Press Release
January 18, 2005
Vettro RainMaker Selected by the Phoenix Companies, Inc. to Mobilize Critical Salesforce.com Services
Vettro's On-Demand Mobile CRM Service Running on BlackBerry Is Chosen to Keep Managers and Wholesalers Connected to Critical Customer Information
NEW YORK - Vettro, a leading provider of mobile enterprise applications, today announced that Phoenix Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of The Phoenix Companies, Inc., has selected Vettro RainMaker to empower its sales managers and wholesalers with always-available access to Salesforce.com via BlackBerry(R) from Research In Motion (RIM) (RIMM)(CA:RIM).
Vettro RainMaker for Salesforce.com with BlackBerry will enable Phoenix to more effectively gather assets and enhance the quality of customer interactions by allowing field wholesalers to create, access and update vital sales information directly from their BlackBerry devices. Direct integration with the company's Salesforce.com service provides a seamless connection between internal desktop-based CRM users and field reps using Vettro's mobile CRM solution, which will facilitate coordination between the two teams and reduce response times to customer requests.
"Phoenix is excited to be a leader in the financial service industry in adopting mobile CRM. Our decision to deploy Vettro RainMaker further strengthens our commitment to serve our customers as their 'partner of choice' and will allow us to respond to their needs in close to real time," said Bob Primmer, senior vice president, Life Distribution and Sales for Phoenix. "When evaluating mobile CRM solutions, Vettro RainMaker for Salesforce.com was superior in terms of its cost effectiveness, ease of use, and minimal impact on our current IT infrastructure. Without the need for a Web connection to remain productive, our mobile workforce will have a high level of accessibility and flexibility."
OKERE, a CRM consulting firm focused on the financial services marketplace, recommended Vettro RainMaker as the best-fit mobile solution for Phoenix.
"Implementing CRM successfully within enterprise financial services organizations requires deep domain expertise and access to the appropriate enabling tools to drive user adoption," said John Orrock, president and chief executive officer of OKERE. "Vettro RainMaker was clearly an ideal choice for the customer and OKERE because of its unique ability to detect and adapt to all the customizations within Salesforce.com. This eliminates the traditional impediments to mobile CRM adoption by removing additional development requirements without compromising functionality."
As Vettro RainMaker is installed completely wirelessly via the BlackBerry platform, it is deployed with minimal IT support, and users can be ready to use the service in a matter of minutes. Additionally, the mobile CRM service is fully integrated with the telephony and e-mail capabilities of BlackBerry devices, allowing users to launch voice calls and e-mails directly from a contact record, and automatically record these communications as sales activities.
"We are extremely pleased that Phoenix has selected Vettro RainMaker to help strengthen its tradition of excellence in customer care and retention," said Joe Rymsza, president and chief executive officer of Vettro. "Vettro RainMaker was built from the ground up as an enterprise-class solution, designed to deliver value through all customer touch points of the organization, including management, sales, marketing and customer support."
"With increasingly mobile and competitive business environments, the need to remain connected to corporate information, customers and colleagues has become more important than ever," said Mark Guibert, vice president, corporate marketing at Research In Motion. "Leading companies like Phoenix are embracing BlackBerry and powerful wireless CRM services such as Vettro RainMaker to enhance customer relationships and increase productivity through mobile access to timely information."
About Vettro
Vettro mobile applications transform wireless phones and handhelds into powerful, enterprise-connected computing devices. Vettro unlocks the value in existing enterprise systems and generates quantifiable business improvements for field service, mobile sales, and fleet operations. Backed by premier carrier and hardware partners committed to delivering enterprise-class offerings, Vettro's mobile applications have been selected by industry leaders including BostonCoach, SuperShuttle, Clemson University, Hitachi Data Systems, Textron Financial Corporation, Phoenix Life Insurance Company, and PMI Group. For more information, visit www.vettro.com.
About Phoenix Companies
The Phoenix Companies, Inc. (PNX) is a leading manufacturer of life insurance, annuity and asset management products for the accumulation, preservation and transfer of wealth. Through a variety of advisors and financial services firms, the company provides products and services to affluent and high-net-worth individuals and to institutions. Phoenix has corporate office in Hartford, Connecticut. For more information on Phoenix visit www.PhoenixWealthManagement.com.
About OKERE
OKERE is the client relationship management (CRM) consulting and systems integration services partner of choice for the Fortune 500.
With an execution model based on vertical functionality focus and an Enterprise Delivery Methodology (EDM), OKERE delivers rapid CRM results that evolve with the enterprise business requirements over time and continuously prove value. For more information, contact us at info@okere.com or (888) 44OKERE.
The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.
Salesforce.com, Supportforce.com, and sforce are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., San Francisco, California.
