UK CRM Business Management Software (SaaS) Company
Job Title – Senior Sales Manager / Director Designate
Background:
Click Innovation is the brainchild of a group of successful British entrepreneurs. Many years of experience building and managing successful small and medium sized businesses have given them a real insight to the many challenges that SME’s face in today’s economic climate.

ClickHQ is the first of a number of services that have been developed specifically to address these issues. Acquiring, retaining and growing profitable customer relationships are fundamental to any organisation. ClickHQ has been developed from inception to focus on meeting these challenges and providing tangible business benefits and a rapid return on investment.
The Click HQ SaaS solution was designed to provide the SME with a simple to deploy and use business management system that will deliver significantly improved access to key data anywhere in the business. Whether the data is about customers, partners or suppliers ClickHQ will organise departmental communication systems enabling every member of the team to have access to the information they need within a single click.
The ClickHQ SaaS solution will dramatically improve the SME’s ability to manage its processes, systems and communication across every business function thus ensuring improved customer experience and satisfaction.
The Role:
The role is to lead the Click Innovation sales force to achieve its new business targets for license and professional services revenue in the UK SMB sector.
Click Innovation are entering a very exciting phase of their journey and are looking to appoint a true sales leader to the management team. You will be excited by a challenge, a proven team builder with the ability to plan at a strategic level and have a real focus on the execution of sales plans and targets.
You will understand the SMB market and demonstrate a real insight as to the challenges target customer’s face when looking to deploy CRM solutions.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
• The development and management of the Click Innovation sales strategy in line with Company Targets.

• The day to day leadership & management of the direct sales team including:

o Planning, development and implementation of a structured lead generation program
o The development of a tactical sales process
o Setting targets for the sales team with compensation plan
o Acting as a coach and mentor to the direct sales team on a daily basis to ensure all targets are hit
o Ensuring accurate pipeline management and activity reporting
o Setting and managing activity guidelines for the sales team to ensure good results

• Be an active leader in the business ensuring relevant department’s work in unison to deliver against the “Customer Promise.”
• Work closely with CCO on the identification and development of sales tools and sales training requirements.
• Work Closely with the CCO on effective marketing campaigns to generate leads for the sales force.
• Identifying and engaging with new business target account opportunities where required.

Skills/Experience/Attributes:
• An exceptional individual with at least 7 years demonstrable track record of new business sales success in the CRM market with at least 3 years’ experience as a Sales Manager.
• A natural sales leader with the ability to lead from the front and the appetite to engage and close new business as an individual contributor as well as manager.
• A deep understanding of effective Sales Management processes and systems.
• Experience in consultative sales techniques coupled with strong closing ability.
• An in-depth appreciation of the SMB sector and their key business challenges in the area of customer acquisition, retention & growth.
• A real in-depth understanding of the CRM software solution market including a good knowledge around:

1. CRM competitive landscape
2. Existing and Future Market drivers
3. SaaS and its commercial benefits to the SMB

• Comfortable working to deadlines and targets and following processes.
• Will have excellent planning and execution skills around opportunity management.
• Proven track record in leading a new business sales teams in campaign management from concept through to order provision.
• Articulate, polished, persuasive, excellent presentation and communication skills.
• The ambition to progress with the organisation and play a key role in its future success

If you are looking for a role where you have a real influence in the overall strategy and direction of the business with the added incentive of a board level position within 12 months then please:
Apply by sending your CV and a letter of introduction detailing why you have the capability to undertake such a fantastic opportunity to recruitment@clickinnovation.co.uk
Remuneration:
Negotiable to attract the best DOE – Significant Share Option
Further information:
www.clickhq.co.uk
Strictly no agencies or third parties.

All jQuery UI components (widgets and events) and css have cleverly been written into seperate files. This makes it easy to include any component and jQuery UI css on demand. The PHP script below demonstrates how we take advantage of this to improve website performance.

First things first, the browser has to be informed that the file is a javascript file.

You can do that by replying with a custom ‘Content-Type’ HTTP header in PHP :

header('Content-Type: text/javascript');

The next code snippet is totally based on your disgression, but the idea is creating a function that handles loading jQuery UI component. Since some jQuery UI components have dependencies, you need a dependency tree which provides a list of prerequisites needed for the includee (required component).

