solutions for the enterprise

elevateyour business

© 2001, Ascent Technology

elevate

solutions for the enterprise

relationship management

workflow management

people management

An innovative range of integrated software for elevating and transforming the way you do business.

Bringing together the most important assets in your organisation.

enterprise resource planning

ebusiness



elevateAgenda

Introductions and objectives About Ascent Solutions 21st century market drivers Introducing Ascent The experts view



elevate

about ascent solutions



elevateOur Belief

We are the natural partner, providing best of class solutions integrating both business processes and leading technology, combined with exceptional service delivering competitive edge to our customers.



elevateAscent Solutions – Brief History

Founded 1982

Premier UK Sage Tetra reseller last 9 years

Premier UK SAP reseller last 3 years

Acquired 4 other Sage Tetra resellers

Acquired another leading SAP reseller

Launched own CRM package 1995

Launched own Workflow package 2000



elevateAscent Technology Limited

Infrastructure Services

Marketing

Ascent Products: -Product Development and Channel Sales

•Ascent CRM•Ascent Workflow•Ascent Web Content•Ascent eMarketing•Ascent People Management

Ascent Solutions: -Business Solutions

•Ascent products•Sage Enterprise•SAP•eCommerce•Systems Integration



elevateAscent Solutions - Today

£26m turnover

250 staff

Solutions business focus on integration of CRM / e Commerce with ERP applications

Own brand product business focus on development of best in class applications

Continued development of high quality business, implementation and support services

Microsoft Gold Partner



elevate

market drivers



elevateMarket Drivers in 21st Century

Loyal customers will defect Product differentiation is being eroded Competition increases Channels multiply Demands to increase shareholder returns Resources are scarce In most businesses ERP is operated to near

maximum efficiency so where do organisations look next ?

What should people spend post Y2K budget on ?



elevateHow should organisation respond?

Ignore and hope the issues will go away

Accept the issues as reality and adapt to cope



elevateWhat will happen to them?

Those pursuing the first strategy will loose their customer base.

Those with a positive, proactive approach should enjoy longer, more profitable customer relationships.

Over the next 5 years, 45% of business expect to become orientated around the customer compared to just 18% which are currently customer orientated.

(KPMG Consulting)



elevateWhat does it mean?

Joined up business can only be achieved by deploying an

Enterprise Wide Relationship Management Strategy



elevateeCRM today

Applications today must support multi channel business strategies that enable companies to manage all touch points including the Web, call centre, kiosk, credit control, marketing, field sales, customer services, resellers and partners of all description.

All touch points must be integrated such that each and every partner dialogue is consistent, personalised, appropriate, and accurate.

Instead of hoarding information at the centre of the organisation, competitive advantage will be gained by distributing it across the enterprise.



elevate

introducing ascent



elevateIntroducing Ascent …

3rd generation CRM product WINit – low cost SFA system – MS Access and VB WINit 2 – migrated to SQL 6.5 – C++ Ascent – brand new, ground level-up construction 35 man year development Launched with Microsoft – March 2000 First W2K Accredited CRM Product in the World Move in to the scalable mid market (RDBMS) – SQL 7 100% Microsoft-centric e.g..

Windows 2000 COM/ActiveX SQL 7 Embedded VBA API’s to Microsoft Front Office



elevateBase Line Functionality

Marketing campaign management Account planning and management Relationship management Activity planning Sales opportunity management Sales process management Qualification techniques Forecasting and performance analysis Quotation management Integration with other front and back office systems.



elevate

ascent and integration



elevateAscent and Integration

Integration with finance Integration with production Integration with the web Integration with customer support Integration with office automation Integration with anything via open API

architecture



elevateNavigator – Inc. ERP & Web Data

Open Item Data

Open Item DataGraphical

Analysis of Sales Orders

Graphical Analysis of

Sales Orders

Use of Filters to see Overdue

Debt

Use of Filters to see Overdue

Debt

WebWeb



elevateWeb Enquiry to Salesman

CRM to capture

ALL contacts

CRM to capture

ALL contacts



elevateOrder created directly in ERP

ERP Order Number

ERP Order Number



elevateAscent view of order



elevateCustomer View

ERP OrdersERP Orders

Account Number

Account Number

ERP Debt, Sales

Analysis etc

ERP Debt, Sales

Analysis etc



elevateFront and Back Office Integration

..front and back office processes and technologies must work in tandem to provide a unified customer interface. With many methods of customer interaction, companies are faced with the challenge of providing a unified customer view to ensure the quality of each interaction. Without proper integration, companies can end up with fragmented customer data, duplicated sales effort, uncoordinated campaigns, and unorganised sales and service delivery.

The result is customer dissatisfaction, customer attrition, lost time to market, and lower customer acquisition rates.

META Group March 2001



elevateMarket Comment

Mega-CRM vendors coveting mid-sized enterprise customers are often a poor choice because of high price, functional complexity, and mismatched post-sale support. Additionally, mid-tier solutions frequently lack integration with legacy systems or major ERP solutions. CRM decision makers must examine prerequisites such as degree of integration with back office against CRM functionality, while evaluating business risks of smallish vendors.

META Group April 2001



elevate

what the experts think



elevateButler Technology

“Butler Group considers that Ascent offers an excellent range of functionality for a midrange product, plus the opportunity to grow into something much more integrated, substantial and enterprise-wide, as customers realise the full potential of using software to support relationships with their customers”.

Susan Clarke, Butler Technology



elevateMicrosoft



elevateBest of Breed remains Best Practice

“Through till 2004 aggressive and moderate enterprise should not focus on trying to buy one application to meet all of their selling, marketing, and servicing needs, instead users should put together a strategy for combining products from several best of breed vendors ………..

……and integrating underlying database or workflow technologies”.

Gartner, June 2000



elevateEnterprise and Ascent Customers



elevate

key benefits



elevateAscent Solutions – Key strengths

Completeness of integrated solution Complex Relationships Management Finance, distribution and project accounting Manufacturing and logistics eCommerce Workflow business process management

Ability to execute 19 year track record in… Back office implementation expertise CRM implementation expertise eCommerce implementation expertise Systems integration expertise

Common technology platforms Microsoft NT and SQL Server Future proof

Documents

solutions for the enterprise