Monday, January 19, 2009

Ben Lockett's CUSTOMER References

Martin P., VP Finance - Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC)

"I'm a big fan of yours and really (truthfully!) a big part of the reason why we chose Crystal here at ICBC, even more important, was that after the sale was done you actually delivered on your promises. I found you to be customer service oriented and overall a good guy that I could trust in doing business with.."

Pam Y., Sr Dir, Corporate Information Technology - Genentech

“Ben Lockett has been one of only 2 people who have remained in contact with Genentech during the last 2 years. If I call him I know that the issue I raise will be channeled to the right people at Crystal who can take the fastest action to achieve resolution. He has built close business relationships with my team at all levels and continues to develop relationships when new staff arrives. I find him to have a can do attitude, incredibly professional and has a good grasp of Crystal Technology and understands how this technology can benefit my organization.”

Gary P., Manager Enterprise Reporting - Discover Card

I just wanted to take the time to send you an email to let you know how appreciative I've been of you over that last few years. If you can remember three years ago when Discover first signed "The" contract and we chose Crystal (at the time Seagate) as our reporting tool; I was very unsure at how all this would work. With the help of many people at Crystal, including you Ben, I can say that it has been very successful.

The Crystal Decisions Professional Services orginization were critical to the success that we have had here at Discover Card. Let me just recap some of the things you have helped me with:

We hired you to help us plan out our 25 server, 5 APSs Seagate Info 7.5 originally to support our Aspect Call Center reporting. When it came time to build the reports you helped us with finding
consultants. You were always making sure we were happy with the people and successful in what we do.

We used professional services to train our Seagate Info Admins.

We brought in many partners and Crystal employee's into our company over the years for many different jobs including, Holos training, Crystal Enterprise help, Report Development and training. In addition there were many small jobs that you were able to find people to help with when I didn't have the staff to do it myself.

We involved you as we started planning on migrating to Crystal Enterprise. The origional plans we made are being used now to make sure our migration is successful.

As our needs changed you were able to help us with additional resources and ideas.

Even when things didn't go as smoothly as we would have hoped. I can not remember once thinking that Ben isn't doing everying he can do to make this a success.

Again, I just wanted to say thanks for all your help. Even though Crystal has been changing and I have different people that I work with now, I really value our partnership. You have helped make my job successful.

Three years ago I was given a project to change our reporting tool. Now I am the manager of Enteprise Reporting and I have staff reporting to me.

Our team is involved in most every project that goes on in Discover becasue reporting has now become critical to it's success.

Thanks,

Doyle B., VP Enterprise Reporting - Diner's Club

As you know *********** is a key part of CitiCorps Diner's Club's strategic vision, providing an essential analysis tool for our corporate customers. Crystal Decisions' involvement in Global Vision began in early 2001, since that time you have played a very strategic role, becoming the interface that I use most when I need prompt reaction and follow through. Even if this is sometimes the back door approach!

Your knowledge of the internal structure at Crystal Decisions in superb and you always know who to call to when we need serious issues resolved. Almost a break glass in case of emergency situation!

Last April, as we were heading towards our go live date, we hit a major technical hurdle regarding a 3rd party COM wrapper. You were instrumental in getting the right players from Crystal to support us during this "down to the wire" time. As a direct result of this support we were able to go live as planned. While we continue to have Seagate Info related issues, ******* receives good reviews from our customers, the acid test of every Application Project.

As we move in the direction of other Crystal technologies, I look forward to continuing the partnership you have fostered between Diner's and Crystal Decisions and to seeing you in the "customers' champion" role that you have played over the last 2 years.

Greg P., Mgr, Information Architecture Services - Novell

Approximately a year ago, we started our relationship with Crystal. One of the key selling points the Crystal people stressed during the sales process was the Customer Quality Manager program. Initially I was skeptical, because my past experience in working with several other business intelligence vendors over the years has been anything but a partnership. However, the concept seemed very powerful, and definitely an added benefit to Novell. When we talked to customer references for both Crystal and ******** (the two finalists), we definitely got a much stronger feeling from the Crystal customers that they felt more of a commitment to satisfaction from Crystal.

So, that led us to believe the Customer Quality Manager program was real. After the deal was closed, and Ben Lockett was introduced as the Customer Quality Manager, it quickly became apparent that for the first time ever in working with a business intelligence vendor, we had an advocate looking out for our interests back at Crystal. Issues get resolved faster, and in a way that is more of a permanent solution, not just a "band-aid". Ben also is helpful in staying on top of communications so everyone on both sides are clear about who has agreed to do what, when, and the status. This saves substantial time and effort on both sides. Things move forward more smoothly, so one side or the other isn't always waiting on the other, and wondering where things are. All this has contributed to an unprecedented feeling of partnership with Crystal. Its an acknowledged principle in customer/vendor relationships, that getting to a partner level makes it very difficult for the customer to go a different direction in the future. So, this clearly was a strategic advantage for Crystal. Hopefully it will remain so now that Business Objects is in charge.

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