AnytimeCRM became Kiwi Finance’s main IT system. How did you discover the need to implement a CRM solution? What is Anytime used for?

Today the quality of service makes the difference between success and survival. In any customer oriented company the sales and processes efficiency, doubled by a CRM, are a must, not an option.

The efficiency of a CRM tool is given by the way it is used and choosing a CRM software is an important decision for companies. It is based on the understanding of how the data is captured, managed and accessed in a database and on the efforts to fully use the information and functionalities the system provides. Here the users' training plays an important role, as well as the way they proactively manage the client database and the existing information, in order to provide personalized and post-sale solutions and the way of generating and using reports for segmenting and optimizing sales activity. In this situation, the users’ technical skills are not that important.
Some of the key benefits of a CRM system are:
• providing the sales force with support and information about market, partners and clients;
• provides information and historical series for analysis and statistic purpose used for cross-sell and up-sell.
• the planning and personalization of client services
• control over the sales process on various  channels;
• provides information about the operational flow and the history of client’s credit application
• automation of the sales and support processes provides for top-management support in generating reports, forecasts and  budgets
• helps to identify the profitability for products, services and employees
• in and out incentives automation

What are the immediate benefits you were looking to accomplish by implementing AnytimeCRM?

One important benefit is the user specialization in efficient, consistent, coherent and unitary work with all the information Kiwi Finance gathered in 5 years of activity.
The immediate sales benefits are:
-planning to identify and enter on various market segments
-personalized communication with existing and potential customers
-efficiency in accessing the right solution, by eliminating hazard and long time unsuccessful attempts
-activities for clients retention
-computing the synthetic and analytic value of clients portfolio

How long took to implement the system? How was your collaboration with Advantage Software Factory?

The implementing period took for 6 months.
ASF’s communication skills and excellent business understanding lead to a CRM customization according to our requirements and the expected result.

How the stakeholders did receive this solution? I would include here the management and the users.

Some statistics say that 90% from CRM systems fail at implementing due to the general change resistance and users misunderstanding. A CRM can be considered successfully implemented when at least 80% of its functions are used by stakeholders. After 9 months, we consider the implementation a success, because we had the understanding, commitment and focus the efforts from the whole users: sales, back office, marketing, human resources, IT, management.

At 9 months from production start, what did you see as clear benefits Kiwi Finance gained?

The integration of the processing activity in the CRM raised the processing team efficiency and allowed us to monitor both the Kiwi Finance network teams’ activity   and the partnership evolution with financial institutes from our portfolio.
The response time and tracking of the credit applications is now measureable and controllable, and the management of the portfolio and clients’ history increased the efficiency and activity planning for the sales force. 

Why did you choose AnytimeSales module from AnytimeCRM?

A must have criteria in choosing a CRM system is the ability of the implementing team to understand the business specifics. ASF proved from the very beginning its expertise in the financial area and especially in financial brokerage area. Another factor is the system’s flexibility and scalability for next updates on company’s objectives, business lines and strategies.

What are your future plans regarding AnytimeCRM extending to other departments?

In future we see the need to extend the system in the front end area. This extension will have as main engine a tool for running the financial algorithms used by our financial partners in segmenting and qualifying the clients.

Interview with Dragos Dragoteanu, Manager Euroest Invest,
Certified International Property Management Specialist

Founded in 1994, Euroest is a Romanian private company, providing complete real estate services, transactions and consultancy, marketing and advertising and authorized valuations.

Euroest has branches in Bucharest, Ilfov, Valea Prahovei, Brasov and Constanta. The main services we provide are: promotion and selling of exclusive real estate projects, land sales, sale  / rent of apartments, offices, commercial and industrial areas.

Euroest is ANEVAR accredited and has EPI specialized personnel. It provides authorized evaluation services for individuals, companies and government institutions. Euroest’s clients benefit of the concept “one stop shopping” by receiving full real estate services from a single company.

In November 2008 AnytimeCRM became the Euroest’s main IT system. How did you discover the need to implement a CRM solution? What is Anytime used for?

Once with the real estate crash, the sales representatives efficiency must be maximized trough flawless organization and close monitoring. AnytimeCRM software it’s a perfect match with my management style.

What are the immediate benefits you were looking to accomplish by implementing AnytimeCRM?

First of all, a CRM system structures in a professional way all client’s information. On short term, I have intended to provide the employees with a good understanding of the help that AnytimeCRM provides. On medium and long term, my interest is to build the best real estates sales team in Romania, due to the very strong competition from this domain. I am convinced that in maximum 6 months all Euroest’s employees will find in this new way of doing things a real support and the system will be used at it’s full potential.

How long took to implement the system? How was your collaboration with Advantage Software Factory?

The implementation was really difficult because at the beginning we wanted to input in detail all the features we would benefit from. Even we believed we will finish the project in 3 month, it lasted double. I don’t feel sorry, I even am glad because in 6 months my sales team and I, we successfully identified at least 90% of problems we struggled with and we found solutions to all of them.

How did the stakeholders receive this solution? I would include here the management and the users.

In my company I made key decisions, but, obviously, I consulted all my employees and collaborators and together we found the need to modify our way of work in order to become more performant. In the end all my colleges, even the skeptics have admitted that this new strategy is something that works for their own benefit.

Since the production start, what did you see as clear benefits Euroest gained?

There are 3 clear benefits resulting from AnytimeCRM usage:
a. Monitoring the sales representatives’ activities relating to all the clients they contact.
b. Constantly checking each sales representative’s activity.
c. Maintaining and rising the company’s professionalism level, as a must have condition for remaining in top 3 real estate Romanian companies.

Why did you choose AnytimeSales module from AnytimeCRM?

We previously tried other systems before AnytimeCRM, but all proved to be incomplete or incoherent. Basically we benefited from a few services, but we couldn’t get in sync with other types of actions needed our activities. The new software has the big advantage in functioning as a complete compatible system with other active promotional tools from real estates. That determined me to make this long term investment and I am sure I wouldn’t regret it.

What are your future plans regarding AnytimeCRM extending to other departments?

Regarding the economical perspective that will manifest in all the area in the next years, the need to extend the system to all Euroest’s departments and subsidiaries is imminent. Without being an IT specialist, I realized that without technology in this domain (Real Estate) I will not reach my objectives and I would not be able to advance any further.

This software is well structured and can be quickly adapted  to new business situations. This provides me the comfort to benefit anytime from any changes, in real time.

Marian Stirbescu
Marketing & Sales Manager – Advantage Software Factory

4th July 2008 – Advantage Software Factory (ASF) has released AnytimeCRM 4.0.
Available 3 months earlier than the initial planning, the new version brings new modules and superior versions of the existing functionalities.

AnytimeCRM is a CRM system that helps Customer Support and Sales departments to achieve excellence in client interaction, at all the touch points, while cutting down operational costs.

Through this integration AnytimeCRM is offering exceptional opportunities to acquire new clients and it proves to be an excellent solution for managing the existent client portfolio. AnytimeCRM can be easily integrated with legacy systems using standard interfaces.

AnytimeCRM has been chosen as the solution for customer relationship management by: ICG, CBRE Eurisko, CENTURY 21, KIWI Finance, EOS KSI, Danubius Exim, Business Results.

The new version continue the ASF’s vision to provide quality software for companies, allowing them to better serve their customers.

Diana has joined the Achieve Global team in 2004 as a trainer, after working for several years in training & management for one of the biggest telecommunications company in Romania.

After having accepted the challenge of being a sales person with Achieve Global, today Diana coordinates the Achieve Global activity, her main objects being strategy definition and implementation.