Shred-it, an on-site document destruction company, has selected Knoa Experience and Performance Manager (EPM) to monitor end-user experience and improve end-user performance along with its use of the SAP(R) Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application.

Shred-it implemented SAP CRM to manage all customer-facing interactions, including contract administration, service orders, invoicing and customer support services. The new application is used by Shred-it employees in 80 globally dispersed locations, on five continents, to help the company serve over 150,000 customers. The ability of the Shred-it work force to use SAP CRM efficiently and effectively was vital, as one of Shred-it's core values is a commitment to do everything it takes to exceed customers' expectations.

Keeping the Shred-it work force close to its customers also keeps its employees further from centralized IT support services that are often critical to ensure efficient, effective and compliant use of new software products. Dan Snider, vice president, Business Solutions, Shred-it, had concerns that the IT team would not have sufficient visibility into the real end-user experience with the SAP CRM application and the issues individual employees were encountering. "The 'go-live' implementation of solutions such as SAP CRM can require a very intensive, hands-on end-user support practice," said Snider. "In those early critical weeks, everyone using SAP CRM should be in the line-of-sight of a support person."

Shred-it chose to deploy Knoa EPM to help ensure adoption and effective use of SAP CRM by the end-user population. Knoa EPM monitors application execution from the perspective of the end-user, and provides precise metrics about the user experience as well as measurements on how people interact with software applications. The software delivers the most accurate metrics possible on the performance of the application, and an unprecedented level of visibility into the actual performance of the end users.

Shred-it recently completed its initial implementation and is currently using Knoa to capture a wide variety of metrics about the SAP CRM application, including:

• End-user experience metrics comprising transaction response times, application errors and infrastructure faults

• End-user performance, covering adoption, utilization, compliance and user proficiency

"We were surprised by the depth and breadth of the information Knoa EPM gives us. When an employee calls us with a problem, Knoa gives us targeted contextual information that allows the team to find the cause and deliver a solution quickly," continues Snider. "More importantly, we now have complete visibility into our globally dispersed user community. In a CRM implementation, silence can be hard to interpret. With Knoa, we know if that silence masks adoption issues; if users are struggling with problems they aren't reporting; or if, in fact, things are going as well as they seem."

"Shred-it clearly understands that critical business objectives will only be achieved when each customer-facing employee is able to execute the SAP CRM application efficiently and effectively," said Lori Wizdo, vice president, Knoa Software. "We are delighted that Knoa EPM gives Shred-it a single software tool to further optimize this rollout, while boosting worker effectiveness and efficiency. The result will be an even more powerful approach to Shred-it's relentless pursuit of customer service excellence."