Note: jQuery UI component dependencies are described in each component .js script file.

Here’s our dependency tree:

/**
* Start with everything NOT marked for inclusion
*/

// make sure it's sorted based on component dependence

$scripts  = array(
                  'core'          => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array()),
                  'widget'        => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array()),
                  'mouse'         => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                'core',
                                                                'widget')),
                  'position'      => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array()),
                  'draggable'     => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse')),
                  'droppable'     => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse',
                                                                  'draggable')),
                  'resizable'     => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse')),
                  'selectable'    => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse')),
                  'sortable'      => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse')),
                  'accordion'     => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget')),
                  'autocomplete'  => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'position')),
                  'button'        => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget')),
                  'dialog'        => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'position',
                                                                  'mouse',
                                                                  'button',
                                                                  'draggable',
                                                                  'resizable')),
                  'slider'        => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array(
                                                                  'core',
                                                                  'widget',
                                                                  'mouse')),
                  'tabs'          => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array('core'widget')),
                  'datepicker'    => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array('core')),
                  'progressbar'    => array(
                                            "required"  => false,
                                            "depends"   => array('core','widget'))
                  );

You can loop through the dependency tree above to include necessary component script.

However, you must be aware of multiple inclusion problem. That is, different components which share the same dependencies. To avoid this problem, you need to mark processed scripts as already included and skip them in the following iterations.

We solved this problem more easily by breaking the process into two parts: building a list of files that need to be included and actually including them.

Marking scripts as ‘required’ is done using the loop below:

// include all required scripts and they're dependencies

foreach ( $_GET as $key => $value )
{
  if ( in_array_key($key, $scripts) ) {
    $scripts[$key]["required"] = true;

    // force dependencies to be included
    foreach( $scripts[$key]["depends"] as $script )
    {
      $scripts[$script]["required"] = true;
    }
  }
}

With the ‘required’ flag, the actual inclusion is done using a super simple loop:

//load all included scripts

foreach ( $scripts as $key => $value )
{
  if ( $scripts[$key]["required"] == true )
    loadScript ( $key );
}

The ‘loadScript’ function above is to make the code easier to read by encapsulating low level inclusion logic, shown below:

function loadScript ( $scriptName )
{
  $path  = JQUERY_UI_PATH."jquery.ui.".$scriptName.".min.js";

  if ( file_exists($path) )
    require_once $path;
  else
    die($path." does not exist.");

}

Keep in mind that JQUERY_UI_PATH constant has to be defined and must point at your jQuery UI directory:

define("JQUERY_UI_PATH",  <your jquery ui path>);

That’s it. You can now use the script by simply providing an ampersand separated list of component names in the GET query string. See the following example:

<script src="/js/jquery.js.php?button&dialog&datepicker" type="text/javascript"></script>

jQuery UI CSS stylesheets can be loaded on demand in a similar way. You need to provide a different dependency tree and reply with ‘Content-Type: text/css’ instead. For your convinience we provide our tree below:

$scripts  = array(
                  "core"          => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array(),
                                          "exists"    => true
                                          ),
                  'theme'         => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array(),
                                          "exists"    => true
                                          ),
                  'resizable'     => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'accordion'     => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'autocomplete'  => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'button'        => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'dialog'        => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array(
                                                                'core',
                                                                'theme',
                                                                'resizable',
                                                                'button'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'slider'        => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'tabs'          => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'datepicker'    => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),
                  'progressbar'   => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => true),

                  'draggable'     => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => false),

                  'droppable'     => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => false),

                  'selectable'    => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => false),

                  'sortable'       => array(
                                          "required"  => false,
                                          "depends"   => array('core', 'theme'),
                                          "exists"    => false
                                          )

                  );

Please leave your feedback in the form provided below. Thanks.

The advantage is that it allows a lot more functionality than a standard webshop and is fully supported and set up by one supplier.

Transactions can be tracked, contacts are automatically added to the contact management module and all orders follow a predefined and measured order delivery process. ClickHQ facilitates email marketing campaigns to those customers in order to cross and upsell.

For more information on this excellent service please call us on 0845 88 00 203.

I sold my last business in 2005 after building it from scratch over eight years, I took some time out after the sale and reflected on what I would do differantly next time around.

