Business Situation
In The Netherlands, the Shop Account Managers of Sara Lee International keep in close contact with their retail channels. Due to the competitive nature of the retail market, it is of the utmost importance that the sales force is supported with a customer relationship management solution which is agile and responds to their requirements.

Solution
Sara Lee partnered with Avanade to implement a solution to address these challenges: 

• An Envisioning Phase, which was initiated by Avanade, identified additional analysis in order to detail the specific requirements for the system
• Microsoft CRM was chosen due to its tight integration with other Microsoft technologies and this meant that user acceptance would be quite high and the learning curve for users would be short
• Microsoft CRM was also a good fit for the business process and had the functionality required by Sara Lee

Results

• Reports on the sales force are available immediately. Therefore, it’s possible to act directly on any changes in the sales process.
• The solution was user friendly and internal acceptance was high mainly due to the familiarity of the staff with Microsoft technology and other Microsoft applications.
• Because of the user friendly and modern aspects of the solution, this solution can be maintained for several years.
• Additional opportunities for local initiatives are enabled due to the easy availability of information
• Increased productivity and effectiveness of sales staff