DMC is one of the UK's leading Sage business partners.
Specialising in CRM and Accountancy Software
including ACT!, Sage 200 and SalesLogix
ACT! Professional for Workgroups helps Ikon Science dig deeper for new business
Finding oil is no easy task. Before a well can be drilled the exploration company has to have 99.9% confidence they will strike oil. The cost of making mistakes can be astronomical.
As a result, oil companies need to evaluate their data very carefully. And many companies throughout the world rely on the specialised software supplied by Ikon Science - a company based in Hampton. Ikon Science is an innovative geophysics software creator focused on delivering the latest developments in geo-productivity software to interpretation professionals and their teams. The aim is to improve, through automation, existing prediction search and detection methods used in seismic data analysis.
With a desire to further tap into the American market, Ikon Science decided to leverage the power of ACT! Professional
Outlook not good enough
Peter Wells is the Network Administrator at Ikon Science and he ruefully admits that previously CRM had not been tackled as well as it might. "Basically," he recalls, "we were using Microsoft Outlook shared folders to collaborate and share information but it has limited functionality to say the least!"
Ikon Science's partner companies in the USA were already using ACT! so it made sense to use ACT! Professional on the UK side too. But as Peter explains, the previous attempt to use ACT! Professional had not set a good precedent. "It was before my time, but apparently previous installation had not gone well. People just couldn't get to grips with it and couldn't get it to do what they wanted it to do."
However he is quick to point out that this was some time ago, and since then things have changed. "We're a much bigger company now with more people, and the need to get a proper handle on CRM had become an issue even before the American move came about."
MS incompatible with MS!
Peter did look at a Microsoft CRM solution but he was astounded to hear rumours that it didn't work well with Microsoft Outlook or Exchange. "I don't know if this is true," he says, "but it's a worrying thing to hear!"
Mind you Peter is too experienced to 'just buy anything. Before committing to ACT! he insisted that a consultant come over to their offices to provide a thorough and informed demonstration and presentation. So he looked for a supplier.
DMC comes out on top
It was very clear that one of the top names in ACT! was DMC and so he contacted them. Even though DMC is located some distance away from Ikon Science, they swiftly arranged an onsite presentation. "It was a full on demonstration with an extensive question and answer session," Peter recalls. "At the end we felt very confident that ACT! Professional would do all we could ask of it."
DMC first checked out Ikon Science's server remotely using WebX to make sure all the groundwork was in place for the installation and then went ahead. "It took one day for the DMC engineer to install and a couple more days to do all the migration of databases," Peter says. "We dragged across all our Outlook data, all made easier by DMC's pre-checks and then the data from our American colleague's ACT! database."
Fast service
Peter is more than happy with DMC's service and has been pleasantly surprised at the speed of ACT! Professional too. "We were warned that using it alongside Outlook would have some effect on speed, but we have been surprised to see nothing like that," he enthuses. "It must be down to DMC's installation expertise!"
Download full Sage ACT! case study in PDF