InvestorsFebruary 18, 2003
Charter Business Networks Standardizes on salesforce.com for Online Customer Relationship Management
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Communications Network Calculates 200 percent ROI with Enterprise Edition
Salesforce.com, the market leader in online customer relationship management (CRM), today announced that Charter Business Networks (Charter), a wholly owned subsidiary of Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:CHTR) and leading provider of commercial high-speed data, video and Internet solutions, has standardized on salesforce.com Enterprise Edition. Now nearly 300 management, sales, construction, installation, engineering, billing administration and customer service users can access, track and share customer data online or off, from any location, through the same intuitive browser-based interface. With salesforce.com, Charter has increased revenue by shortening its sales cycle and improving lead capture while reducing administration time and costs, driving a calculated 200 percent return on investment."We needed a CRM solution that could flexibly adapt to our business processes, helping us track site surveys, estimate creation and equipment pre-configuration, in addition to more general sales data," said Mia Sciandra Huffman, national commercial sales reporting manager at Charter Communications, Charter Business Networks. "With salesforce.com Enterprise Edition, we were able to create more than 150 custom fields in house, without expensive consultants. We now have a CRM application that is tailored specifically to us, and it is so easy to use, anywhere, anytime. With specific role duties defined, we have increased accountability, thus increasing productivity."
Drawn to salesforce.com's promise of no IT support, no upgrades, no maintenance and no server space, Charter elected to implement salesforce.com versus conventional client/server CRM software, extensively customizing the application to track a full range of pre- and post-sales activities. As well as providing a central repository of real-time customer information, salesforce.com has given Charter visibility into its sales pipeline and lead conversion ratios, as well as other key metrics such as average time for survey completion and average installation time. In addition to increased revenues and decreased costs through operational efficiencies enabled by salesforce.com, Charter also notes additional benefits such as improved interdepartmental communication, a shortened time frame for site surveys and increased end user satisfaction.
"Within general markets like telecommunications, companies have wildly different operations and processes," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. "While Siebel and other CRM vendors hype expensive software, we offer our customers the flexibility to easily customize salesforce.com to meet their precise requirements, without any hidden costs or consultants."
Driven by frustration with the costs and limitations of client/server implementation, companies are choosing salesforce.com over conventional software. Given quick success with salesforce.com, usage is growing virally -- to more than 5,800 salesforce.com customers and 78,000 users worldwide -- as executives switch from enterprise software to online CRM success.
About salesforce.com
Salesforce.com builds and delivers customer relationship management (CRM) applications as scalable online services. The salesforce.com product suite -- Team Edition, Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition, Wireless Edition and Offline Edition -- gives companies of all sizes a complete 360-degree view of the customer. The company's award-winning CRM solutions provide integrated online sales force automation, customer service and support management, and marketing automation applications to help companies meet the complex challenges of global customer communication. Salesforce.com has received considerable recognition from the industry, including Editors' Choice and two Five-Star ratings from PC Magazine, two Deploy Awards from InfoWorld, Red Herring 100, Upside Hot 100, Investor's Choice Award from Enterprise Outlook, Editors' Choice from TMCLabs, Top 10 CRM Implementation from Aberdeen Group, and InfoWorld's 2001 CRM Technology of the Year. Founded in 1999, salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia.
About Charter Communications
Charter Communications Inc., A Wired World Company(TM), is the nation's third-largest broadband communications company, currently serving approximately 6.7 million customers in 40 states. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services to the home, including cable television on an advanced digital video programming platform marketed under Charter Digital Cable(R) and high-speed Internet access marketed under the Charter Pipeline(R) brand. Commercial high-speed data, video and Internet solutions are provided under the Charter Business Networks(TM) brand. Advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media(TM) brand. More information about Charter can be found at www.charter.com.
Note to Editors: Salesforce.com is a trademark of salesforce.com, Inc., San Francisco, California. Other names used may be trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT: salesforce.com
Kari Moe, 415/901-7062 (Press)
kmoe@salesforce.com
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