One of the major challenges facing most executives is how to leverage the use of technology to improve customer service WHILE increasing revenue and lowering costs. If your business is like most firms any best practice or example of successfully deploying technology that could benefit your business would be appreciated.

In this light we offer this Rainmakers Solutions In Action Case Study. Please feel free to let us know your opinion and provide feedback on topics you would find valuable. We are in existence to add value - let us know how we can deliver for you.

Work Flow Project: IICNet

Business case Background:

The 17th largest international executive search firm sought a way to enable its partners, located in 35 worldwide offices, to work together despite geographic, time, technological and cultural differences. Mercury Consulting Corporation developed a fully secured web-enabled Notes/Domino application connecting these offices via the Internet. This application provides collaboration allowing global account management, client and engagement tracking, and a vehicle to build a cohesive organization.

Four Key Project Objectives:

1. Financial Control: The organization's HQ needed a way to automate the tracking of interoffice work assignments. The previous system was fully manual, was not accurately capturing the activity information, and thus each organization was not receiving its equitable share of "corporate overhead" allocations.

2. Global Account Management: The client serves many large, multinational companies, but did not have a means to manage these accounts globally. Now with the tracking of all clients and engagements, the client is able to leverage established relationships into global contracts.

3. Improve Communications: The client's partners only meet annually as one group, so building working relationships was difficult. The new system has provided a means to communicate to one another and among groups of partners.

4. Technology Cost: With offices located around the world, there were vast differences in the technology available and the costs of acquiring that technology. Notes/Domino was selected because of its use of the Internet and standard browsers were considered the lowest common technology platform.

Here's what the client say's " Our partners indicated, at the recent Global Partners Meeting, that the IICNet system is now viewed as the "backbone" for doing business! Savings have been realized in tracking corporate overhead and large revenue gains are expected through the global account management module."

"While the system has been only live for 5 months, the work generated has already paid for the $35,000 development cost which was significantly less than the $ 150,000 it would have taken to develop the same application in a relational database 4/GL system. The Gains made in building a cohesive, communications partnership have been enormous!"