Situation
ALMAG Aluminum is a leading manufacturer that designs, extrudes, fabricates, and finishes custom aluminum parts for a variety of industries. In 2007, ALMAG decided to implement Salesforce with the help of Focus. Focus completed an initial implementation including design, build, data migration, and training.
Focus took the ongoing monthly responsibility for continuously improving Salesforce. This included rolling out new features and apps, support and training for new and existing users, reporting, driving and motivating usage, and management reviews.
Problem
By 2010, ALMAG’s sales, marketing, and customer teams were using and valuing Salesforce as their everyday tool and had upgraded to Outlook 2010.
Salesforce did not offer a plugin to support Outlook 2010 at the time. All ALMAG staff were using Outlook 2010 while only the sales and marketing teams used Salesforce. Users needed a tool that would allow them to live in both Salesforce and Outlook seamlessly. The teams found themselves at a crossroads to either downgrade their version of Outlook or look for an integration app. Time and momentum were being lost, and users needed a way to sync between Outlook and Salesforce.
Solution
After evaluating several different solution providers, Focus selected LinkPoint Connect as their Outlook integration solution for Salesforce and recommended the software to the ALMAG team.
Result
Immediately after implementation, ALMAG’s team experienced increased productivity and visibility with LinkPoint Connect’s email integration features.
- Drag and drop an email signature to create Accounts, Contacts, and Leads from the Side Panel.
- Seamless scheduled syncing between Outlook and Salesforce calendars.
- Recording emails without searching Contacts or Opportunities since LinkPoint Connect automatically
recommends related records. - Syncing Contacts from Salesforce to Outlook.
- Easy file attachment access and recording, which was extremely important with high-volume quoting.
- All related Salesforce information available in the LinkPoint Connect Side Panel, saving time from
flipping back and forth between Outlook and Salesforce.
ALMAG experienced so many benefits that even as other solutions came to market to address Outlook email integration for Salesforce, the ALMAG team decided to remain LinkPoint Connect users. The reliable integration and many time-saving benefits were key to this decision.
