The Security Systems business of Siemens Building Technologies needed a single integrated solution to allow it more business flexibility and overall visibility into customer activities. They found their solution in Epicor Enterprise.
 In the $14 billion North American electronic security market, Siemens Building Technologies holds the number one position as the largest supplier of integrated security systems in the United States. Through a coast-to-coast network of 40 service offices and two security monitoring and management control centers, Siemens provides a wide range of electronic and security systems to more than 15,000 customers nationwide. With customers ranging from major corporations to government agencies, the company manages approximately 1,000 individual projects annually.
Siemens holds a strong reputation for excellent service and delivery within the electronic security industry. The company attributes its success to its highly competent workforce trained to provide the right balance of expertise and advanced technology to fulfill the specific needs of the customer.
"Our team of highly trained professionals places the client at the center of our business," says Perry Levine, vice president, Technology, Security Systems, Siemens Building Technologies. "We pride ourselves in being able to deliver systems that can address the individual needs of our customers, offering solutions to meet the most complex, integrated security needs to the stand-alone requirements of many of our midmarket customers."
Continued Growth Required a New Software Solution
Siemens knew it needed to implement a new back office software solution that would allow them more business flexibility as well as visibility into customer activity. In addition, Siemens was looking for an integrated customer service solution to centrally manage all customer accounts. As an existing Epicor customer who had successfully used one of the company's legacy DOS products for several years, Siemens again looked to Epicor for its next generation solution.
"While we evaluated other software packages, we were very impressed with Epicor Enterprise for several reasons," says Levine. "We knew our next step was to a SQL Server solution, and Epicor has clearly demonstrated solid leadership in its implementation of Microsoft technologies. Additionally, as our main business core is working on a project basis with our customers, Epicor's partnership with Star Systems was key. Lastly, one of our primary deciding factors was the integration between the solution's powerful front office module, Epicor CRM and back office module, Epicor Financials. Not only would Epicor CRM help us centralize all our customer information, but the integration with Epicor Financials would provide us with an even more powerful infrastructure to better service our own customers."
Epicor Fits Siemens Building Technologies Needs
A change Siemens experienced with the implementation of its new solution was the ability to integrate the two facets of the company's business – industrial installation and customer service – into a single system. With the new system, they have integrated these two key areas of their business and, as a result, simplified their accounting processes considerably.
Additionally, Epicor Enterprise has played a vital role in enabling Siemens to more strongly enforce specific business rules within the system. "We had users who continued through screens without addressing the error notifications they were receiving," says Levine. "And in job project costing, this was a major problem. With eBackOffice, we were able to enforce the validation of business rules. For instance, when a user accesses a specific account, they now require a project number to proceed. This has significantly minimized incidences of missing or incorrect information."
Epicor Enterprise Goes Wireless
By utilizing two-way pagers combined with the Epicor CRM's HelpDesk module, Siemens realized the ability to not only send data to the pager but then also receive data into the Epicor CRM application. Siemens found the Epicor open architecture enabled them to easily integrate with a third party, Emergin, which provided the software enabling the connection.
"One of the things we really liked about Epicor's solution was its amazing flexibility for customizations," says Levine. "The ease of customization allowed us to explore and eventually implement this wireless component, which now enables us to close calls more efficiently."
With the wireless solution, Siemens is now able to take a call and immediately assign it to a technician through a page that includes both the organization and event information. When that message arrives at the pager, an acknowledgement of receipt is automatically sent back into Epicor Enterprise. Another acknowledgement is recorded when the technician reads the message. Technicians can then change the status or close a call without ever having to directly talk to dispatch.
The HelpDesk module also plays a key role in tracking all of the assets assigned to employees, such as cell phones, pagers and PCs. Additionally, through customizations, Siemens added fields in HelpDesk that now include specific information on each technician that assists the HelpDesk team when paging.
Epicor Enterprise Benefits
With increased visibility into customer activities, Siemens has gleaned many benefits from its Epicor Enterprise implementation. Most significant is the reduction of closed job billing from a process that typically took anywhere from 2-4 weeks to a 24-hour operation.
Levine continues, "We've been thrilled with the flexibility of the Epicor solution, as we weren't fixed on specific components and capabilities. The product's ease of customization has allowed us to be extremely innovative in our development, and we've really been able to build a very robust infrastructure to support our customers. Epicor Enterprise has quickly become a core component of our business."
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