Cannistraro was dealing with a challenge managing its customer data and opportunities, which were scattered across various platforms and not easily accessible. This made it challenging to keep track of customer interactions, identify opportunities, including RFPs, and respond to customer needs in a timely manner. As a result, Cannistraro was missing out on potential sales opportunities, as well as struggling to provide top-notch customer service. 

The executive team was hesitant to implement a new system for managing its customer data, concerned it would become time-consuming, costly, and disruptive to their existing processes.

However, Polar Strategy stepped in and curated the entire development and adoption process with senior members at Cannistraro to develop an implementation approach that would not disrupt on-going sales processes and would be deployed in phases to maximize adoption and efficiency. Cannistraro was able to realize the vision of a modern CRM platform that would keep them competitive as a leader in their industry. 

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30% reduction in the time required to create proposals, and a 25% increase in the win rate for proposals.

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Solution

Building New Experiences for Customers & Employees

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In 2019, Polar Strategy worked closely with Cannistraro to implement SugarCRM Enterprise. The project timeline was set for 3-4 months, with the primary goal of streamlining customer management processes, enhancing collaboration, tracking and responding to RFPs, and improving customer experience.

Main Work Modules & Customization

Polar began by identifying the main work modules and customizations required for specific needs through extensive working sessions with the various departments. This resulted in implementing service reports, dashboards, and advanced workflows geared towards providing the right information to the right users and reducing the number of clicks and data entry needed. 

SugarCRM Mobile App

The management team was concerned about easy access to information. Polar alleviated this concern by delivering a SugarCRM mobile app for users to maintain access to relevant information on the go. The mobile app was designed to provide employees with the flexibility to manage customer data, update records, and collaborate with team members from anywhere at any time.

CMiC Integration

The project also involved integrating a construction management software, CMiC, which was completed, tested, and made fully functional within the first 30 days, enabling seamless communication between the two systems.

Further Customization - Automated Proposal Generation

To further enhance the system's functionality, Tim Miller, the Cannistraro project lead, wanted a system that could automatically provide proposals or quotes with a single click. Polar reviewed industry solutions and after a pilot, together with Cannistraro, landed on a PandaDoc Integration. Cannistratro’s SugarCRM application could now pull client information and project bid details directly from its database and use this information to populate a proposal template in PandaDoc, enabling rapid proposal generation.

Results

As a result of the project, Cannistraro was able to centralize its customer management processes, resulting in significant time and cost savings. The automated proposal generation workflow through the integration of PandaDoc led to the company submitting more proposals in less time, leading to an increase in revenue. The integration of CMiC with SugarCRM also enabled:

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• Improved collaboration between departments 
• Real-time updates for better customer & project management
• Advanced workflows and customized reports
• Customer360 view in a single record summarizing the entire lifecycle of a customer and their projects 

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Today, Cannistraro continues to be recognized as Boston’s largest mechanical construction firm with more than 1,000 employees with the latest technology and a brilliant customer-centric approach.

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Polar Strategy was able to deliver the final product on-time and on-budget. Polar also provided Cannistraro with the necessary training and support to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.