Case Study: Douglas Scientific

Solution: Salesforce Service Cloud

How to use Salesforce to lay the foundation for rapid growth

Douglas Scientific sells a revolutionary fluid dispensing and array tape platform for genetic screening and discovery. A newly formed division of Minnesota-based Douglas Machine, the company has sold its groundbreaking technology to the world’s leading ag biotech companies.

But Douglas Scientific has no intention of stopping there. Over the next few years, the company intends to expand its customer base and revenues many-fold. The company is determined, however, to avoid the growing pains that often accompany a start-up’s rapid expansion. That’s why Douglas turned to Demand Chain for a Salesforce implementation to ensure that no matter how fast its sales activities and customer relationship requirements grew, they’d never outstrip the company’s ability to scale operations.

Before this Demand Chain implementation, Douglas’s sales and customer service team relied on contact management software and spreadsheets to monitor pipeline activity and customer service requests. That worked for dozens of contacts but certainly not hundreds or even thousands. Now, with Salesforce.com, the company has a centralized database of all customer activity. This allows sales reps to strategically plan their sales efforts and ensure they are never blindsided by customer service issues. It also allows the company to monitor its performance against the demanding service level agreements in place with its biotech laboratory scientists.

The next phase for Douglas Scientific will be the implementation of Salesforce’s customer self-service portal. This Douglas-branded portal will allow customers, who have facilities all around the world, to log cases 24×7, instead of using emails or phone calls.

“We intend to support our markets with the most responsive service, whether they are customers, prospects, or industry influencers” says Dan Malmstrom, Douglas Scientific General Manager. “We also want our client and service executives equipped with the best information available as they serve those relationships. Demand Chain has done a great job to quickly implement a system that elevates our market acumen.”

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