My conclusion – start with a good business management software system that could manage all the day to day activity and which would give you a good overview of your key business processes.

We had a sales prospecting program called ACT and later Goldmine which we also used as a CRM system, a Sage accounts package, a bespoke billing system and an HR system.
This set up caused lots of issues down the line which really resulted from us being too busy with all the things you do as a new business rather than taking the time to plan. We were being successful in terms of growth and were building a good business but with hindsight could have been a lot more efficient if we had planned more and had had the experience that the 8 years of running the business later gave us.
All the founding directors had good experience in different areas but none of us had started and run a business where we had to look after multiple customers, suppliers, and employees.
We shot from the hip on the move and didn’t use any consultants or have any Non Execs to advise us as we wanted to use all our funds to grow a sales team.

The big issues were:
1. Synchronising data from the sales and telesales teams – ACT was great when used as a single user version to track an individuals own prospects but when we had to synchronise different databases from our different teams it was a nightmare. As we grew we needed to buy numerous consultancy days from expensive systems integrators to add custom fields and to generally make the system fit our business. We also had issues of salesman working remotely accessing the system and spent lots of man hours enabling them to work efficiently.
2. The Customer Services Department used a further customised CRM version of ACT/Goldmine which could record information in custom fields but had no inbuilt logical processes to follow with a simple overview.We were trying to make a simple flat database product fit our business which was dynamic and changing. It worked but only just and we lost a lot of time and things slipped through the net which were very costly. We couldn’t record and measure the time taken between process steps to highlight bottle necks in our processes – we had blind spots and were growing too quickly to notice until it cost us money. The other problem for customer support staff was that they could not access the billing system. They couldn’t see what a customer had been charged for in previous periods or had paid because they didn’t have access to Sage either. Information had to be entered twice and mistakes were made and the people who may have noticed the mistakes couldn’t see the other side. Basically our staff looking after customers were not empowered to do their jobs properly which meant that customers were not getting the best service and we probably lost some customers as a result.
3. All the information put in the billing system was only viewable by 3 people out of 65 staff and there was no automatic link to update payments in. Things got messy when our customers increased or decreased the number of items that we billed them monthly for because there were 2 different systems to be updated manually. Even worse there were occasions that we didn’t bill customers for all the products that they had. We had to carry out regular, time consuming audits to make sure that we billed for the no. of products that our CRM system said we should.
4. Sage is great for Accountants but to the non financial managers it is difficult to interrogate and get meaningful information out of. In my experience this leaves managers and directors without up to date financial information while they wait for weekly or monthly management accounts/reports which are provided to them by their FD, Book Keeper or Accounts Department.
5. Our simple HR program was only accessible by our HR manager and she was part time! We had to wait for her to be in the office and not in interviews with potential new staff before we could get HR notes out of the system.

There were lots of other system problems relating to a lack of access to relevant employees, a lack of flexibility and expensive bespoke programming.
Another big problem was the resilience of the servers in our office, access to information when out of the office and the security of our data.

All the above issues prayed on my mind at the time but there really wasn’t a proper alternative for us to consider at the time.

When we were writing the specification for ClickHQ ( our business management software service) it was obvious that we should build a service which seamlessly integrated all the modules needed to efficiently run a business from day to day.

Whilst not perfect for everybody, in my perhaps biased view, ClickHQ business software will save you both time and money because it was written by people like you that have walked the walk and learnt from their mistakes.

As part of the ongoing development of ClickHQ we have written code that allows us to add full ecommerce capability into any Joomla website so that our business customers can have an online shop that seemlessly links into the same system that runs the rest of their business.

Call us on 0845 88 00 203 for a demo.

Accept-Language: en-gb,en;q=0.5

The above line tells the server “I prefer British English language over American English”. This doesn’t reflect my personal taste of course, but I doubt there are servers that differentiate between the two variations.

Languages are defined by using their international language codes. Multiple languages must be separated by comma and a single space. The “;q=0.5” sub-parameter is a weight, used to sort the languages in order of importance (highest weight first). By default, weight equals 1.0 .

In PHP, you can get the value of the “Accept-Language” parameter from the $_SERVER array.

For multi-language websites, the simplest way to decide which language to use is to compare two arrays, one with the list of supported languages and the other with the user’s preferred languages.

