This business case assignment is to help you better understand the concepts from Module $6$: the factors which affect company decisions on selection of CRM software systems and how to evaluate those systems.

A CRM System for LePetomane Business Case

Tony Fu$,$ VP Sales of LePetomane Personal Care Products $($LPCP$)$ has heard about CRM systems from his newly hired Ontario College Graduate, Hedley Lamarr. Fu considers Lemarr one of his best hires ever. Hedley has suggested that he review the options available to LePetomane for a CRM system.

Tony has considered some of the factors related to his company and some of the features he would like in a CRM system. He's asked Hedley to review the features he'd like $($refer to "Tony's wish list" below$)$ as well as develop a list of additional features she feels are important for LPCP$.$

You are to play the role of Hedley in this case.

LPCP Key Facts:

Annual Sales: $$286,000,000$ Cdn

Total Employees: $250$

Sales Team: $26$

LPCP has a large Canadian operation, with a head office in the GTA and regional sales offices in Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax. The head office has a finance department consisting of Accounts Payable and Receivable teams. Also situated in their head office is an $8$ person consumer & trade marketing team whose responsibilities include understanding their consumers as well as LPCP$\text{'}$s customers

LPCP operates a manufacturing facility in Scarborough Ontario and a large warehouse and shipping facility in Markham Ontario.

LPCP Sales team

LPCP operates a sales force that consists of both account managers $(12$ total$)$ and field sales representatives $(24$ total$).$ In addition to the sales team, there are also $5$ support staff including sales assistants and analysts whose role is to help sales people perform account analytics and better understanding their accounts.

Account Managers call on National Salon accounts like: Leading Spas of Canada, Super$-$clips, Great Clips $,$ Beaner's and hopefully soon: Von Shtupp Spas. Field Sales Representatives call on smaller local chain accounts and single store independent accounts.

Account Managers work out of the head offices or their regional offices. Most of the Field Sales Representatives work out of their home office and travel to local customers, meeting and providing feedback and setting goals for their small customers.

Tony's Wish List

Based on what he's heard about CRM systems, Tony thinks the following features would be beneficial:

$$ internal and external capabilities

$$ ability to integrate data from internal and external sources,

$$ analytic capabilities.

$$ Tony also expects the system to meet the company's current needs plus have some room to expand as LPCP expands.

Part $1$

Develop a list of CRM software features for LPCP$.$

After reviewing the above case, as well as Module $6,$ develop your own list of features plus reasons you think those features would benefit LPCP$\text{'}$s$.$ List as many features as you believe are relevant. Note: Tony's list should also be included in your answer.

Your features should be ranked based on how important you feel that feature is to LPCP$.$ No explanation required.

Format your answer as per the example below:

Feature: Sales analytic ability

Reason: LPCP sales reps are required to do sales analytics for the account plans and for customer presentations.

Part $2$

Provide CRM Software Supplier Options and Comparison of Features

Research and identify $3$ different providers of CRM systems. The exact companies you select are your choice. Compare the CRM features that you developed in Part $1($including Tony's features$)$ with the actual software features that the providers offer.

Tip

$$ There are several companies listed in Module $6,$ or you can just google $"$CRM companies".

$$ All CRM software companies have a list of their features somewhere on their website.

$$ If you see other valuable features noted on company$$s websites that you didn't think of in Part $1,$ note them in your answer chart.

Present your answer for Part $2$ using the table below:

System Features $($ranked in order of importance$)$ Supplier A

Web address:

suppliera.com Supplier B

Web address:

supplierb.com Supplier C

Web address:

supplierc.com

Feature A Yes Yes No

Feature B No Yes Yes

Feature C Yes No No

Feature D $($New feature$)$ No No Yes

Feature E $($New feature$)$ No Yes Yes

Make sure to include valid web addresses as they will be reviewed as a part of grading.

Part $3$

CRM System Recommendation

Recommend to Tony which CRM software supplier you feel best meets the needs of LPCP including an explanation for your reasoning. Consider which features you listed are most important to LPCP and reference that in your answer. All features are not equally important, and you must recognize that in your recommendation.

Submission

$1.$ Complete responses to Part $1,2$ and $3$ of the business case. Please make sure to write in clear sentences and paragraphs.

$2.$ List all websites and resources used in your re