Port of Long Beach Chooses Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Smoother Sailing With Customers

Port of Long Beach Chooses Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Smoother Sailing With
Customers
Microsoft technology will move contact information on more than 15,000 people
from desktops and notepads to a single enterprisewide database.

REDMOND, Wash., July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today
announced that the Port of Long Beach in California has selected Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 4.0 to provide the technology needed to create a single
repository for information on its 15,000 contacts, representing 5,000
companies.
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM furnishes organizations with powerful, role-based
customer relationship management capabilities. For the Port of Long Beach, the
Microsoft solution will replace spreadsheets, desktop databases and
handwritten records that currently reside in the offices of the organization's
375 employees. The technology will unify these contacts to allow access for
all authorized personnel at their desks and via the Web when working remotely.
The port's Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution is being hosted by Microsoft
Gold Certified Partner CRM OnTarget in Seattle. This hosting option enables
the port to save money by sharing a server at the partner's location with
other companies.
Long Beach is the nation's second-busiest seaport, with trade valued
annually at more than $100 billion moving through its port. Currently its
external contacts are maintained by each of the 16 divisions in the port's
organization in separate repositories - PCs, servers or even paper notepads.
The port needed a central repository for managing these contacts.
Before purchasing the Microsoft solution, the port evaluated it along with
Salesforce.com and Maximizer CRM 10, selecting Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
because of its tight integration with Microsoft Office Outlook; the ability to
have it externally hosted initially, with the option to bring it in-house
later; and its Web interface that allows accessibility from virtually
anywhere.
In making its technology selection, the Port of Long Beach assembled an
evaluation team of independent consultants, which recommended CRM OnTarget and
affirmed the partner's recommendation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
The port will focus initially on the Microsoft Office Outlook module that
integrates Microsoft Dynamics CRM into each employee's familiar application
for contact lists, e-mail and calendaring. It is retiring each of the other
repositories that staff previously had generated.
The Port of Long Beach expects to benefit in a number of ways from its
adoption of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0:
-- Integration of information. Until now, each division in the port
carried out projects without coordinating contact information with the other
divisions, and they were unable to share data because their separate systems
did not talk to each other. Instead of existing as numerous "minicompanies,"
the port will be able to centralize and integrate its information from such
areas as damage reporting and security.
-- Improved image with customers. Previously, one division of the port
might update its information about a particular contact -- the individual's
new title or address, for instance -- while other divisions did not. When the
contact received information from the other divisions, the old information may
have been used, making the port operation look uncoordinated. Microsoft
Dynamics CRM will keep only the latest version of contact information in a
single repository so that all users access the most current data.
-- Time savings. In the past, when information on an individual contact
was entered by multiple staff members of the port, it would be keyed or
written in several times in different repositories, with each entry requiring
its own updating process. Now the organization will save time by entering and
modifying contact and company data only once, making it available in real time
to all the relevant port personnel.
-- More accurate data. The elimination of multiple manual entries of
contact information on paper, in spreadsheets or in redundant databases will
reduce the opportunity for entering incorrect information. Furthermore, the
port's Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology will allow the use of drop-down boxes
when searching for a contact name, eliminating spelling errors in
communications to contacts and producing more accurate results in searches of
the database.
-- Better reporting. Microsoft Dynamics CRM will enable individual users
to produce custom reports from the centralized database, yielding more types
of reports, more targeted reporting, and faster access to reports than was
available before.
-- Customization by division to speed workflow. Each division will have
access to its own custom tabs, fields, check boxes, views and workflows that
are specific to its business dealings with customers.
The Port of Long Beach will integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 not only
with Outlook but also with the other Microsoft solutions it currently employs,
including Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007,
Microsoft Office Visio 2003, Microsoft Office Project 2003 and the Windows XP
operating system.
"When a business deals with thousands of companies and tens of thousands
of individuals, reliance on an integrated contact database is crucial," said
Michael Park, corporate vice president for Microsoft's U.S. Dynamics business.
"Manual or individually created systems present too many opportunities for
errors that can be costly to the organization's reputation and bottom line.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM can allow an organization to focus on growing the
business based on centralized and accurate contact information rather than
hunting for information or dealing with out-of-date data. Microsoft technology
brings the whole enterprise's intelligence on customers, leads and other
contacts together in one place, where it can be used reliably and
effectively."
About the Port of Long Beach
The Port of Long Beach is one of America's premier seaports and a
trailblazer in goods movement and environmental stewardship. Trade valued
annually at more than $140 billion moves through Long Beach, making it the
second-busiest seaport in the U.S. With a green port policy guiding efforts to
minimize environmental impacts, the port is also a catalyst for innovative
environmental programs. The Port of Long Beach is dedicated to helping the
community thrive.
About CRM OnTarget
CRM OnTarget was established by TriVenture in 2003 to address the evolving
need in the market for CRM software on demand. Today, CRM OnTarget is the
world's leading provider of hosted Microsoft CRM, serving clients in the
United States, Ireland, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates, with users on
every continent. For more information, please visit
http://www.crmontarget.com.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and
supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more effectively.
Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized
services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like
and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire
business.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

pr.mspx./ /CONTACT: Liz Pandzich of Airfoil Public Relations, +1-248-304-1444,
pandzich@airfoilpr.com, for Microsoft Corp.