I intend to push the limits of web applications developments further by introducing the ability to achieve distributed object environments using JavaScript (JQuery) and PHP (or any server-side scripting language).

Distributed object environments (DOE) are environments where object are shared among components of a distributed system. In DOE, distributed components (requestor) can request (via special calls, accompanied by object reference) for objects that are not physically present on the same machine or address space. With the help of middleware technologies, programmers are relieved of the pain of having to deal with the complexities associated with distribution. This request is served by generating the object (whose reference was passed along with the message) and sending it back to the requestor. Different implementations exist for the processes that take place between the request and the response. One of which I’ll be discussing in this article.

Since Google’s use of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to make search suggestions in 2005, AJAX have become widely used to develop web applications with real-time capabilities. Via AJAX, requests for resources or section of the web page can be made to a server, and on success, the server’s reply can be applied to the required section usually a div tag within the html document. The communication between the server and client (in this case the web application) is usually asynchronous, in other words, the web application can continue with other tasks as soon as the message is sent. In this context, “Messaging refers to the communication model of asynchronous, possibly multi-cast message exchange for event notification, or request processing” (Tai & Rouvellou, 2000).

AJAX is based on messaging, and therefore could easily be used to make requests for objects. These objects have to be JavaScript compatible, as JavaScript is used at the client end. The server, in receipt of this client request, sends JavaScript compatible objects using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). “JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition – December 1999.” (JSON)

PHP, a server-side scripting language, supports JSON by default. It provides functions for encoding and decoding JSON objects.

Finally, JQuery, a JavaScript library, makes requests via AJAX really easy, taking out the complexities associated with JavaScript. It provides full support for JSON, with special functions for making AJAX-JSON requests.

In summary, using standard HTTP protocols, JavaScript (jQuery), AJAX, JSON and PHP, a web service that simulates a distributed object environment can be developed.

Bibliography

JSON. (n.d.). Retrieved 01 19, 2010, from JSON: http://www.json.org/

JSON Functions. (n.d.). Retrieved 01 19, 2010, from PHP.NET: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.json.php

Tai, S., & Rouvellou, I. (2000). Strategies for Integrating Messaging and Distributed Object Transactions. IFIP/ACM International Conference on Distributed systems platforms (pp. 308 – 330). New York: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

“The websites I build don’t use any JavaScript.”

jQuery was bought to my attention a couple of years ago, if you’re a web developer / designer and don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m about to revolutionise the way you build websites, and web based interfaces.

jQuery is a JavaScript library, it extends the core JavaScript functionality, wrapping it up in easy to use methods. The result is astonishing. Produce drag and drop elements, AJAX calls, dialog boxes and much more all within just a few lines of code. jQuery is supported across all common browsers letting you focus on building the interface of your clients dreams.

The community that develops, extends and supports jQuery allows you to tap in to a wealth of knowledge and resources. Getting started only requires a bit of basic JavaScript knowledge and the ability to read the excellent documentation.

I should point out, other JavaScript libraries are available, I just like jQuery more than the others!

Generally you get charged extra for support and have to engage the services of an expensive systems integrator.

The Click HQ service is based on software that has been written specifically for SME’s based on real business experience and is supported for no extra cost by the people that wrote it. There is no need for system integrators as we offer a one company solution. If our software does not address a particular business issue we can build a very cost effective module to your exact requirements at a good price and build it into Click HQ.

These days Internet access is fast and available both in the office and on the move, so a hosted software solution makes a lot of sense.

Our ClickHQ “business in a box” software service is designed to work as one system where information only has to be entered once and provides our customers with a good structure within which to run their businesses.

So if you have a specific business issue and it can’t be solved by our standard software, we can help you resolve that issue by writing a bespoke module that can be seamlessly integrated with our ClickHQ service. – Or stand alone if required.

Because our service is pretty comprehensive anyway, our charges are not expensive and can be a very cost effective way of not only solving one pressing issue but will result in increased efficiencies across your business.

Finding new staff is expensive and training them so that they are effective takes time, money and actually reduces the efficiency of your existing staff in the short term.

The Click HQ Business Management Software service facilitates collaboration between the members of your team in order for them to be:

• more effective on behalf of your company
• more involved in making vital business decisions and therefore more committed
• better informed as to what is going on in all areas of your business

Our service includes all the usual features that you would expect to find in a traditional CRM solution in terms of recording and tracking communication with prospects, customers and suppliers. However it is built around better internal communication on the basis that your businesses employees are your biggest asset and probably one of your biggest costs.

