Case Studies

Leading Global Telecommunications Company Delivers Web-Based Support with Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• Initially, the company sought better, more cost-effective support for its legacy Amdocs/Clarify deployment.
• The company also wanted to enhance its CRM environment to obtain increased flexibility and performance, as well as to decrease overall costs.

Solution

• The company initially elected to replace Amdocs/Clarify maintenance and support with Dovetail support, which was both less expensive and more responsive.
• The company also elected to migrate from the Amdocs/Clarify classic client to Dovetail CRM, not only because the Dovetail solution met its enhancement requirements but also because it entailed the lowest risk.

Results

• Dovetail support of the legacy Amdocs/Clarify deployment sharply reduced maintenance costs and provided superior service.
• Migration to Dovetail CRM further decreased licensing and maintenance costs and enabled the company to deliver better, more consistent, and overall more cost-effective customer service and support.

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Leading Broadband Gateway Company Provides Enterprise-Wide Access to CRM Information with Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• Make CRM information managed by Amdocs/Clarify system available to non-Clarify users via a custom web portal.
• Complete this project quickly, at minimum cost, with the fewest possible resources.

Solution

• The Dovetail solution was selected because the use of production-proven APIs enabled the team to avoid the expense and risk of custom code development and deliver the desired functionality within the required timeframe and budget.

Results

• Ability to track status changes directly, instead of dealing with voluminous email notifications.
• Ability to view case notes and related customer information without having to learn to use the Amdocs/Clarify application.
• Ability to provide enterprise-wide access to CRM information without the need to purchase additional licenses.

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Major North American Communications Services Company Shares Customer Information with Service Partners Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• Expansion and a changing business model created the need to quickly implement a sales force automation solution that exposed selected Clarify customer data to service partners via the web.
• The company sought to limit costs associated with the initial project as well as long term maintenance.

Solution

• Dovetail Software was selected because the powerful development environment provided by its SDK and APIs enables efficient creation of easily managed custom applications running against Clarify databases.

Results

• The company successfully delivered the needed sales tools within budget and on time to its partners.
• The company is able to expand web access to new partners as additional business relationships are launched; in other words, CRM business processes are now agile and easily aligned with new business needs.  Upgrades to the underlying Dovetail platform require no changes to the custom application making the entire infrastructure much easier to support in the long term.

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$ 2B Analytical Instruments Company Deploys Global Help Desk Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• The company had multiple Help Desks across the globe using different applications to deliver corporate service and support.  Data was held locally, in different formats, making it impossible to ensure consistent quality of support, nor could local data be "rolled up" to provide an enterprise-wide view.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM for its global Help Desk deployment because it was the quickest and most cost-effective way to achieve corporate objectives, migrating from existing Amdocs/Clarify classic and self-support clients.

Results

• Consistent Help Desk environment [global processes, workflows, policies].
• Significant maintenance cost savings.
• Simplified, more cost-effective infrastructure.
• Increased agility/flexibility [Dovetail SDK development environment].

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Leading Surgical Robotics Company Integrates Amdocs/Clarify with SAP Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• As part of an initiative to reduce the number of different systems in the corporate computing environment, the company needed to quickly integrate Amdocs/Clarify and SAP for Return Material Authorization [RMA] management, ensuring agents will have up-to-date information on inventory, repair and customer service status.

Solution

• The project team selected the Dovetail SDK, including WebServices, to achieve the required integration quickly and safely.  

Results

• The Dovetail SDK and WebServices allowed the project team to quickly and easily integrate the two large and complex systems.  The team avoided the expense and risk of having to write a lot of custom code by using proven, bullet-proof, high-level, high-performance Dovetail APIs.

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Global Medical Devices Company Standardizes on Dovetail Services

Business Challenge

• An initiative to standardize customer support operations on a single system called for rolling out Clarify access to support personnel world-wide. In the process the company discovered that the several services associated with the system were not able to meet the new load and functional requirements. In order to complete the initiative the company required more scalable, reliable, and Unicode-enabled service applications for their Clarify system as well as advanced web services functionality for simplified delivery of data to customer-facing portals.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail’s SDK, RuleManager, and EmailAgent products because of their proven scalability and advanced features, then worked with Dovetail engineers to further enhance the products to meet their specific needs.

