A Brew With….John Graham of the Distinctive Group

3 Sep 2015

This month we are talking to John Graham, CEO of Distinctive Group, an international publishing company who has used OpenCRM for more than eight years.

Tell me a little bit about your business?
We are a group of companies that originated as a traditional publishing company in 2003 but now cover areas such as Training, Marketing, Design, and language schools. We are based in the UK but have international reach with our language schools covering areas as far away as China.

When did you start working with OpenCRM and what attracted you to the system?
We originally stumbled across OpenCRM when looking to involve a more systematic approach to our document handling needs within our training business in 2008.

Quite complex in nature we needed something robust enough to satisfy government contract needs and give us insight into the management of our business processes.

After looking at the main players across the board, OpenCRM offered a cost effective solution that could be tailored to our ever changing needs. The agility of the system and the approach of the staff and its management team to our fluctuating needs was the big difference between OpenCRM and its competitors.

How has OpenCRM changed your business?
It has provided a framework for our company to follow and allows us a systematic way of tracking our various activities. This in turn allows us a set of guidelines that can easily be translated to staff regardless of location, and gives a set of tailored outputs so we can make solid decisions.

Additionally, the system has allowed us to work towards new Research and Development opportunities that have involved OpenCRM and its uses, giving us an element of competitive advantage in an already crowded marketplace.

What would you tell your friends/customers about OpenCRM? Would you recommend them?
Big enough to cope and small enough to care! I will never forgot that initial conversation I had and something I always refer to.

The system is agile, and capable of handling the majority of business data and reporting issues easily, but it’s the team that makes the difference.

On every touching point the OpenCRM team have always working hand in glove with us to achieve our goals. I’ve never once faced long hold times when looking for support and direction, and resolutions are always fast and efficient.

I’d highly recommend not just the system but their entire approach to business engagement philosophy.