Delta Dore manages customer relations… intelligently
Delta Dore specialises in manufacturing residential electronic equipment, including heating and energy solutions, security systems and automation. These three businesses are embraced by the term ‘Home Automation’ or ‘Domotics,’ and enable a home to be managed intelligently, customised to suit its owners’ needs, habits and desire for comfort.
 | “Over the years, the Selligent solution has shown itself to be extremely agile and adapts easily to new technologies.” “Using these new technologies has made our teams much more agile.” Jean Ado IT manager |
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Addressing the needs of business management
Delta Dore has several divisions, one of which focuses on Building Management Systems (BMS) and is responsible for installing complete solutions in tertiary and government buildings. It was in this division, where sales cycles are longer and projects much more complex, that Delta Dore’s CRM project was first mooted. Jean Ado, Delta Dore’s IT manager, reminisces on the situation at the time: “In 1998, we had no business management software at all. But our BMS division needed a tool to help monitor its activities, a tool that could organise large amounts of information on a single project – covering all the stakeholders, from the design department, project managers, contractors, customer purchasing advisors, distributors, etc., as well as the technical specifications needed for the cost assessment, the various versions of an offering, the service contracts, and more.” Acting on a suggestion from one of the company’s administrators, Delta Dore put out a call for tenders based on a sub-set of specifications involving only what was needed for its BMS division. Selligent was awarded the contract thanks to the modular nature of their proposal and because it covered all the necessary functionalities, as well as the fact that they offered up-to-date technology combined with real flexibility, enabling the company to adapt the solution to fit its own particular requirements.
Two divisions, one customer file
Although the project was initially launched to meet the needs of the BMS division, all the company’s sales departments were consulted, and it soon became clear that the Distribution division would also benefit significantly from the implementation of such a system, as the two activities had the same customer file. Noëlle Jean Ado | IT manager Vigot, manager of the Selligent application at Delta Dore, explains that “Delta Dore’s main target is the contractors. We knew there were 15,000 possible installers in France, but because the distributor acts as go-between between us and the installers, we hardly knew them. By setting up the Selligent system, we could establish and enrich a client database common to the two divisions, which now contains some 15,000 installers and 3,000 to 4,000 retailers, not to mention individual customers.”
Overcoming reluctance
The BMS division was the first to integrate the system and most of its original needs were quickly addressed, with just one problem: it turned out to be very difficult to cater for the specific requirements involved in generating an offer. In the end, it was principally the Distribution division that drove the project. Then again, while the office-based sales force was quick to take the new tool on board, in-the-field sales representatives were considerably less enthusiastic. Yes, they were keen to have a customer file and could see how useful it would be, but they were not so keen on having to organise their work around the data or feed in the information themselves. “Above all,” notes Ado, “they are in the business of visiting clients and promoting our products: Selligent seemed somewhat of a constraint, because they were going to have to write their reports using a shared format from now on. General management therefore had to get actively involved to convince the field force of the benefits of CRM.”
Using Marketing to get to know clients better
Originally planned as a tool for the sales force, the project gradually came to involve all staff with a customerfacing role. So, since 2001, Delta Dore has been using marketing as a way of adding value to its client data. As Vigot explains, “our promotional material is sent out by an outside company, based on files from our client database. The campaigns are monitored via the guarantee voucher, which the contractor returns to us. We send the contractors a gift in exchange for the information they give us about the end clients. In this way, we can find out just who buys what product and create a specific client profile for each type of product. This enables us to be even more accurate in targeting our offerings and advertising campaigns.”
Successful migration thanks to Logica
In 2005, the company decided to migrate its solution to a web-based platform, with the twofold purpose of keeping up with technological developments and putting an end to the onerous task of replicating data between headquarters and sales representatives. This task was entrusted to Selligent’s partner, Logica. “We are very glad we did so”, says Ado. “It was the first time we had worked with them, but they had the local resources and necessary skills to ensure the job was done properly. We worked very closely with them throughout the migration. Logica is still the interface between Delta Dore and Selligent, and we are very happy with their services. We also benefit from their experience in designing solutions for other Selligent clients.”
A tool that doesn’t stand still
Nearly 10 years since the project was launched, over 100 staff now use the system. Selligent’s flexibility has meant that whenever a new need has been established, an answer has easily been found. Today, it is an absolutely essential tool, not just for sales staff and sales support engineers, but for the call centre, customer care, sales administration and marketing, too. We have also built an interface to the ERP (MFG PRO). Moreover, Selligent feeds into a business intelligence database containing OLAP cubes to provide the sales managers with the structured information they need.” And that’s not all: Delta Dore is currently in the process of configurating a new module that will address the specific requirements involved in managing BMS tenders. Once this is complete, Noëlle Vigot intends to synchronise Selligent with Lotus Notes. According to Ado, “Selligent has made remarkable progress as a product over the years. It has shown itself to be extremely agile and adapts easily to new technologies – it has great potential for future developments”.
Simply indispensable
Ado points out that “the application’s true ROI is that it has become a tool the company simply cannot do without.” All the data are contained in a single database, making it easier for teams to communicate with each other, while sales reps have all the information they need at the click, and the promotional work done upstream of their visits makes their job a whole lot easier and opens up more doors.Vigot adds: “using these new technologies has made our teams much more agile, because everyone can access the same information, whether they are at the office, at home or visiting a client. The sales rep’s workstation is now accessible and transferable all over the world. Mobility is still hindered by a lack of network coverage, but the situation is improving by the day.”
Recipe for success
Jean Ado is certain that the project’s success is due to everyone’s being involved, combined with a pragmatic approach to data relevance and process analysis: “if we want to give our sales managers the dashboards they need, we have to know exactly what information they need and make sure that’s what the CRM provides.” In conclusion, a piece of advice: “don’t underestimate the work involved, the investments needed and how much it will impact the organisation. If you see CRM as strategic, you must do whatever it takes to implement a solution that addresses your needs.”
