SAP CRM in a dental manufacturing company

Here is a story that really interests me. I have to integrate field sales representatives, internal sales, and the Web. Let's see how the others did it:

Crowned with Success
Heraeus Kulzer is a world leader in dental manufacturing. The company's motto, "Partnership First." shows that it sees customer orientation as a driving force for its business processes. With its implementation of mySAP Customer Relationship Management, Heraeus Kulzer has succeeded in establishing an integrated, customer-oriented organization.

Interchangeable products and declining customer loyalty make life in the dental industry very difficult. For this reason, Heraeus Kulzer decided on a strategic reorganization to put the focus on customers and their needs and to retain customers by providing superior service. Implementing this far-reaching initiative - in which customer satisfaction is the bottom line - required extensive internal and organizational restructuring and a transformation of the widely diverse sales organizations. The company's goal was to support its new customer-driven strategy with the most powerful information and communications technology available.

Efficient customer care
In the highly competitive dental market, it's no longer enough simply to provide excellent products. Cleverly devised service strategies and a customer-oriented approach are what count - and they require a company to have complete details of its customer base and the ability to analyze the information effectively.For Heraeus Kulzer, introducing the mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) solution represented a strategic pillar in its efforts to reorganize. In Germany alone, the company maintains a customer base of approximately 45,000 dentists and 9,000 dental technicians and laboratories. With such large numbers, customer data can only be processed efficiently with the support of a sophisticated CRM system. Using mySAP CRM, Heraeus Kulzer makes sure that customer service is efficient and effective throughout all its channels. It uses informative customer profiles with detailed information on customer history, main points of interest, and service requests to build lasting customer relationships and win new customers - and gain market share.

Integration is key
As part of its strategic restructuring, Heraeus Kulzer reduced the number of sales organizations from four units to two units and oriented them toward two customer groups - with one division for dentists and another for dental technicians and dental laboratories. The strategy was to present "one face to the customer," which meant the company needed a central database linking all customer information, to which all employees would have equal access. Because in the past the company had made several acquisitions, data had been stored in different places. For this reason, a new and consistent database was crucial.Implemented in only 12 months Heraeus Kulzer decided to implement mySAP CRM for all contact channels simultaneously. The first step involved tailoring the company's business processes to customers' needs and aligning the organization of the company with the market. The group's IT department, Heraeus Information Systems, implemented the complex project in close collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Consulting) and the CRM consultants of SAP Germany. It took only 12 months from kickoff until the project went live.

A single CRM system for all contact channels
The company first focused on ordering processes involving its two main customer groups. With mySAP CRM, dental laboratories can place orders through three contact channels: in person through a field sales employee, by calling the customer service center, or by ordering over the Internet. Dentists can make purchases through field sales representatives, or they can contact the customer service center. The purchase orders are then placed with wholesalers. mySAP CRM helped Heraeus Kulzer meet the needs of both customer groups.Heraeus Kulzer was the first SAP customer in Europe to seamlessly integrate field sales representatives, internal sales, the Interaction Center, and the Web throughout the company and its subsidiaries. In addition, Heraeus Kulzer uses the data warehouse solution mySAP Business Intelligence (mySAP BI) along with mySAP CRM, so that users have access to an extensive range of flexible tools to analyze customers and sales.The system was first implemented in Germany. A roll out is planned for Europe and, later, for the United States. Currently, nearly 230 users work with mySAP CRM: 120 sales representatives, 80 internal sales employees, 25 customer service center employees, and four external employees.

Support for marketing and sales
Today, at the touch of a button, all employees have access to up-to-date order data, individual conditions, customer history, sales data, and extensive statistics. This is especially beneficial to the field sales representatives, who now have access to informative customer data that can be easily analyzed. With the mobile sales capabilities of mySAP CRM, sales representatives can display all the data they need on their notebook computers while they are in the field. This helps them prepare for customer visits; they can analyze the needs of customers and give advice accordingly.Internal employees can also use the mobile sales capabilities of mySAP CRM for processing orders. And personnel who carry out telesales campaigns for Heraeus Kulzer can use campaign management functions during mobile sales activities.

Automatic caller ID and specific routing of incoming calls
The customer service center takes orders, gives information, and deals with service tasks. Heraeus Kulzer has given each customer group its own toll-free number. When a customer places a call to the customer service center, the caller is automatically identified, and the call is redirected by the system to the relevant customer agent. With the integration of the SAP system and the telephone system, Heraeus Kulzer can be sure that customers always talk to the same contact person - an important means of achieving customer satisfaction.With mySAP CRM, dental laboratories registered with Heraeus Kulzer can place orders from the catalog of some 2,500 available items at any time over the Internet. The purchasing agent at the lab can automatically track the status of the orders. Moreover, customers have access to product suggestion lists and can set up their own "favorites" lists for order processing.

Future plans
Without mySAP CRM, Heraeus Kulzer would not have been able to achieve its goal to present "one face to the customer." Today, company employees can advise customers and attend to their needs from any place within the organization and at any time - which helps Heraeus Kulzer increase customer satisfaction and build lasting and successful business relationships. Building on this success, Heraeus Kulzer plans to implement additional mySAP CRM marketing functions to help it analyze customer data more thoroughly.

Source: www.sap.info