Implementation

1. How long does it take to get up and running?

With your active cooperation and participation, Credentrust CAM can be implemented within a week although 2-3 weeks is more typical if you are converting from a paper-based process. It takes a few hours for us to do the basic setup and another 2-3 business days for us to create your application based on your existing paper application and to set up the accounts for you to pull credit reports (either via your existing accounts with the credit bureaus or our own).

All other setup options can be done by your company or Credentrust. This includes creating users, setting permissions, setting your workflow preferences and creating your documents. The setup process is very straightforward and is done entirely via our browser-based administration screens.
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2. Do we need any particular hardware or software?

Nope. Credentrust CAM is a hosted, browser-based application. Credentrust supplies all of the necessary hardware, software and hosting, and manages the system for you. Your company simply needs internet access and a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.
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3. We have people in multiple locations. How do we handle training?

Credentrust offers training materials that you can use for training employees such as Powerpoint presentations and training manuals. We also provide training, including full demonstrations of the system, via Webex, a web conferencing system. This allows any employee with Internet access to participate in the training from anywhere in the world. In addition to the initial training and training materials, Credentrust CAM contains integrated Help screens which explain how to use each feature.
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4. We are a big company. Can Credentrust CAM scale to handle our needs?

You bet. Credentrust CAM is built on a very scalable platform using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and Macromedia ColdFusion. We have done extensive scalability testing and constantly monitor our server usage to ensure we have adequate hardware. Credentrust CAM is already being used by several large companies, including SYSCO Food Services, Hilton Hotels, CB Richard Ellis and Zurich North America.
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5. Do you work with us to implement Credentrust CAM or are we on our own?

Of course. We can handle almost all aspects of the setup process for your company. Simply provide us with the necessary information and items (we provide you with a list during setup) and we can take care of everything. We often help our customers with the initial setup and work with them to train the person(s) responsible for updating the setup options in the future when necessary.
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Customization

6. Can we customize the system to meet our needs?

You bet. Credentrust CAM is designed to be significantly customizable. Most aspects of the system are easily customizable by your company directly via our browser-based administration screens. And for the few components that are not easily customizable, we can often customize them for you.
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7. What if we have custom requirements or need features that you do not already have?

Just let us know. We prioritize our development based on customer feedback. If you need a particular feature that is not already in the system, tell us and we will try to add it as soon as possible. And if you have a significant custom requirement, let us know so that we can provide an assessment on whether it can be implemented for you in a timely manner.

For the rare request that both takes a lot of work to implement and applies only to your company, we may ask you to share the development cost. But we find that most customer requests are for features that will be useful to all of our customers. So while we often add new features at the request of a customer, we do not pass the development cost on to the customer because it enhances the functionality of the system for all of our customers.
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8. We have lots of documents and letters. Can you automatically generate those documents with the customer information already included?

You bet. The Document Library Module can generate documents of almost any type and can include new information that you enter, fields from the credit application, fields from other documents, and even values based on calculations of existing fields. The documents can be viewed within a customer vault, emailed or faxed to customers, and even saved as a Word document.
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9. Can Credentrust CAM handle follow-up documents that customers must complete after the initial application?

You bet. One document type is an "external document" which means that customers can generate the document based on your existing template. For instance, if you have a form that customers typically complete on paper and then fax to you, you create that form in the Document Library Module and customers are automatically permitted to generate that document at any time directly from within their vault. It can even be printed and signed by the customer, and then faxed directly into their vault.
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Customers

10. What if our customers do not use the Internet?

This is a concern of many of our customers. In our experience, while not all of your customers may have a website or dedicated internet access at their office, we have found that the vast majority of customers have at least dial-up internet access at their office or home.

And for those rare customers who truly have no internet access, we offer three additional solutions:

1. A credit application via Microsoft Excel that can be completed by your salesperson and then easily uploaded into the system.
2. You can create the credit application and customer vault on behalf of the customer.
3. The customer can fax the credit application directly into your account. It is automatically saved in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. You can then either type the credit application into the system or simply use the fax version.

11. What if our customers forget their passwords?

The login screen to the customer's vault offers an option to retrieve their username and/or reset their password. They must simply remember their email address and have access to their email account. They can also contact Credentrust Support directly.
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12. Our attorneys demand a paper signature. Can Credentrust CAM accommodate that?

