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Home > Oracle Database / Applications News > CRM helps Philly's biggest landlord clean house |
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Oracle-PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and a host of other Oracle-PeopleSoft business applications are helping the authority increase call center efficiency, cut operations costs and reduce employee headcount, a PHA leader said in an interview. The PHA develops, purchases, leases and operates affordable housing for citizens in need, and recently finished implementing Oracle-PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM and support. The semi-public organization, which gets its funding primarily through a combination of government and private grants and rental income, had already replaced legacy Emphasis Unidata systems with PeopleSoft's Financial Management, Enterprise Human Capital Management, and Enterprise Supply Chain Management. Six years ago, the housing authority began implementing PeopleSoft, well before Oracle purchased the popular software maker for $10.3 billion. PHA executive director Carl Greene remembers that there were concerns about continued support and development of PeopleSoft software during and after Oracle's tumultuous takeover bid. But the organization decided to stay the course, Greene said, and despite some challenges along the way, they're highly satisfied with the results. At a time when housing authority funding is drying up, technological upgrades have allowed the PHA to reduce operating costs and halve the number of service workers it employs, Greene said. Meanwhile, efficiencies in handling service calls, maintenance workers, housing applicants and supply chain management have improved dramatically. "The cost benefit has been well worth the investment," said Greene, who has a graduate degree in information systems technology but has worked mainly on the business side of things throughout his career. "This is the kind of investment that can last 10 to 15 years."
A time for change The funny thing about a call center, Greene explained, is that the worse it runs, the more calls it gets. That's because dissatisfied people like to complain about poor service; and back in 2001, PHA call center agents were fielding more complaints than they could handle. It was an unacceptable scenario for Philadelphia's biggest landlord, which today provides housing for about 80,000 low-income residents and fields an average of 4,000 -- and as many as 10,000 -- calls per day from tenants, applicants and vendors. "Calls were going all over the place, and basically a lot of calls didn't get returned," Greene remembered. "People were oftentimes angry and frustrated." It became clear to Greene that the organization needed to upgrade its technology and streamline its customer-facing systems in order to manage requests more effectively. Greene and the PHA began evaluating their options. The organization didn't have a systems integrator of its own, so finding a software vendor with strong consulting services was a primary goal. The PHA looked at SAP AG and Lawson Software Inc., but for various reasons neither of them fit the bill. Lawson had strong points but seemed too much like a niche player. Greene wanted a more robust vendor with a stronger upgrade path, and he wanted software that could be customized with relative ease. He found that SAP presented problems in the areas of flexibility and adaptability. PHA executives ultimately decided to go with PeopleSoft because it met all their criteria. The organization began by launching PeopleSoft Financials and PeopleSoft Human Resources in 2001. It has been adding new PeopleSoft modules ever since. The upgrades have allowed the PHA to automate its financial system and establish a more cost-effective transaction processing system by connecting PeopleSoft Enterprise Accounts Receivable with PeopleSoft Enterprise General Ledger. Maintenance procedures have been improved by using PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM Field Service to capture and report on maintenance-related labor and costs. And reduced paperwork has decreased the employees' workload. Meanwhile, the new PeopleSoft Enterprise Support system has allowed the PHA to launch a new voice-response system through integration with telephony solutions from Verizon, Nortel and AMC. The new system allows callers to reach a unified interactive voice response system that provides answers to common questions and connects callers to live employees when necessary. Before, customers had to call several phone numbers to reach the right department, and the PHA had no systems for tracking customer inquiries. Throughout the entire process, Greene says, the biggest technical challenge has been dealing with software upgrades. With all the customizations the PHA has made to the PeopleSoft software, the process of getting everything in sync makes what otherwise might have been a simple upgrade feel like a complete software re-implementation. What the future holds Looking ahead, the PHA plans to roll out PeopleSoft Enterprise Support at 15 more locations throughout the city, upgrade to the latest version of PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management, and add the PeopleSoft eProcurement module to its PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management System. The organization also wants to develop and customize housing-related CRM applications, including PeopleSoft Enterprise Applications Waiting List, PeopleSoft Eligibility Processing, and PeopleSoft Tenant Management. Greene says the PHA -- which also runs Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL Server, BEA WebLogic, and Business Objects for reporting -- is taking things one day at a time and hasn't decided whether it will upgrade to Fusion Middleware, the Java-based platform on which all Oracle products will eventually run. A more important concern right now is keeping up with the latest versions of Oracle-PeopleSoft software. "The further behind the application," Greene said, "the more difficult the upgrade is going to be."
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