Vanbreda Risk & Benefits is the largest independent insurance broker in Belgium and is active in Benelux. The focus is on business insurance, which means that all insurance policies are offered to companies of all sizes and sectors.
By choosing efficy CRM, they opted for the first time for a CRM solution that was not developed in-house. The right choice, after all.
"In fact, we didn't have to choose between "buy or build" thanks to the flexibility of efficy CRM we got "buy and build"
The ongoing investment and maintenance of CRM finally gave the company the idea to explore the CRM market. “With a self-developed CRM system, you have to make changes yourself for every process.
At some point, you built a rather complex system with high maintenance costs,” explains Wim De Saegher, who was responsible for the IT approach to the CRM project.
“In addition, the integration possibilities are also limited, while our account managers need more possibilities to do their job optimally,” adds Tom Van Britsom, who is responsible for the commercial side.
It is definitely a well thought-out strategy to switch from your own system after 20 years to an external system. “On the one hand, there is the support that has to be created with the management, but also within the IT department.
On the other hand, we had to think carefully about what exactly we were looking for and expecting from a CRM system,” Tom explains.
“We knew the benefits of “build”, but what are the benefits of a “buy”, and more importantly, what are the benefits of buying and what are the drawbacks? ”
In a meeting with directors, business consultants, account managers, the intensive exercise of analyzing the pros and cons was done. The needs were as follows: User-friendliness, a web application, preferably mobile, a solid sales tool to support account managers, and most importantly, a flexible and fast solution. Clear criteria with which Vanbreda was able to analyze the CRM market.
“The meeting took place in January, the first efficy CRM presentations in March and we made our decision in May/June,” says Wim. “The project was able to start in September and we were able to move up a gear quickly thanks to the availability of the efficy account manager.
In fact, Vanbreda didn’t have to choose between “buy or build”, thanks to the flexibility of efficy CRM, they got “buy and build”.
All the features they wanted were already present in efficy CRM by default. The other features that are present can come into play at a later date. In addition, they retain the possibility to develop modules themselves.
Phase 1 has now been deployed, with phases 2, 3 and 4 still to follow. In a nutshell, it’s about the further rollout to more employees and more functionality. Vanbreda is working with a CRM team in which Tom and Wim have the final responsibility, together with the key users and ambassadors.
“Key users were trained and in turn trained ambassadors. These ambassadors then made their own instructional videos for the other users,” Tom says of the internal rollout.
Finally, Wim has some advice for efficy CRM: “Thanks to efficy’s roadmap and the philosophy of developing CRM in collaboration with customers, we get a broader input of ideas that we would not have thought of ourselves. However, suggestions sometimes stay in the efficy extranet for a relatively long time, so it could be done more quickly.
“We see an exciting partnership above all, benefiting from efficy’s proximity, but also the company’s growth and ambition. Technologically, there is still room for improvement, but in the meantime, we are already benefiting from the developments, as they are immediately usable and profitable,” concludes Tom.
"All our contracts, claims and policy holder documents are in efficy CRM. It is very easy to find information"
"efficy CRM in a nutshell: peace of mind. We have reached our cruising speed. efficy has grown a lot over the last few years, it is a genuine partnership."
"The new system will enable everyone who is in contact with a client to have a 360° view of them."
"efficy CRM has given us global coverage, can be adjusted to meet new needs quickly and easily, and was able to adapt to the strong technical constraints of our Information System."
Whether you are a bank, an association, a large company or an SME, there is an efficy solution for you!
