CRM in full flow at PCM

Time to replace

PCM’s first experience with CRM goes back to 1997. At the time, PCM called on an outside organization to audit its processes; they recommended installing a market-leading CRM solution. But after 10 years’ usage, its ageing technology was inhibiting overall performance, and the spate of applications developed at the outset to cover the company’s needs had gradually made it difficult to maintain. There was only one thing for it: start all over again.

Michaël Moniolle, CRM Domain Manager, points out: “at the time of the first project, we were complete CRM novices. So we simply followed the advice we were given. But the need to start afresh was a perfect opportunity to leverage the experience gained over the previous 10 years and take a close look at the CRM offerings available on the market.”

Second generation

On the strength of its initial experience, PCM had a very good idea of what functionality they wanted and should be improved compared to the existing solution. They created detailed specs, taking into account the feedback, needs and wants expressed by the users. The main requests included simple and reliable management of the customer database, the possibility to produce complex sales proposals, and an efficient follow-up of customer claims which had been lacking up till then.

The solution from PCM’s original supplier was too costly and too complicated to configure (implementing the first project had taken two years) so was quickly eliminated. With an evaluation based on functional and technical criteria, Selligent won the day as the only supplier able to cover 97% of needs. Furthermore, PCM was really enthusiastic about the modular structure of the application: “the Selligent licenses are perfectly aligned to the profile of each user and his/her needs. In other words, we only pay for what we use. That enabled us to make significant savings on the cost of the licenses, in particular for users who only needed read-only access.”

International consolidation

This time around, there was no question of a French-only solution destined for a limited number of users and devoid of information-sharing facilities at corporate level. PCM wants to include all its subsidiaries and offices worldwide in the project. So the application’s multi-lingual aspect was a key selection criterion. At present, Selligent is used in 12 countries in French, English and German, and the sales processes are now standardized worldwide. As Moniolle points out, “everyone works in the same way via a single communications channel. Information is shared and cross-selling possibilities have exploded. We can now manage international framework contracts with special rates per product type and ‘global pricing’. In addition, all our subsidiaries use the same offer templates, and that guarantees the coherence of our image as perceived by international clients.”

Another significant advantage is that all customer data are consolidated, and top management has a clear overview of the group’s sales activity.

50% time savings on offers

In view of the type of product and system PCM markets, and their complexity – several million combinations of articles are possible – the company could not do without an offer configuration tool. As Moniolle stresses, “the greatest risk for the project was setting up an estimate management process, which demanded that Selligent be integrated with Caméléon, our sales configurator. But our fears were soon dispelled: the integration was finished in three days!” Systems integrator Alti Relation Client, a Selligent partner that had already handled this issue with other customers, was entrusted with this task.

Thanks to the integration of these two applications, the sales reps can create their bids directly in Selligent. “As a result, the time needed to establish a bid has been cut in half,” notes Moniolle. Once the offer has been accepted, the resulting order is sent to the ERP. But it is monitored in Selligent due to the interfaces between CRM and ERP. That means the production schedules and material availability are transmitted to Selligent every day so that the sales rep can see how all his or her orders are progressing at any given time.

Efficient claims management

Customer Care is also in the loop. The technicians are advised directly by Selligent when sales reps enter claims into the CRM, and the latter can see the status of the claim at any time. That helps give a 360° vision of the customer.

Fast-flow implementation!

PCM was pleasantly surprised at the speed of implementation of the project. “Selligent’s configuration possibilities are vast, so it was important to focus the project from the work GO and not be sidelined,” Moniolle stresses. ”The Selligent project manager showed pragmatism and homed in on the essentials. He didn’t hesitate to say ‘no’ when we asked for too much. The first phase of our project, which covered the original functionality plus a claims management module, was operational in only eight months.”

Scalability and agility

The scalability of the Selligent solution and its ease of configuration are particularly appreciated by PCM’s CRM management team. Indeed, they were an important concern at the outset, because the company wanted a 100% non-specific solution. “We absolutely wanted to avoid specific developments, which would then be difficult to maintain,” explains Moniolle. “Apart from the integration with Caméléon, all our needs were covered solely through configuring standard functions. The administrator interface is easy to use, and the application configuration demands no special technical skills. And any modifications can be made available to users immediately. Now we have considerable autonomy regarding our CRM’s future direction.”

A lot of implication to ease adoption

Above and beyond the differences in user profiles (sales engineers, Customer Care technicians, Marketing, etc.), PCM also had to manage different user populations in terms of CRM maturity. As Moniolle notes, “on the one hand, we had people who were used to the old application and who didn’t see the point of changing, and on the other hand, users who had no experience of CRM and were suddenly required to be ‘straight-jacketed’ and respect the business processes. The subsidiaries were particularly hesitant to share their data with the parent company.” PCM top management and the CRM management team were very much implicated in ‘selling’ the solution to all the users and guarantee its adoption. Today, all the users have been swayed. And the subsidiary directors are very satisfied that they have complete visibility over their sales activity.

Towards greater consolidation

Among the next steps for its system, PCM is considering making part of the CRM application available to its 60 or so distributors through a portal. The aim is to further consolidate sales information and to have visibility over the distributors’ activities. With consolidation and information sharing in mind, they are also looking into the possibility of integrating the ‘spare parts’ business in Selligent (it is currently handled by the ERP). The program for the coming years also includes integrating the sales rep targets and a reporting module in Selligent.