Keysight
How a custom CRM integration helps Keysight improve sales pipeline management
Global electronics manufacturer Keysight builds products to test
and measure various types of hardware and software, from oscilloscopes
to network analyzers. Keysight provides design, emulation,
and test services for industries including aerospace, telecommunications, defense
and healthcare. It is ranked in Forbes' list
of Top 5 America's Best Midsize Companies.
The challenge
Manual data entry led to inaccurate, out-of-sync sales pipeline data between Keysight and its partners.
Keysight uses Salesforce CRM to track and manage customer
and sales data. However, for legal compliance reasons Keysight
cannot give full access to its Salesforce data to its 3,000+ distributors
and resellers. Instead, these channel partners use the Impartner
platform to track and manage their customer relationships
and sales opportunities.
With no automatic data sharing between Salesforce and Impartner,
staff had to manually exchange data updates about the sales pipeline.
This process was time-consuming, slow, and error-prone.
This data disconnect between Keysight's channel partner sales
teams and regional sales teams had far-reaching implications.
Updates on new activity related to sales opportunities that partners
had registered often weren't fed back quickly or accurately.
This led to mismatched financial projections and deal status info
between Salesforce and Impartner.
Keysight's channel partners didn't always know if Keysight was
following up on sales opportunities they had flagged, or if they'd
been overlooked. The lack of accuracy and timeliness posed
a risk to Keysight's relationships with its channel partners.
"These sales cycles are very long. There could be months & months
of time before anything happens, and the longer that time extends,
the more partner confidence can diminish. Some partners might
assume that we let them lose an opportunity because we didn't
work fast enough."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
Although Impartner offered a way to automatically exchange data
with Salesforce, this didn't meet Keysight's legal compliance re-
quirements for safeguarding its data.
But Keysight's Program Manager of Channel Enablement, John
Adams, didn't give up. After using Zato's automation platform
to build other products requiring complex, secure integrations,
he knew Zato could also help with the CRM data integration.
The solution
A highly secure, custom-built automation resolves Keysight's 'out-of-sync' pain and eliminates manual data entry.
Keysight and Zato Source built a bespoke automation system
using Zato's flexible integration platform. Zato Source created
a one-way synchronization between Salesforce and Impartner
which provides the sales data updates needed, while complying
fully with Keysight's legal requirements around data protection.
The new system automatically synchronizes relevant sales data
between Salesforce and Impartner on an hourly basis. It also
sends automatic email notifications to users about data changes
in specified records, to help individuals keep track of particular
deals and customers.
The outcome
A seamless sales data sync saves 1,000s of hours per year, improves user experience and strengthens partner relationships.
Keysight will fully launch the new automated sync process soon,
once an initial data cleansing exercise is complete. Meanwhile,
initial feedback from test users has been extremely positive, thanks
to the significantly improved data accuracy, user-friendly interface,
and automated notifications.
Once the automated sync is fully up and running, John anticipates
Keysight will save 40 hours daily - or 10,400 hours annually
- by freeing up all account managers worldwide from manual data
processing. Keysight partners will also gain efficiency savings from
no longer checking and chasing for updated sales pipeline information.
Keysight is also expecting important qualitative benefits that
contribute to improved business outcomes. Freeing up channel
account managers from manual data processing tasks will reduce
overall team stress and allow greater focus on higher-value tasks.
And having reliable, accurate data fortifies working relationships
between Keysight and its partners.
"We now have operational efficiency because everything stays in
sync. Account managers have fewer data migration tasks and can
focus on more profitable tasks. And partners will start to see positive,
timely changes on their sales tracking dashboards, leading to an
increased confidence and stronger relationships between us and them."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
After working on three automation projects together, Keysight
and Zato Source have forged a strong, professional relationship.
Their collaboration has also benefited John's own professional development.
"For me, Zato Source is the
only technology partner
to help with operational
improvements."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
Business Challenge
Mismatched data between Keysight's CRM
and partners' sales pipeline records led
to missed sales opportunities & undermined
partner confidence
Solution
A custom-built Zato automation which syncs
data hourly between Salesforce and Keysight's
partners' platform, and eliminates manual
data entry
Benefits
Accurate, up-to-date data improves sales
pipeline management, frees up staff time,
and boosts credibility with partners
"Zato is helping us tie CRM systems together
- something we first thought was legally
impossible - to make our business operations
efficient and accurate. Zato Source has
enabled us to overcome major pain points
because of their ability to really customize,
detail, and define exactly what we want to do."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
