Investment firm ups its IQ
A private equity firm is using “relationship intelligence” to maintain intimacy with its clients even as its business expands. Adams Street Partners (Web site under construction) has deployed Interface Software’s Interaction customer relationship management system to enhance client services, find new revenue sources and differentiate itself from its competitors. The software delivers relationship intelligence, which is said to be “internal competitive content that offers a 360-degree view of client and contact relationships.”
As investment firms grow, personalized, one-to-one service can suffer, resulting in client defection, lost opportunities and declining profits. With this in mind, explains Adams Street partner Miguel Gonzalo, “We have been successful because we have met our investment objectives and remained dedicated to delivering superior client service. As we grow, we want to maintain the same level of client intimacy we achieved when the firm was smaller. [This system] will help us to do that while effectively growing our business.”
The software aggregates and manages internal competitive information about people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise; it then transforms the data into relationship intelligence. The solution complements a company’s knowledge management strategy via a Web browser, intranet, portal or wireless device.
“We scoured the marketplace,” Gonzalo adds. “Every solution we saw was designed for companies with large sales teams and call centers and focused on sales force automation, pipeline management and a host of other functions that aren’t as relevant to our business. The system Adams Street chose, however, is tailored to professional services firms that are focused on business relationships.
Molly Meng, an Adams Street partner, gives an example of how she uses the solution: “When I meet a general partner or a plan sponsor at an industry conference, I want to cultivate that relationship. I need to know more about this individual, his or her company and any other contact Adams Street has had with the person.
“For instance, someone in my firm could know a contact who might be important to this relationship, but I’m unaware that that relationship exists. With ready access to relationship intelligence, I can quickly gather this information.”
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