Selligent provides Bahco with the perfect tool to master its relationship
With more than 2,500 employees worldwide and a sales organisation covering over 40 countries, Bahco Tools has amassed a huge database of customer and supplier contacts. Converting that vast data store into meaningful information was no mean task. But with Selligent’s CRM solution, the central database has turned out to be a very efficient tool indeed.
Willy BilterestManager IT Business Integration Marketing and E-Business
“As our problem had a global dimension, we wanted a solution that was easy to implement on a worldwide scale, without the need for too much local intervention. Yet it should also be easy to adapt to any specific local needs. Selligent fit the picture.”
“Bahco managed its own roll-out, first with an international project leader trained by Selligent, who then passed on his expertise to key users in every country.”
Bahco Tools’ roots go back to Sweden’s industrial revolution in the late nineteenth century. It manufactured its first handsaw in 1886. Over the next 100 years or so, Bahco earned a solid reputation with European industrial and professional tools users such as carpenters, builders and craftsmen. Bahco is also well known for its scientific approach to ergonomic tool design.
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Too many data silos
Apart from its leadership in ergonomics and quality (Bahco is ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified), one of the group’s major strengths is its vast network of local sales offices. “We are very keen on having local people for local sales and support”, says Willy Bilterest, Manager IT Business Integration Marketing and E-Business for Bahco Group AB. “However, having so many people out in the field has also given rise to one major disadvantage: inconsistency of data. About seven or eight years ago we realised that all our information on customers and prospects was scattered over a plethora of systems - financial applications, order processing, ERP systems, Excel spreadsheets, even index cards that the sales representatives took along on their customer visits! The result was a growing feeling of frustration, because the sales reps didn’t always get all the information they needed - it was stored away somewhere in someone’s database”. So Bahco began its search for a solution that would allow it to integrate the various databases and turn them into meaningful, useful information at every level of the company. After careful consideration they opted for Selligent. “It was actually a very logical choice”, Bilterest explains. “As our problem had a global dimension, we wanted a solution that was easy to implement on a worldwide scale, without the need for too much local intervention. Yet it should also be easy to adapt to any specific local needs. Selligent fit the picture. 80% to 90% of the software could be used straight out of the box. We only had to modify the remaining 10%, and even that wasn’t too difficult because it didn’t involve any programming work, just a few changes in the database set-up”
Alternatives were overkill
Bahco had been scaling back its local IT departments for a number of years, so it needed a solution that demanded little or no local support. Once again Selligent proved to be ideal. “We did look at solutions from other vendors”, says Bilterest, “but they very often went way beyond our scope. And customising their solutions often meant practically rebuilding everything from scratch. Then again, Selligent already had a proven track record with excellent references in Sweden, where our headquarters are located”. In 1998, a pilot group was set up comprising mostly people from the field (sales representatives, marketing staff, sales managers). “In 1999 we started to roll the software out - first in the Benelux, then Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Scandinavian countries. It is now up and running in most European countries. But work continues because we want to add functions. More significantly, we have now started to migrate to the latest version, Selligent for Web”.
Replication problems solved
The introduction of the original Selligent solution did not go without a few glitches. Last year, when Bahco ran a satisfaction survey among all the sales units using the system, one problem kept cropping up: the replication of data between the central database and the sales reps’ laptops, caused mainly by connectivity issues in some countries. Willy Bilterest: “So when Selligent announced its Web-based version, we immediately saw the benefits on the replication side and decided to give it a try. We now have two regions, the Benelux and the UK, using Selligent for Web, and the results are very encouraging”. Bahco can now store all its databases on its servers in Enköping in Sweden. This centralisation solves several issues at once. Software upgrades can now be applied centrally. There is no longer any need to go out to all the different countries to upgrade the many laptops that Bahco’s sales representatives are using. “All we have to do now is upgrade the software on our servers in Sweden”, Bilterest explains. “We also find that it’s now much easier to integrate our software with that of other vendors because of the open standards the Web offers, such as XML”.
Much lower TCO
The new Web version of Selligent also takes care of some of the other issues that came up in the satisfaction survey. It is now much more straightforward to enter data because of easier screen customisation and the use of wizards. The information stored on the servers can be updated and released much faster, too. “If you add all this to the fact that we don’t have to travel around anymore to upgrade all the local databases all over Europe, it’s easy to understand why we have significantly reduced our total cost of ownership”, Bilterest claims. “What’s more, every party involved benefits from the new concept. Customers know that when a sales rep calls on them, he is up to date on their history and expectations, so they don’t have to go through it all over again. The same goes for the sales reps themselves: they can visit their customers with confidence, knowing they have all the latest information - and reporting back to the head office is now child’s play thanks to the Web. Finally, the marketing people now have the opportunity to improve their mail shots because they can target customers much better, based on more precise information in the databases”.
Great support
Right from the start, Bahco managed its own roll-out, first with an international project leader trained by Selligent, who then passed on his expertise to key users in every country. In turn those key users educated all the end users - “a process that went quite smoothly”, says Bilterest. “Most of them only needed a couple of days to become acquainted with the basic functions of the software, and soon discovered the benefits”. Willy Bilterest is also quite pleased with the support he received from Selligent, not just during the roll-out of the new software, but overall. “The fact that this support is centralised in Belgium made it even easier for us during the pilot phase”, he adds. His goal is now to implement Selligent for Web in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway in the short term, with the rest of Europe scheduled later in 2005. And he is currently evaluating the possibility of implementing in Eastern Europe, too. “Once all our European subsidiaries are using Selligent for Web, we expect to achieve a truly uniform way of working for the whole group”, Bilterest emphasizes. “Workflow, process management, follow-up and coaching of the sales reps by their managers - it should all go much faster and more smoothly. The next step is to consolidate all the databases, which should again improve our efficiency”. There is one final big advantage in using Selligent for Web that he has not mentioned yet: security. “There’s no data on the laptops anymore since everything is stored centrally on the servers in Sweden. So we no longer run the risk of information falling into the wrong hands when a laptop gets lost or stolen”, he says.