Yes, the credit application can be easily printed. And if you currently have a PDF version of your paper application, we can dynamically populate the PDF file so your customers can save and print the PDF file with their data already in it. Several customers currently have an Agreement page as part of their online credit application which can be printed, signed and faxed as an individual page rather than requiring the entire application.
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13. How does Credentrust CAM integrate with the Credentrust Finance Center?

For your customers, Credentrust CAM and the Finance Center use the same vault. When they create a loan application, many of the fields are automatically pre-populated with fields from the credit application. Also, lenders know they are a customer of your company, which validates for the lender that this is a valid borrower.

Companies can view reports on Finance Center activity and status of their customers directly from the Credentrust CAM system. And because Credentrust shares revenue from the Finance Center with your company, the Finance Center can quickly become a profit center and more than pay for the cost of Credentrust CAM.
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Cost

14. Why should we use Credentrust CAM instead of buying a software package?

Enterprise-class credit management solutions such as Credentrust CAM can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars just for the software license alone. That does not include the cost of implementation (lots of consultants?), customization, hardware, hosting, storage, backup and ongoing management and maintenance by your IT staff. Plus software companies often charge an annual maintenance fee for upgrades and support.

If you need new features, you must often wait several months or years for the next version, which even then may not offer the functionality you need. And if you customized your original version, you will then have to re-customize everything with the upgrade.

With Credentrust CAM, you get a full-featured, fully-customizable credit management solution that is hosted, managed and maintained for you. There are no requirements from your IT staff. Moreover, Credentrust frequently adds new functionality at no cost to you. And because our development schedule is driven by customer feedback, we can often add features within weeks or your requesting them.

Credentrust CAM also charges per credit application, not per user. So your cost is not based on the number of employees, but rather how many of your customer use our system. Credentrust CAM is also integrated with the Credentrust Finance Center, which can quickly become a profit center and actually pay for the cost of Credentrust CAM and then some.

Regarding your data, Credentrust also offers several export options, including XML, tab-delimited and fixed-length files. We can also support other export options upon request. That way, your data is always quickly available in a format that you can import into your existing systems, either on a per-application basis or in batch mode.
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15. Our paper process works well now. How will Credentrust CAM pay for itself?

We have worked with several companies that believe their paper-based process is suiting their needs. Not surprisingly, we often find quite a few places where the paper-based process can be improved upon - even the best paper process has inherent inefficiencies.

16. Is Credentrust CAM worth the cost if we do not currently process too many credit applications?

With Credentrust CAM, you only pay for each application that you process. You do not pay based on the number of users. Even if you only process a few applications, Credentrust CAM still provides significant gains in productivity and efficiency. At the very least, it frees up the people who process applications to perform other value-added tasks. If processing new applications is simply a distracting sideline responsibility, Credentrust CAM enables them to spend more time on their primary responsibilities.
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17. We already purchase credit reports. Can we use our existing credit bureau accounts?

Of course. Simply provide us with your account information. Then, when you purchase credit reports via Credentrust CAM, it will be purchasing them on your existing account. Billing will stay the same, i.e., directly from the credit bureau to you at your existing price and terms. You may even purchase credit reports from one bureau via your existing account and purchase reports from other bureaus via Credentrust that you may not currently use. The advantage to purchasing credit reports from Credentrust is a unified bill for all services.
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Security & Data

18. Will our data be secure?

System security and data safeguarding are of the utmost importance to Credentrust. Our system is designed and managed to provide the necessary security and ensure that only approved users have access only to the data for which they are authorized. Credentrust follows industry-standard security practices and procedures. For more information on our security policies and procedures, please see our Security page.
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19. Can we determine the permissions for each of our employees?

Credentrust CAM enables you to set permissions for users at a very detailed level. Permissions can be granted to individual users and/or to groups of users. A user can belong to one or more groups, or even zero groups, and can be disabled at any time. Permissions can also be quickly updated at any time via our browser-based administration tools.
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20. How can we export our data and documents from your system?

Data from credit applications can be exported at the click of a button via XML, tab-delimited or fixed-length file. Other options, such as batch files, can be implemented upon request. Documents also can be downloaded as Word documents.
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21. How can we be sure Credentrust will still be around tomorrow?

In today's environment, it is not unheard of for companies to rely on a vendor, only to see that vendor disappear without advanced notice. Many of these companies are funded by venture capitalists, who can pull the plug on the company with little notice if the company does not meet its objectives.

Credentrust has never raised any funds from venture capitalists. It has been funded exclusively by its founders and via revenue.
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