Results

• The company successfully replaced the existing Clarify EmailClerk and RuleManager with Dovetail's products and completed their rollout on time. The scalability and Unicode-enabled functionality of Dovetail's products, and the responsiveness of its engineers, were fundamental to the success of the project.

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Process Control Metrology Systems Company Migrates to Web-Based Dovetail CRM for Enhanced Global Access

Business Challenge

• The company was experiencing severe problems with its existing Amdocs/Clarify classic clients attempting to access from overseas, particularly from Asia, across low-bandwidth, high-latency network environments.
• PCs configured overseas for agent use frequently failed to work properly with the classic client, resulting in the need to ship systems from the US to these agents.
• The company also had concerns about the cost and level of service provided by Amdocs/Clarify.
• The company found it very difficult to customize the Amdocs/Clarify applications to their needs, which meant agents were rarely able to obtain functionality optimized for their use.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM, including the SDK, to address these issues. Their analysis revealed that Dovetail would be able to provide the most cost-effective, low-risk, and flexible solution; references confirmed Dovetail's reputation as a customer-focused vendor delivering exceptional levels of technical support.

Results

• Using the Dovetail web client, agents across the globe are able to access the database easily and to obtain good performance even in low-bandwidth, high-latency network environments.
• As Dovetail CRM is web-based, there is no need to distribute any software, and the company has had no problems using PCs configured in any geography.
• The company has realized significant savings in licensing and maintenance costs, as well as a much higher level of support from Dovetail.
• The company has been able to complete a large number of value-add customizations, optimizing the agent environment, thanks to the enhanced development environment provided by the Dovetail SDK.

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Leading Computer Storage Device Company Deploys on Web with Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• Need to move to web-based deployment.
• Need to obtain a more productive, cost-effective development environment.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM including the Support, Logistics and Quality modules because it was the quickest, most cost-effective, and lowest risk solution available. All required functionality was immediately available on the web, across all service and support domains, along with enhanced performance and reliability. The consistent, flexible development environment was recognized as both more powerful and more efficient than the Amdocs/Clarify toolset.

Results

• Dovetail CRM handles all the CRM needs of the company.
• They can now "track everything".
• Dovetail CRM is in use worldwide with "huge cost benefits, mostly due to speed with which we can change things and the ability to put anything we want in it".

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Leading Industrial Automation and Control Company Deploys Custom Application for Resellers Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• The company required a custom application that would allow resellers to generate and manage quotes within the Amdocs/Clarify system for customers. The existing method for creating the quotes was an intensively manual process and done entirely in-house by more than 30 clerks.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail SDK and Dovetail Professional Services to deliver the required application.

Results

• The system was successfully implemented on time in less than 2 months and paid for itself within 3 months of going into production.
• Resellers can now create their own quotes around the clock with greater accuracy and flexibility.

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Consumer Electronics Company Integrates Amdocs/Clarify with 3rd-Party Change Management Application Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• The company had established a joint venture for the purpose of delivering and supporting home entertainment equipment to consumers. The partner company was using a different change management system to handle customer-reported product defects and enhancement requests. In order to handle such requests efficiently and reliably, the company decided to integrate its own Amdocs/Clarify ClearQuality application with Jira, the partner application, allowing each team to have visibility into the status of change requests being handled by the other team, as well as to add and exchange information.

Solution

• The company selected the Dovetail SDK to accomplish this integration, as it was regarded as the quickest and safest way to meet project objectives.

Results

• The integration has significantly improved visibility into product issues for both teams.
• Product defects are resolved more quickly and efficiently by the appropriate team.
• The integration has enabled process enhancements for change management.