We recognise that if you have a motivated and well informed team then your organisation will be more efficient, as well as more effective than your competition and that your recruitment costs will be reduced by retaining a motivated team.

We achieve a more motivated and loyal team by the way our solution engages your staff. To start with each member of your team has a photo so that they are visible within the business, secondly they have a profile so their job title, job description, department, blog and recent activity is also visible across your business. Thirdly our service includes a forum for open discussion on any subject which needs discussing and problem solving which gives all staff a voice where contribution can be recognised by peers and management alike.

How many times in business do all the members of your team get to contribute so openly without inviting them all to endless meetings where their day job gets neglected.

By using blogs people can keep others informed about projects that they are working on and with one click any blog can be published onto your website, if appropriate, which in turn helps google to recognise expertise and bring relevant, interested visitors to your website.

When you peel away the layers the difference between good businesses and resounding success stories is normally down to a well led,informed, empowered and motivated team – our product can help to facilitate this in your business!

Get in touch to find out more.

All of the management team have spent their careers building, managing and developing SME businesses and so have experienced first hand the challenges that you, our customer faces when choosing and implementing business systems.

ClickHQ is new and fresh and more importantly empowers your team by making their jobs easier to do so that they buy into the service which is half the battle won with any system deployment.

So why are we different here at ClickHQ

Firstly we have designed and written our software from scratch based on real business experience gained while running fast growing profitable SME’s.

Secondly the clickhq solution is a simple to use, end-to-end application that will deliver at the click of a button the very latest information on any aspect of your business, this powerful tool will empower and motivate your team and give them a real face and voice within the business.

ClickHQ utilises established social networking techniques to embrace the way that business is conducted today. Collaboration between your customers, employees, suppliers and partners is key to achieving success in this new networked economy.

ClickHQ’s goal is to enable you to make better, faster decisions: we do this by deploying a single seamless solution that will unite your departments and automate and track your processes.

We achieve all of this by taking complete responsibility for your solution, we work with you at the start of the process to define all of your requirements for the service, we then build a tailored solution that we host and manage on your behalf 24\7.

We remove the need for expensive systems integration and separate software license agreements or indeed managing a third party hosting provider. All of this is delivered for a one off set up fee and a monthly license fee per user. We don’t charge extra for support and are always available at the end of the phone if you need help.

Find out more today by registering online for a free trial, or call to arrange a visit from a ClickHQ Business Consultant.

The Website which was constructed by us allows the staff at Kata Rocks to add news articles and blogs in plain English from their version of our ClickHQ CRM+ software.

This means that they can keep the Website up to date with fresh content without having to pay for additional coding work.

Search engines love Websites with fresh unique content so this will help to achieve high rankings when potential customers are searching on Google, Yahoo and other search engines.

The ability to blog or add news articles will also make the site more interesting to visitors and encourage them to return on a regular basis to see the latest information.

Another feature, which again is powered by their ClickHQ CRM Software, is an automatic Information Pack request form. Kata Rocks staff add attachments and write a message which automatically gets emailed out to potential clients who submit their name and email address on the front page of the Kata Rocks Website.

Website visitors have a very limited attention span when visiting a Website, it is essential to capture their attention in the first 7 seconds of them arriving on your site. This means that you must give them what they are looking for, which could be a clearly labelled menu which takes them in a maximum of two clicks to the information they want, or something like a request information pack form which they can get via email without having to fill in lots of detail.

Obviously for the Website owner it’s a trade off between capturing information about potential customers and making sure that they don’t get bored before submitting the form.

In Kata Rocks case their potential customers are worldwide and so having a form like this on the site that they can add to and change themselves which works when their office is closed has huge benefits.

Click Innovation – the company behind ClickHQ can build all sorts of features like this for their customers and make them easy to use via ClickHQ hosted CRM software.

So why do SEO?
The reasons are simple:
1. 70% + of searchers click on the natural results rather than the paid results.
2. With natural listings you don’t pay every time that someone clicks on your advert.
3. Being ranked highly in the natural results gives you an intangible credibility with searchers. – They trust the likes of Google to find them the most suitable links to their search query.

