E-mail management saves time, money - CambridgeSoft uses Distributed Bits' ResponseNow e-mail software - Company Operations

Communications News, Feb, 1999

Joel Wolff, technical director for CambridgeSoft, knew his department needed an e-mail management tool when he noticed the test center staff "spending a lot of time cutting and pasting e-mail messages."

CambridgeSoft, a manufacturer of desktop and Internet applications for chemists and engineers, distributes software via its Web site and conducts 100% of its beta tests online. Cheaper and faster than conventional distribution routes, online testing enables the Cambridge, Mass.-based company to fine-tune capabilities and develop new applications for its products: ChemDraw, Chem 3D, ChemFinder, and ChemInfo.

After reviewing products by Mustang, Calypso, and Kana Communications. Wolff selected ResponseNow by Chicago-based Distributed Bits for its cost-effective ease of operation.

ResponseNow, an e-mail management/ customer interaction tool for the Internet, acts like a virtual call center. It files incoming e-mail into the CambridgeSoft database and tracks messages throughout the system to ensure a timely answer to customer inquiries. Installed in September 1998, ResponseNow has proven indispensable at handling large volumes of Web site e-mail during peak periods of customer communications.

"Typically, what happens is, we announce a new product online. For about a week after that, we're deluged with e-mail asking for betas of that program. Then a week goes by with nothing, and then it picks-up again as customers test the program. ResponseNow helps during that bombardment period when we're getting 50 e-mail requests a day," says Wolff.

ResponseNow operates on a standard Microsoft SQL server and easily can be adapted to any system. The program allows "one-click" answers to commonly asked questions and can customize answers to frequently asked questions. This flexibility allows test center employees to craft individual answers to e-mail inquiries and communicate with a wide variety of national and international customers on a one-to-one basis.

"The ability to personalize answers to e-mail questions is important to us since we never know who we're dealing with," says Wolff. "We can be talking to executives at major pharmaceuticals one minute and students or secretaries at universities the next. For that reason, it's important to be able to customize responses to e-mail messages."

ResponseNow increases efficiency and cuts costs, enabling test center employees to manage their time more effectively. Staff members used to spend between 16 and 20 hours per month cutting and pasting e-mail messages, and then filing them in folders. As a result of installing of ResponseNow, employees spend more time on important endeavors and less on the tedious task of e-mail administration.

"During September, October, and November of last year, ResponseNow fielded between 350 and 400 testing e-mail inquiries per month or about 1,100 total. Using ResponseNow saved us about 60 work hours during that time, which equates to roughly a $3,000 return on our investment," says Wolff.

Wolff, who plans to deploy ResponseNow in technical support soon, hopes to realize similar savings in that department.

"During October and November, we had about 1,800 technical support inquiries. If we had ResponseNow in place for technical support, I estimate we could have saved another 100 hours of labor or roughly $4,500."

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