|
 Louisiana
Department of Economic
Development Weathers the Storm
with Sage CRM
The mission of Louisiana
Economic Development is to
provide excellence in
leadership, policy and programs
to create a business climate
enabling public-private
linkages, which result in
capital investment, a
diversified economic base and
quality job opportunities for
all Louisiana citizens.
Challenge
In August 2005, the Louisiana
Department of Economic
Development (LED) was looking
for a CRM system to replace
GoldMine, which they had
outgrown after more than ten
years of use. In the midst of
comparing solutions, hurricanes
Katrina and Rita struck the
Louisiana coastline. Under
normal circumstances, LED is the
state agency charged with
attracting new business and
industry to Louisiana and
providing economic development
services to resident industry,
small businesses, and
entrepreneurs. However, after
the hurricanes, LED was suddenly
tasked with providing emergency
assistance to affected
businesses and their employees
throughout the region.
Solution
In the months before the
disaster, LED had been working
with HELP Solutions to identify
a replacement CRM solution.
Immediately after Katrina hit,
LED turned to HELP for advice on
applying CRM in a
disaster-recovery situation.
HELP recommended Sage CRM as the
optimal technology to support
both their immediate and
long-term needs. Linda Regira,
Director of Policy and Planning,
stated: "Based on past
experiences, LED assumed all CRM
pack-ages would be cumbersome
and inflexible. That myth was
quickly dispelled when we took a
Sage CRM crash course."
Results
LED decided to proceed with Sage
CRM, and within three days of
implementation, LED personnel
were logging critical
hurricane-related data.
USING SAGE CRM TO ASSIST
AFFECTED BUSINESSES
LED established hotlines where
businesses could communicate
their status. Staff catalogued
every email and call, and
assigned follow-up tasks in Sage
CRM. LED ran reports to
determine the areas in greatest
need, allowing them to
appropriately allocate
resources. At the 2006
Governor’s Conference on
Economic Development, Secretary
Michael Olivier stated, “After
hurricane Katrina, by getting up
and running quickly with Sage
CRM, we were able not only to
help our displaced businesses
right away, but we were also
able to be accountable to the
Governor about who we helped,
when we helped them, and what we
did for them.”
IMPROVING FINANCIAL
ACCOUNTABILITY
Although still assisting
businesses in hurricane
recovery, LED is now using Sage
CRM in a more traditional
fashion. The agency has launched
two major marketing campaigns,
promoting financial incentives
for setting up business in
Louisiana. LED utilizes the
Campaign functionality to track
Leads and Opportunities as they
progress toward becoming
Companies (i.e. local
businesses). LED staff
tracks brochure mailings,
follow-up calls for campaigns,
hiring incentives and workforce
development programs. Managing
projects in Sage CRM helps LED
to report regularly on the
state’s development efforts to
the Governor and tax payers.
Looking ahead, LED plans to
integrate its proprietary
incentives tracking application
with Sage CRM to build company
profiles reflecting direct
business assistance and other
opportunities provided by LED.
The program will help LED
identify how to best assist
these businesses in the future.
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