HELP Solutions Energizes CenterPoint Energy
An End-to-End Business Management Solution
With its headquarters in Houston, TX, CenterPoint Energy operates in five primary businesses: electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution, interstate natural gas pipelines, field services, and competitive natural gas sales and services. Independent surveys positively reflect the company’s commitment to customer service excellence. To help deliver on its customer service commitment, the CenterPoint Energy Pipeline and Field Services division turned to Sage SalesLogix and the capable consulting team at HELP Solutions.
Challenge
CenterPoint had no cohesive system for managing its customer relationships. Sherry Poimboef, a customer excellence representative for the company, explains:
"Our ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system had some of the information, we had a couple of Access databases that held other information, and sales representatives all had their own spreadsheets, but there was no place where we could see the complete details of our customer interactions. We needed scalability, flex-ibility, and the ability to interface with our ERP system."
A change in management prompted an overhaul in the company’s system. To move to a more customer-centric business culture, it needed a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that would serve as a centralized database.
Solution
CenterPoint Energy Pipeline and Field Services division evaluated several solutions, but with help from HELP Solutions, soon singled out Sage SalesLogix as its choice. “HELP has excellent consultants who analyzed our needs and growth plans and helped us make the best decision,” says Poimboef. “The user-friendly interface of SalesLogix, broad customization capabilities, and the ability to interface with the company’s mainframe ERP software were all selling points.”
HELP Solutions worked with the IT department at CenterPoint Energy to design and implement an import utility to bring data from the ERP software into Sage SalesLogix.
Results
HELP Solutions customized Sage SalesLogix to meet many of the company’s unique requirements.
360° VIEW OF CUSTOMERS
The company’s customer service staff relies on SalesLogix to provide a comprehensive view of customers and to help the company remain in compliance with federal and state regulations that govern the energy industry.
INFORMATION WHEN AND WHERE IT IS NEEDED
“We work from several offices across many states, so the remote access capabilities of the software are vital to us. Workers from the field or another office can access the main database to view and enter up-to-date information,” says Poimboef.
“The engineers are out in the field, yet the communications regarding the permit process come to our main offices. When we update the status of each project in SalesLogix, an e-mail message is sent to the engineer so they always know what’s going on. This is definitely a case where time is money, because the minute we obtain the permit, we can begin generating income.”
The company’s field service personnel utilize SalesLogix to track problems or service issues with the pipelines, creating a Service Ticket to assign responsibility and track resolutions. “The goal is to improve our service and reliability by tracking the nature of our service calls over time, identifying and eliminating problem areas.”
Poimboef has nothing but praise for the consulting team at HELP Solutions. “They are great to work with,” she concludes. “I really feel like they work in partnership with us to make this project a success.”
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