Founded in 1983 by CEO Robert King with a focus on high-performance tools that support a healthy, more active way of working, Humanscale is now the global ergonomics leader with a reputation for designing intuitive products which improve the comfort and health of office workers.
The company, headquartered in New York, made its first mark as a workplace ergonomics pioneer in the 1990s with the introduction of revolutionary articulating keyboard systems. Humanscale solidified its status as a true market leader with the introduction of the Freedom chair in 1999, created by renowned ergonomics designer Niels Diffrient. The innovative executive task chair broke new ground by combining unprecedented functionality with minimal manual controls. Humanscale followed suit with a series of Diffrient seating designs including Liberty, Diffrient World, and Smart chair.
Below is our interview with Jennifer Sparks, Senior Program Manager with Humanscale.
Q: Briefly describe Humanscale and your role there.
A: Ergonomic office equipment and a senior program manager responsible for leading and managing all aspects of program operations including development, implementation, training, testing, auditing and maintenance of specific sales and service programs.
Q: Humanscale is well respected in the industry; what do you attribute to that reputation?
A: Our designs truly appeal to people and that’s one of the key reasons for our success.
Q: What was the impetus for the move to a CRM?
A: Our ERP changed to SyteLine by Infor and it made sense to also change our CRM to Infor for simple connectivity between both systems.
Q: Did you evaluate other CRM options? If so, which ones?
A: We switched from Oracle to Infor but I wasn’t involved during the process beforehand when evaluations were being completed.
Q: What departmental challenges had you been facing before implementing Infor CRM SLX?
A: Nothing major.
Q: What’s the biggest misconception you had about deploying a CRM solution?
A: Just having to switch to a new one from Oracle to Infor was the learning curve.
Q: What’s the biggest disappointment you had once Infor CRM SLX had been up and running?
A: Just the time needed to switch from one CRM to another.
Q: How has productivity improved since using Infor CRM SLX?
A: Our data reporting has gotten better as the utilization of Infor CRM SLX has improved.
Q: How have Humanscale’s employees reacted to using Infor CRM SLX?
A: Hesitant at first simply because of learning a new system, but fine once trained and acclimated.
Q: What’s the biggest surprise you had once Infor CRM SLX had been up and running?
A: Nothing.
Q: How has Humanscale’s management reacted since utilizing Infor CRM SLX?
A: Have been very satisfied.
Q: How much has the ability to access your data from any device and anywhere in the world made an impact to Humanscale?
A: A huge impact as this was very important to the team and one major reason for the switch to Infor CRM SLX.
Q: How would you describe your experience working with Syncsite?
A: Our experience has been great and support team has been very responsive. They understand technology, the CRM system and how it operates from an end user perspective. Because of this, they are able to work with and communicate with all parties involved.
Q: What processes have improved the most since implementing Infor CRM SLX?
A: Reporting has improved along with accountability with employees.
Q: What advice would you give another company about implementing Infor CRM SLX?
A: Have training complete close to the actual go live date and not have too long of a gap before using system. Define and set some realistic business goals to drive adoption and provide reporting for the business leaders to give them the visibility they need to monitor, drive and guide the adoption.
Q: Would you recommend Syncsite to another Infor CRM SLX prospect?
A: Absolutely. They have been an incredible partner.