Item: Oracle Sales
Rating: 8
Author: Mary Hunnicutt

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Oracle CRM is being used by our Sales team and a small group of Executives to manage our customers. We also use it to create metrics reports for the sales team to hold them accountable and track sales commission. We have also integrated customer sales data from our JDE system to allow for a one stop data warehouse for our customer information. This allows the sales team to have all the information they need at their fingertips, and it also allows them to enter and track their sales pipeline though the opportunity process. Our marketing team uses CRM to log interactions they have had with the customer, which allows the sales manager to know of any issues related to the account.

Pros and Cons

I feel like CRM is pretty intuitive for the user as it is a point and click product. It also gives the user some flexibility in customizing the layouts of their pages so that the information is in the order they need it.
From an Admin perspective, it is pretty easy to customize as far as the field types, field names, color scheme, page layouts, etc. I did not have an IT background when I started with Oracle CRM, and I was able to learn pretty quickly.
If you are proficient in Java and HTML, you can pretty much customize the CRM product as much as you want with applets, buttons, integration with other internal websites, such as SharePoint.
The reporting area is pretty robust since it allows you to combine subject areas into one report, and offers many different layout options such as pivot tables, charts, graphs, narrative views (for documents), and dynamic dashboards.

Reports that are complex with custom tables, large amounts of information, and multiple filters can take a long time to run for the users.
Would like to see easier ways to customize without using Java and HTML.

Return on Investment

We have had increased efficiency from the sales team having all of their customer info in one place instead of having to maintain spreadsheets and word documents.
Increased business by using the opportunity pipeline and tracking the sales teams commission based on the opportunities that are Won.
It has also led to better customer service because the sales team and Directors can see the activity history on the customer and are able to more easily follow up on issues that need to be resolved.

Alternatives Considered

None

Usability

8

Overall, It is easy for the user, but there is a learning curve for the Administrator if you want to have a lot of customization.

Support Rating

7

Generally, if you log an SR, it will get resolved rather quickly. If they need to contact you for more information, the resolution process gets drug out because you have to usually go back and forth with several messages. Some customization involving web-links, java script, and HTML, Oracle does not officially support, so they will not assist you if your links stop working.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think it is well suited to a medium to larger size company to help manage customers, especially when sales managers are changing territories. This allows them to have all the background information on their new customers in one place. I think it may be overkill and too cumbersome for a smaller company (10 or less users). Following are some important questions to ask: Do you have a way to integrate data from outside systems, is there a record number or file storage allotment, how do you manage/delete old/outdated information, do you have an automated process for assigning accounts/leads, and how easy or hard is it to customize?

Users and Roles

50 - Sales Team, Sales Directors, Executives, Marketing

Support Headcount Required

1 - Basic knowledge of internet explorer, being able to ask questions to troubleshoot, being able to research to find the answer, HTML and Java is recommended, basic knowledge on creating case statements and queries

Business Processes Supported

Hold the sales team accountable
Track our customer sales pipeline
Reduce administrative costs

Innovative Uses

was able to integrate Google maps into CRM to be able to plot customer sales visits

Future Planned Uses

Forecasting using the Opportunity module
Social CRM

Implementation Rating

7

If you have never used a CRM program is is hard to know exactly what you need. We had lots of changes during implementation and even more afterward once the users started working in it everyday. Also the partner we used didn't inform us about Allotments and not being able to Batch delete custom objects (you can now in recent releases). There were so many unknowns, that if I had it to do over, I would educate myself more and ask more questions of the partner that we used for implementation.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Professional services company

CD Group

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a major issue with the implementation - It was a struggle getting the sales team on board with the new software and changes to their processes. We used Audit reports to hold the users responsible for using CRM and over time they embraced the changes.

Oracle Sales Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Quick Initial Response	None

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using	Requires technical support Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

entering information into CRM
Using the Outlook integration to add emails into CRM
changing page layouts and field names

Difficult Tasks

Creating complex reports
Creating web applets and custom bottons
Integrating outside data from other systems

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Performance

8

Some of the more complex customer reports we have created are slow to run at times.

Comprehensive CRM with simple usability

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle CRM