Best Practices

Consultants nationwide are improving productivity and profitability using WebOffice for project and customer relationship management, and internal knowledge management. WebEx has interviewed many customers in the consulting business – IT consultants, management consultants, marketing consultants, etc. – and we have compiled below their best practices using WebEx WebOffice.

Set up a separate ad hoc extranet for working with each of your clients - from the initial proposal and negotiation stage to project completion. First, use the WebOffice Document Manager to present and mutually modify proposals. Then, experience the wide range of functionality offered by WebOffice for working with your clients every step of the way.

Manage project teams that cross multiple company lines and take advantage of WebOffice's full functionality. Team members can communicate more efficiently, project progress can be tracked with greater accountability, and reports can be generated more easily and quickly.

Build your own customized CRM Database quickly with WebOffice to manage your interface with dozens or hundreds of customers. Use the Database Activity Log to track every interaction - phone calls, emails, site visits, etc. - between your customers and your sales force and technical field service representatives. WebOffice's CRM can be shared by multiple sales and technical representatives, so everyone can see the status of each customer - anytime, anywhere.

Maintain individual profiles of clients for whom you provide computer consulting services, hardware, software, networking solutions, troubleshooting and repair services, ERP accounting, manufacturing solutions, and so on, using the WebOffice Database Manager. Have instant access to these profiles via the web, when you and your field representatives are on site working for these clients and need reference information fast.

Post your clients' most current organization charts in your intranet's Document Manager, so you and your associates will be able to reference these, if needed, when you are on location. The instant availability of these documents proves especially helpful, if your firm serves dozens or hundreds of clients, and multiple sales and consulting associates service each client.

Post any critical client information that you may need to have with you on site, on your WebOffice -- using the Document Manager or Database Manager. Post manufacturing processes, technical specs for products, distribution channel information -- any information you might need to reference in order to keep things moving smoothly during a customer visit.

Post and deliver software product updates and patches to your clients, using the WebOffice Document Manager. Whether you are a Systems Integrator, VAR, reseller, or other IT consultant, you'll be able to post product updates to your WebOffice, so your clients and field representatives can easily access them on location anywhere.

Post warranty information, user manuals and reference materials that clients can access at their convenience in a Guest Folder in the WebOffice Document Manager. Eliminate some percentage of customer service calls to you for this information.

Share calendars and coordinate schedules with everyone in your organization. Show every event and appointment for every person in your consulting firm. You can synchronize your desktops, PDAs and WebOffice to keep everyone up-to-date on every business commitment and on the availability of all personnel. With all this, you can still maintain the privacy of your personal appointments, with WebOffice’s permissions-based calendar.

Build a Database of sales leads from recent promotions that can be accessed by your own sales force and/or your sales partners. Use the database activity log to track and monitor interactions with all your clients and to keep everyone up-to-speed on customer activity and sales pipeline status.

Provide key sales and marketing employees and partners access to a complete library of company artwork and literature for downloading, printing and distribution. Everyone will always have access to the most current artwork or document.

Offer customers discussion forums for reporting known problems, or sharing product suggestions and best practices with their peers. It’s easy to keep user groups involved and interested when they can at their own convenience use WebOffice Discussion Forums to participate in ongoing dialogues.

Grant easy access to a knowledge base of FAQs and other support-related material. Save your customer service representatives and your customers time by using the WebOffice Document Manager to house your FAQs. Your service representatives can be assured they are always providing customers with the most up-to-date information about products.

Use WebOffice the way a giant corporation would use Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and an FTP site, without the administrative overhead. Field service representatives and sales executives can use WebOffice to communicate among themselves when at client sites.

Train your own sales executives, technical field representatives, customers and partners on any solution or service with WebEx Meetings. For one low monthly price, you can host unlimited numbers of Web seminars.

Establish a WebOffice and use it as an extranet to coordinate financial, research and product development projects with outside partners. The WebOffice collaboration suite can be set up quickly and used immediately so you can work more efficiently and effectively.

Provide each supplier with a private workspace to post deliverables. You can check their status and view on-going performance. Whether your vendor is a software provider or a video firm, your vendors can use WebOffice to post and deliver large files of any kind to you.

Tie the WebOffice CRM database in with the WebOffice Timesheets to track time spent working for each client. This facilitates accurate client billing. Your account executives can conveniently log their time on the road, from anywhere, anytime.

Consolidate contracts, compare performance, and examine current issues and activities with suppliers for an overview of these relationships, using the WebOffice Document Manager. Use the WebOffice Database Manager to track supplier activity. Use the WebOffice Calendar to schedule deliveries.