Miller puts faith in Microsoft CRM

Cramlington-based couplers and specialist attachments maker Miller UK expects to improve customer service and profitability by upgrading its ERP and implementing developer K3’s Smartvision CRM. The customer relationship management system will replace several separate systems and provide a single front-office database accessible across departments. It will, for example, improve interaction between sales, customer service and production planning. “If we are able to have better visibility of our sales, this will help us to reduce our lead-times,” says Jacqui Miller, the company’s UK sales and marketing director. “CRM will allow us to keep track of customer purchasing history and help us to identify where our products are currently being used. We run a number of sales initiatives for our customers, such as a product exchange scheme. By tracking customer purchases, we will be able to tailor our service offerings more closely.” Miller UK is also expanding its manufacturing operations in China and pushing sales into the US and Japan. Using its new web-based system, information will be disseminated around the business globally in real time. The new system will be deployed on a dedicated CRM server accessed by web browser and Microsoft Outlook. As part of the project, it will integrate with Microsoft Exchange so that inbound and outbound e-mail activities can be recorded in CRM.