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Global Computer Peripherals Company Brings Outsourced Customer Services Back In-House Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• After some years of providing customer support using an in-house Amdocs/Clarify deployment, the company had outsourced this function. The experience had not worked out as well as the company had hoped, and they decided to bring customer support back in-house. They wanted to use their existing Amdocs/Clarify instance for this purpose, but were on a version that was no longer supported. The cost and effort of upgrading to a supported version were significant, and the company was looking for an alternative.
• The company had also by this time expanded globally, and therefore required a CRM solution that could operate effectively across several continents, without the need for expensive Citrix licenses and associated infrastructure.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM – Support, Logistics and Depot Repair – based on its ability to operate with any version of the Amdocs/Clarify schema, its web-based architecture, and its proven performance in a global internet environment. Further, the Dovetail solution was able to meet the required timeline to deployment, and at much lower cost than any other approach.

Results

• The project was completed in less than 60 days, meeting the company's target timeline. Customer support has been brought back in-house, and a number of processes have been streamlined and moved from other contact mechanisms [e.g., phone, email, FAX] to the web.
• The full outsourcer database was successfully migrated into the in-house database in such a way that continuity of case management was maintained – despite the fact that the outsourcer used completely different tools and data structures in its operations.

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Leading Manufacturing ERP Software Company Deploys Web-Based Support Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• The Company needed to move to web-based deployment.
• The Company needed a better development environment that matched existing staff skill sets [.NET] to ensure the ability to respond quickly to changing business needs.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM including the SDK because it was the quickest, most cost-effective, and lowest risk solution available. Existing customer support facilities would be comprehensively available on the web, along with enhanced performance and reliability. The consistent, flexible development environment was recognized as both more powerful and more efficient than the existing Amdocs/Clarify toolset.

Results

• All daily tasks are now performed with the Dovetail CRM Agent for Support.
• The Dovetail SDK has made them more agile in responding to changes in business needs.

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Leading IT Services Company Builds Custom Logistics Solution Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• Business Logistics requirements cannot be met by out-of-box Amdocs/Clarify, nor can Amdocs/Clarify be easily customized to meet these requirements.
• Amdocs is not moving in the desired technical direction.

Solution

• The Dovetail SDK development environment was selected because it enabled the desired custom application to be developed quickly, safely and with a minimum of custom code; out-of-box, production-proven APIs were used to deliver the major portion of desired functionality.

Results

• The new functionality was deployed quickly and without problems. At least six man-months of additional effort would have been required to undertake this project using Amdocs tools.
• Unique logistics features and workflows enhance the company's ability to achieve its business objectives.
• The company is now standardized on the consistent Dovetail environment, and realizing significant savings in maintenance.

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Leading Machine Vision Company Moves to Web-Based Deployment Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• The company needed to move to a web-based deployment, while protecting its investment in Amdocs/Clarify.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM because it was the quickest, most cost-effective, and lowest risk solution available.

Results

• The migration from Amdocs/Clarify to Dovetail CRM was accomplished in 4 man-months.
• The company is now able to add enhancements impossible to make in Amdocs/Clarify.
• The team has seen "huge productivity gains".
• The entire system is now supported by Dovetail and maintenance costs have been significantly reduced.

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Leading Computational Fluid Dynamics Software Company Develops Custom CRM Applications Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• There was a "Lack of required functionality in Clarify", and the Amdocs/Clarify development environment was difficult to work with.
• The company needed to move to a web-based deployment.

Solution

• The company migrated to Dovetail CRM, including the SDK. The production-proven, high-performance APIs allowed the company to essentially develop its own, unique applications across the entire range of service and support processes and functions, all of them purely web-based and therefore easy to use and maintain.

Results

• The company was able to quickly and safely develop custom versions of Support, Contracts, Quality and Sales modules, using the Dovetail SDK and APIs.
• The web-based deployment of Dovetail CRM significantly reduced maintenance costs.
• The Dovetail SDK provided increased agility to the company, allowing it to develop unique offerings for competitive advantage.

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Global Emergency Responder Deploys Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• Changing business needs exposed the need to move to a web-based deployment for access by non-trained, temporary users. Amdocs/Clarify was unable to deliver a suitable product.
• There was considerable pressure to reduce costs; moving to a web-based application would allow the organization to eliminate costly third-party applications [notably Citrix and Tuxedo] as well as the servers on which they were installed, considerably simplifying the infrastructure.

Solution

• The complete Dovetail CRM suite of products was selected to replace all Amdocs/Clarify software because it enabled rapid customization and easy administration of both standard agent facing pages as well as simplified pages for infrequent or novice users.

