Placed in pole position for the previous five years by winning 1st place among Romanian ERP providers by Pierre Audoin Consultants market research company, TotalSoft spoke about the importance of the investment in the product. Besides launching modules and solutions specifically designed to attract new customers, the strategy of TotalSoft also carefully attends the current portfolio of clients. On this subject, how the year 2015 was, but mostly about how market leader addresses 2016, I talked to Chris Davis, ERP Director, and Daniela Dragomir, Charisma Post Implementation Director.
1. From the perspective of a product director, tell us how was the market for ERP in 2015 and which were the updates brought by Charisma this year?
Last year, the Romanian and international markets continued to grow, especially in retail banking and leasing. We aligned to these trends and we launched a standard package for the crediting field, Charisma 4Credit, with which we address companies of all sizes. Charisma 4Credit offers an Omni-Channel approach, through which our customers can work both on the web and through mobile technology to manage their interaction with customers and their own businesses. It is an area in which we expect to grow and in which we continue to invest. We are well positioned on this market because we offer a fully integrated solution that addresses all their needs.
We also continued investing in the product for agriculture in which we included a module for the management of compound feed factories. Charisma Agriculture developed greatly in recent years with field core business components for crop production, animal husbandry, trade grain silos or forage production.
2. How was 2015 in terms of new customer aquisition? What about from the perspective of the challenges the Charisma team faced last year?
We enjoyed a noticeable increase in the number of new customers, and requests from existing customers investing in software infrastructure solutions built on Charisma, adopting new products and features for Customer Service, Business Intelligence and mobile. With such portfolio and capabilities, our most important challenge is to ensure that our customers know our offer and our achievements. We have clear plans to address this issue, embodied in a Customer Service Portal designed specifically for customers with multiple operations, about which I let my colleague Dana to provide further details.
3. How does Charisma respond to the mobility and SaaS trends?
We have a team focused on developing mobile solutions, where the emphasis is on Charisma Solutions Sales Force Automation, Customer Service and Business Intelligence. Our customers are also looking for new approaches for software and SaaS implementation so that they provide a more cost-effective way of investing in their business. Last year we found an increase of interest in SaaS solutions.
4. What are the TotalSoft plans for 2016 regarding Charisma solutions?
In 2016 TotalSoft will continue to invest in Charisma and ensure that the solutions we propose respond to business challenges that the customers are faced with. The large number of Charisma companies portfolio, the size of Mediplus, RALFI, Adrem Invest Titan Heavy Machines, Tinmar or Agricost, compels us to continuously invest in our product and validates market’s demands. Our relationship with customers is very important and by developing solutions that help them better manage their business and achieve future objectives we invest in our partnerships with each of them. Therefore, through the measures we take we wish to be closer to them, also providing them better access to information, and helping them consolidate their businesses.
A major initiative in 2016 is the launch of a new customer service portal, which will provide easier interaction with our customers and many other facilities. Also, to support the increasing client portfolio we will also increase the Charisma team positions paying attention to customer relationship management, product and technical roles.
5. Given a client portfolio of 400-500 companies and the major legislative changes brought by the new tax code, as shown by 2015 in terms of technical support team?
Indeed, in 2015 we provided support for two major changes of the VAT percentage, in June 1, 2015 - amendment to 9% for food and January 1, 2016 change in VAT to 20%. We tried our best to standardize this change, providing our customers with simple tools necessary to apply the change to their systems. Of course, multiple customizations needed to be implemented for different customers.
We went through this change easily because we had the experience of 2010, the difference standing in the number of clients using the application in multiple industries, number that was almost threefold. The retail had to sell during the very first day of the year, the lease invoiced on the first Monday of the year, and so did the construction industry, services, agriculture and so on.
6. What plans does your department have for this year?
Implementing a "Customer Service Portal" based on ITIL principles as a single point of contact, the introduction of new ticketing system streams that will ensure a clearer management and communication of the status of incidents posted by customers. On the same portal, customers can see information about the products, general or specific messages, and various briefings. Most important for improving services, the portal will include an online feedback section and a customer survey.