Workbase was established in 1996 as the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development.

It is a non-profit organisation that works with business and industry groups, individual businesses and government agencies to improve the literacy, numeracy, language, information technology and communication skills of the New Zealand workforce.

Workbase was awarded the UNESCO International Reading Association’s Literacy Award in 2001.

A fundamental part of the organisation’s work is the provision of training programmes at workplaces. The organisations that deploy Workbase training programmes, appreciate the fact that a more literate, numerate and skilled workforce is a more productive workforce.

Another key part of Workbase’s portfolio is the development of research and information on workforce literacy to inform government policy, public awareness and business and industry practice.

Workbase provides a wide range of publications that are available in hardcopy and electronically, that promote adult literacy and the benefits of a literate New Zealand workforce.

To help get its message across Workbase works with other literacy providers and training organisations, helping them with professional development and the delivery of curriculum and teaching resources.

The range of relationships and contacts Workbase maintains is large and complex, and can involve multiple contacts within an organisation working with a range of people and departments within Workbase.

Vital to the efficient operation of each section and team within Workbase is having a mechanism that allows them to manage those relationships and keep track of all communications and interactions. Since 2002 they have been using ACT! to do just that.

The power of ACT!
Adrienne Donne, office manager for Workbase, explains how they manage all their contacts and keep track of everything that’s happening. “We’re using ACT! for all our contact management across the organisation,” Donne says.

“We find it really powerful for the fact that we have people working in lots of different areas, who may be working with the same or similar people or certainly the same organisations.”

Important is the ability to track what has been said to whom, who is meeting whom, who has received what publication or email, and so on. “We’ve setup ACT! with a particular focus on its notes and history function, to be able to alert somebody in one area with work another team may be doing,” Donne says.

Workbase is divided into a range of business units, including:

• The programmes unit which delivers the workplace and business premises training.
• A professional development team that delivers professional development resources to trainers and other workplace literacy organisations.
• The sector development team that works on government-funded projects to up-skill and increase the adult literacy sector.
• A consulting services arm that works at a personalised level, where a company may have a training arm themselves, but don’t know how to deliver the literacy component. The consultants can provide help and advice on company documentation – even doing a needs analysis to identify areas of weakness for them.

There is also a library and information services area, providing the largest specialist resource library for the adult literacy sector in New Zealand.

The Librarian might be working with someone from an organisation who is also working with the sector development team while also liaising with consulting services.

To avoid double handling of the contact and duplication in data entry, ACT! allows everyone within the organisation to see what everyone else is doing. Currently 30 people across the entire business are using ACT! to manage all their contacts and the interactions they have with them.

One key feature that Workbase has found extremely useful is the grouping function.

“We use the group functionality a tremendous amount. Just recently we had to mail out a letter and a new publication called The Economic Imperative, which went out to a number of key businesses, relevant members of parliament, all of our employer organizations as well as to our unions,” says Donne.

“ACT! allowed us to group all relevant contacts together and tailor the letter to meet the needs of each of those particular groups. And then the next time we write a publication, we’ll be able to go back to that group and say these are the sort of people we sent this to and why we sent it to them.”

Working with a partner they trust
To get the most out of ACT! and ensure all their people are trained to use it effectively, Workbase uses the services of Xact Software Solutions Ltd.

“We’ve worked really closely with Xact. We’ve been lucky to have a trainer and a consultant for the entire time we’ve had ACT! - they have grown and evolved with us and in the way we use ACT!” says Donne.

“Right from the beginning Xact’s level of knowledge and expertise was apparent. It was clear from the outset that Xact was credible, their knowledge of the product and presentation of ACT! to us was a key factor in us deciding to go with ACT!” Xact Software was originally engaged by Workbase to install and customise ACT! 6.0 and to provide ongoing administrator and user training and support.

Xact Software has developed the ideal CRM solution for Workbase by automating their back up processes, providing mail merge add-on products and automated cleansing of their address book. Training has been a particular focus for Workbase and Xact Software has continued to provide customised training for them as their business has evolved.

“When we brought ACT! into the organisation we found it user friendly and we could adapt the fields to what we wanted,” says Donne. “So now the original training doesn’t match what we actually have as a system. We’ve been lucky that we have an ongoing relationship with a trainer who has grown with us, so when they do staff training for us our own individual customisations and requirements are incorporated.”

ACT! and what it does for Workbase is vital to Workbase, in managing all of their communications, emails, letters, newsletters, meetings, and publications.

“I believe it is quite a critical area for us. We use it, all our contacts are in it, no one is using anything else,” says Donne.

“It’s proven to be very powerful, because we can now see over five years, the history of the people who’ve been involved in the different seminars that we run, what sort of publications we’ve sent out, who has received our newsletter and with everything else we do”.

Workbase intends to upgrade to ACT! 9.0 in the near future and Xact Software will again work closely with their client to ensure the best CRM outcomes for their business.

For more information
Sage Business Solutions
www.sagebusiness.com.au
0800 775 617

September 2007