Braskem adopts Columbus IT's CRM and improves relationship with investors

Organized in 2002, Braskem was already born big. Result of the merger of six outstanding petrochemical companies in their operation areas, the thermoplastic resins manufacturer boasts figures compatible with its sector leading position in Latin America. It has over 3,500 employees, gross annual income above R$ 15 billion (US$ 8 billion), 14 factories, over 20 thousand shareholders, and shares listed in the stock exchanges of São Paulo, New York and Madrid, with 51.9% of its shares freely negotiated in those markets. Facilitating communications between this vast  group, controllers and the various opinion makers is the more than strategic mission of the Investor Relations area.

“We are the main intermediates between the financial markets, shareholders, market analysts, investors - comprising both individual and institutional investors – and the company. We work with all information which, after disclosed, help to value  shares more fairly at stock exchanges”, explains Braskem's Investor Relations Manager, Luciana Ferreira. “In time”, she completes, “we noticed that it would be important to have a more accurate control over this relationship”. The solution came unexpectedly, with a customer relationship management system - CRM, in the English acronym – until then known as a marketing or consumer assistance tool.

Investors as clients

The idea, according to Luciana, was exactly that: look at investors as clients, who require differentiated information and assistance, according to their profile. For this to become a reality, it would be necessary to register and relate the interactions made by the company (by e-mail, telephone or in person, at events or meetings) with the actions of investors and analysts who write investment recommendations for the institutions where they work. “We discovered the need of documenting the history of those relationships, as only this way we would be able to deliver to each the information that they need to make their investment decisions”, she summarizes.

For the IR team, it was a significant change. Until then, such histories depended on the memory of each analyst and the contacts were limited to personal notes and business card collections, most of the time using tools like Microsoft Excel electronic spreadsheet. “As our team is small, this did not prevent us of doing a good work so far, but we noticed that technology would allow us to go farther. It aligns and organizes this knowledge, making the same information available to all members”, the executive completes.

The technology selected by Braskem was Microsoft Dynamics CRM. One of the main reasons for the choice was its flexibility. The software was jointly adapted by the company's IR team, which participated in the scope and functionality specifications, and through a partnership between Columbus IT, a Danish multinational and one of Microsoft's main partners, and the corporate communication consulting firm FIRB - Financial Investors Relation Brasil.

The implementation was quick – it took about three months. The results could already be observed in the first weeks of use. Rodrigo Maia, IR analyst at Braskem whom already worked with information technology and is certified by Microsoft, points out the facility with which the tool was adapted to the daily routines of his colleagues. “The CRM adoption in an area like ours involves changes of habits and culture. The fact that Dynamics CRM uses Outlook as interface is effectively a facilitator”, he assesses. In Outlook, the CRM screens appear as items of a folder, and as the program was already used by the team,  the adaptation to the system was practically immediate.

Strategic information

Braskem's communication process with its investors was improved. With Dynamics CRM, Braskem keeps in a single data base the history of their relationship with shareholders, investors, analysts and journalists. The tool provides the IR analyst with the possibility of talking to his or her various audiences based on information coherent and validated by his or her peers, which avoids misunderstandings. “This is fundamental, as information quality makes the difference when the market determines the price of publicly listed shares”, Luciana explains, pointing out that the CRM benefits are already being noticed internally, both in daily tasks and in interactions with investors.