SEO campaigns are an ongoing process rather than a onetime hit which you have to expect to continue on a monthly basis.
Firstly your Website has to be spider friendly. Google and the other search engines have spiders or robots which trawl the Internet and the code, linking structure, key word or phrase density etc.. on the site has to be easily and clearly interpreted by these spiders.
Secondly you need to keep the content on your website fresh and unique.
Thirdly there is the offsite work which adds credibility to your Website by providing links into your site from other relevant sites, directories, blogs, article sites etc…
The search engine spiders constantly trawl the Internet and if they see sites that they deem as credible that link to your site, especially if they relate closely to what you do or sell, then your site will become more credible itself.
All these factors and many others combine to get your site further up the pages in the likes of Google which in time can bring you huge amounts of visitors, customers and hence profit.
You can’t spend your marketing resources in a more targeted and measurable way than in your online marketing budget.
We will report back on the results of our SEO Campaign for Kata Rocks and others in later blogs.

We had a sales prospecting program called ACT and later Goldmine which we also used as a CRM system, a Sage accounts package, a bespoke billing system and a HR system.
This set up caused lots of issues down the line which really resulted from us being too busy with all the things you do as a new business rather than taking the time to plan. We were being successful in terms of growth and were building a good business but with hindsight could have been a lot more efficient if we had planned more and had had the experience that the 8 years of running the business later gave us.
All the founding directors had good experience in different areas but none of us had started and run a business where we had to look after multiple customers, suppliers, and employees.
We shot from the hip on the move and didn’t use any consultants or have any Non Execs to advise us as we wanted to use all our funds to grow a sales team.
The major problems were:
1. Synchronising data from the sales and telesales teams – ACT was great when used as a single user version to track an individuals own prospects but when we had to synchronise different databases from our different teams it was a nightmare. As we grew we needed to buy numerous consultancy days from expensive systems integrators to add custom fields and to generally make the system fit our business. We also had issues of salesman working remotely accessing the system and spent lots of man hours enabling them to work efficiently.
2. The Customer Services Department used a further customised CRM version of ACT/Goldmine which could record information in custom fields but had no inbuilt logical processes to follow with a simple overview.We were trying to make a simple flat database product fit our business which was dynamic and changing. It worked but only just and we lost a lot of time and things slipped through the net which were very costly. We couldn’t record and measure the time taken between process steps to highlight bottle necks in our processes – we had blind spots and were growing too quickly to notice until it cost us money. The other problem for customer support staff was that they could not access the billing system. They couldn’t see what a customer had been charged for in previous periods or had paid because they didn’t have access to Sage either. Information had to be entered twice and mistakes were made and the people who may have noticed the mistakes couldn’t see the other side. Basically our staff looking after customers were not empowered to do their jobs properly which meant that customers were not getting the best service and we probably lost some customers as a result.
3. All the information put in the billing system was only viewable by 3 people out of 65 staff and there was no automatic link to update payments in. Things got messy when our customers increased or decreased the number of items that we billed them monthly for because there were 2 different systems to be updated manually. Even worse there were occasions that we didn’t bill customers for all the products that they had. We had to carry out regular, time consuming audits to make sure that we billed for the no. of products that our CRM system said we should.
4. Sage is great for Accountants but to the non financial managers it is difficult to interrogate and get meaningful information out of. In my experience this leaves managers and directors without up to date financial information while they wait for weekly or monthly management accounts/reports which are provided to them by their FD, Book Keeper or Accounts Department.
5. Our simple HR program was only accessible by our HR manager and she was part time! We had to wait for her to be in the office and not in interviews with potential new staff before we could get HR notes out of the system.

There were lots of other system problems relating to a lack of access to relevant employees, a lack of flexibility and expensive bespoke programming.
Another big problem was the resilience of the servers in our office, access to information when out of the office and the security of our data.

All the above issues prayed on my mind at the time but there really wasn’t a proper alternative for us to consider at the time.

When we were writing the specification for ClickHQ it was obvious that we should build a service which seamlessly integrated all the modules needed to efficiently run a business from day to day.

Whilst not perfect for everybody, in my perhaps biased view, ClickHQ will save you both time and money because it was written by people like you that have walked the walk and learnt from their mistakes.

Good luck!

A problem solved -What do you think?

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