Gaz de France all fired up about CRM
With the deregulation of the energy market, Gaz de France will have to face up to heightened European competition. In this new competitive context, gaining customer loyalty is of prime importance. That is why, in 2000, it decided to standardise its sales information system and to equip its new sales division with a tool that would allow it to take up the future challenges.
arnaud barresOperational Project Manager
“The decision to set up a software package, rather than to develop one specific software, was a strategic choice”
“The benefits offered by the CRM via Selligent are translated first of all by a time saving and greater efficiency”
Until now, the public utility, Gaz de France, has always operated on a monopoly market, even though gas has always been in competition with other forms of energy such as propane, electricity or fuel oil. But with the deregulation of the energy market, scheduled to be opened completely to competition in 2004 for companies and in 2007 for private customers, the group will have to face up to heightened European competition. For several years now, Gaz de France has turned around its internal organisation in order to be fully prepared for this upheaval, in particular by gradually breaking away from its sister company EDF (soon to be one of its competitors) and by setting up its own sales department. In this new competitive context, gaining customer loyalty is of prime importance and Gaz de France therefore had to gain a better picture of its customers, and of its potential for development. That is why, in 2000, it decided to standardise its sales information system, originally spread throughout around one hundred units, and to equip its new sales division with a tool that would allow it to take up the future challenges. The systems were standardised in order to ensure coherence between methods and tools, in particular with a view to reducing maintenance costs, and was to allow the sharing of the information between the various units, spread throughout France.
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A tool to federate the various businesses
Before launching the project, Gaz de France drew up comprehensive specifications covering marketing, sales and data warehousing. On this basis, at the end of 1999 the company carried out a Europe-wide consultation among software package editors. The tool was to allow a more efficient management of the commercial activity and a better targeting of the marketing campaigns to generate a higher yield. Gaz de France also granted considerable importance to the consolidation of the information in one single database at national level in order to facilitate interaction and communication between the various businesses (sales, marketing and consultancy). « Previously, the marketing team and the sales force worked on specific tools developed internally. The decision to set up a software package rather than to develop one specific software, was a strategic choice. We chose the software package in order to take advantage of the know-how of the editor and for reasons relating to speed of execution » comments Arnaud Barrès, operational project manager at Gaz de France.
Flexibility, reactivity, efficiency
After carrying out an in-depth study of the products available on the market, Gaz de France chose Selligent as the CRM component of its sales information system. The ROBIN project was launched in March 2000. Selligent was chosen for several different reasons. First of all, the software contained all the required functionalities, and its flexibility made it possible to extend or restrict the functional scope for each user according to their profile. Secondly, Gaz de France wanted to work with a reactive European editor, close to its customers and in tune with its context. Finally, the excellent relationships between the two companies also played a key role and allowed an efficient collaboration on the pilot project first of all, then on the implemented solution.
The Robin project
The ROBIN project mainly concerns the prospects of the “mass market” division. It is linked to a data warehouse containing 20 million addresses that are used by operational marketing to launch its campaigns. In order to optimise the targeting of these marketing campaigns, an interface has been set up between Selligent and the Business Objects Set Analyser tool, which facilitates the segmentation, making it possible to carry out campaigns on vast targets. The leads generated are then taken over by the sales force which has not only access to the entire background of the relationship but also, in the case of an existing customer, to the information relating to its contracts. From time to time, the salespeople also carry out small local prospecting campaigns and the national call centre carries out selective campaigns. As for the Consultancy pole of the department, it immediately identifies its interlocutor thanks to Selligent and can therefore provide them with a personalised service.
Progressive roll-out in a context undergoing massive changes
In April 2001, one year after choosing the solution, a first part of the ROBIN project was rolled out on a reduced scale: 100 marketers and 50 salespersons used the solution on a database containing 3 million customers and prospects. As it was used, adjustments proved to be necessary. But once the pilot project was deemed to be running smoothly, Gaz de France was able to move on to the next stage in April 2002 and extend the solution to the 1600 users of the branch and put its new approach at the service of its 20 million customers and prospects (companies and individuals). The main difficulty was in setting up an information system in a context undergoing massive changes. The flexibility of Selligent is therefore essential for the success of the project.
The customer improves on acquaintance
According to Arnaud Barrès « The benefits offered by the CRM via Selligent are translated first of all by a time saving and greater efficiency thanks to a better knowledge of the customer and of the prospect and an improved circulation of the information internally, made indispensable by the emergence of new competitors and the opening of the European markets. » Thanks to Selligent, users have an all-round and up-to-date view of business in progress. The consultants quickly identify the prospects and improve their reactivity. The marketing campaigns are better targeted and therefore more efficient. Selligent also gives general management a precise insight into the progress of the commercial situation at all times, in particular thanks to the integration with business intelligence tool Business Objects. While the solution is an all-round winner for the company, the customer also has a lot to gain. When he calls Gaz de France, he is immediately recognised, the relationship is personalised and the request is dealt with quickly.
A Group synergy
Buoyed by the success of this first project, Gaz de France was eager to share this experience with the other divisions and subsidiaries of the group. Consequently, Selligent has recently been deployed in the Hungarian subsidiary of Gaz de France, Egaz Degaz, and within the group’s Transport division. These specific sites were able to capitalise on the in-depth study carried out by Gaz de France and take advantage of the existing setup by adapting the necessary elements according to the different context in which they operate.
And the future?
Today, the ROBIN project applies to relationships between Gaz de France and private customers and small enterprises. The opening up of the gas market in two phases is now forcing Gaz de France to reorganise the segmentation of its customers, as private customers and small enterprises have to be dealt with differently. The ROBIN project, which completes migration towards the last version of Selligent Xi for Windows, shall soon only relate to private customers while other projects based on the Selligent Xi for Web solution are currently in a pilot phase for business markets on the one hand and large accounts on the other hand. Furthermore, Gaz de France would like to extend its relationship management to the last part of its target, namely the prescribers. In fact, in the new competitive context, the partners will have a crucial role to play. This will call for the creation of new Selligent functionalities. Gaz de France is also thinking of setting up a CTI integration in certain centres, and a collaborative platform via the extranet.
