The customer is king at ING

ING Investment Management (IM) Europe is installing a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system from
Saratoga, part of CDC Software, to share the client data it holds at its Dutch headquarters with its 12 other European
offices and consolidate all the information into one central reference point

To offer a truly personalised service, ING IM Europe needed to provide its European client service teams with easy access to
up-to-date, relevant customer information. However, even though a wealth of client data was being held at the company’s
European head office in the Netherlands, this information could not be accessed from any of its other 12 European offices. 
Worse still, any customer records that did exist were spread across a number of different applications and databases. Managing CRM across Europe required a mix of manual processes and unstructured systems that were stopping ING from getting the most
out of its customer data.

The need to share data across international borders raised other challenges as well. As a major player in the financial services sector, regulatory compliance is an absolutely critical – and complex – issue for ING IM in Europe. Not only are the rules complicated (ING IM Europe's French office, for example, is not legally allowed to view data on any of the company's Italian clients), but also legislation changes frequently and often differs from country to country. ING IM Europe needed a CRM solution that would be able
to cope with this issue as well.

The Solution 
From the beginning, ING IM Europe had two main objectives for its CRM strategy.  Firstly, the company wanted to optimise the way that its customer information was being used internally (including the production of management reports), and secondly, ING IM Europe wanted to use this information to impact positively on customer service, without detracting from its commitment to compliance. CDC Software’s Saratoga CRM system, installed early in 2007, is now helping ING IM Europe to achieve both of these goals on a daily basis, thanks to its ability to streamline, automate and transform sales, marketing and customer support processes.

ING IM Europe has been impressed by how easy it is to add information to the CDC Saratoga CRM database, and by how fast
the system is, claim the manufacturers. The ability to extend the system to include BlackBerry handheld devices was another
key benefit. “We can really see the difference since the installation earlier this year,” says Betty Pestiaux, head of the sales management centre at ING IM Europe. “I think it is fair to say that this new system is a major improvement compared with how we were working before.”

Although the product offered comprehensive functionality from day one, ING IM Europe also had the ability to customise the product to meet its specific needs regarding compliance. “People often think of CRM in terms of how it can help with the flow of customer information, but our needs are slightly different,” Pestiaux adds. “We are not only concerned with making sure that information flows freely, but we are also equally concerned with making sure that data is prevented from flowing where required by law or national regulatory guidelines. The technical support at CDC Saratoga has made this daunting task seem very easy.”

Benefits
ING IM Europe has recently begun using the new CDC Saratoga CRM software to manage its direct mail campaigns. The next step will be to extend the use of the system into more sophisticated areas, such as scheduling and follow up meetings, and for more complex analysis of its marketing activities.

The fact that CDC Saratoga CRM uses common sales language has also made it easy to use.  As a result, it is relatively easy to standardise, retrieve, and analyse information. “Client-facing employees often begin to think of each individual customer as their own personal client, but that is not very useful when he or she is in a meeting, on holiday, or unavailable for any other reason,” says Pestiaux. “Now, no matter where the employee is, it's very easy to see what is happening with the customer,” adds Pestiaux. “The information is easy to retrieve, and so can show you in an instant who is doing what, who is responsible for follow-up, and what progress has been made.”

Conclusions
CDC Saratoga CRM has provided ING Investment Management with a flexible and comprehensive solution that should help to increase the company's sales, marketing and service efficiency in Europe, without detracting from its commitment to regulatory compliance. The system has created a central point of information that will help ING to maximise the potential of its customer data,
as well as giving it the ability to improve its customer service.

“With CDC Saratoga CRM we are much better equipped to service and follow-up with our clients,” says Pestiaux. “As a result our clients are getting a better, more targeted service, and of course that was our goal for implementing the system all along.”

ING IM Europe employs approximately 700 people in 13 countries. Over 200 experienced investment specialists are involved in the daily monitoring and implementation of the company's investment strategies, and more than 100 client-servicing professionals ensure that its clients receive the required attention via the new CRM system. The European division manages over €143 billion in a variety of products for pension funds, insurance companies, foundations and fund distributors, as well as approximately €92 billion of institutional money for more than 520 institutional clients.