Results

• The scalable, reliable, flexible and extensible architecture of Dovetail CRM allows the organization to adapt rapidly to changing mission requirements.
• The organization has realized significant savings in maintenance, IT staff overhead, and development costs.

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Major Retailer Moves to Dovetail CRM to Achieve Desired Scalability, Reliability and Performance

Business Challenge

• The company experienced significant scalability, performance and reliability issues with the Amdocs/Clarify thick client.
• Tests confirmed the inability of the Amdocs/Clarify architecture to support anticipated growth.

Solution

• The company elected to migrate from its heavily customized Amdocs/Clarify deployment to Dovetail CRM because analysis of the Dovetail architecture established its ability to support unlimited growth while ensuring enhanced reliability and performance.

Results

• The company completed the migration project in 11 weeks – less time than is typically required for an Amdocs/Clarify version upgrade.
• A year after the migration to Dovetail CRM, they were already running with twice the number of users they would have been able to run on Amdocs/Clarify.
• Their ability to expose customer data to other parts of the enterprise using Dovetail CRM is regarded as one of the most important, albeit serendipitous, benefits of the migration. The administrators insist "there is no way we could have done this with Amdocs".

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Major Department Store Deploys Enterprise-Wide, ITIL-Compatible Help Desk Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• An increase in geographically dispersed users drove a shift in IT application strategy toward web based tools.
• Economic hardship leading to reduced corporate revenues drove a need to reduce costs wherever possible.
• In order to increase enterprise efficiencies, the company launched an initiative to embrace ITIL-based processes, specifically in the enterprise-wide Help Desk.

Solution

• The company selected the Dovetail CRM solution, based on Dovetail's web focus for its products, rich out-of-box functionality, low cost, and the power and proven reliability of the development environment.

Results

• The company has substantially implemented the ITIL Service Support model, using the Dovetail CRM to create several custom workflow-enabled objects, including a hierarchical Configuration Item [CI] associated with the infrastructure [hardware, software and related services]. These Configuration Items are linked to existing Part Numbers and Site Parts, providing comprehensive CMDB facilities. In this way, the customer has been able to fully leverage existing Dovetail out-of-box capabilities as well as to quickly and safely enhance them.
• Benefits already realized include management dashboards that display the real-time status of the entire corporate computing infrastructure, including all stores; the ability to drill-down to the individual CI for rapid identification, diagnosis and resolution of any problems; and the ability to prevent problem recurrence, as Root Cause Analysis and Lessons Learned must be performed before any Problem can be closed.
• Implementation was completed ahead of schedule by a single developer.

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Leading POS Systems Company Delivers Web-Based Support Using Dovetail CRM

Business Challenge

• The increasing global presence of the company mandated a move to web-based CRM

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail CRM because it was the quickest, safest and most cost-effective way to achieve corporate objectives, migrating from existing Amdocs/Clarify classic clients while retaining all required functions, both out-of-box and custom-developed, as well as business rules and processes, back-end integrations, and the familiar UI.

Results

• The company rolled out Dovetail CRM web-based access to their legacy Clarify system in phases to users and dealers around the world. The total number of users on the system has more than doubled since the initial implementation and the Total Cost of Ownership of the system has been a fraction of the projected costs had they stayed with a pure Amdocs/Clarify system.

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Leading US Energy Company Deploys Custom Contract Management Application Using Dovetail SDK

Business Challenge

• The company needed a way of delivering Amdocs/Clarify data to users and other applications over the web.
• The company required custom contracts functionality for the management of PC and Printer leases.

Solution

• The company selected Dovetail to create a framework of web-based tools that would harness the company's popular API Toolkits. The resulting product ultimately became FCFL [First Choice Foundation Library], the predecessor to Dovetail's SDK. This suite of tools enabled the company to quickly and safely develop the custom applications they needed.

Results

• The company has successfully created numerous web based applications and integrations using Dovetail's development environment. Over time they have reached a point where all integrations to external applications and custom user interfaces are handled through Dovetail's system. The arrangement "effectively buffers their entire operation from the problems associated with upgrading customized Clarify thick client systems".

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