Castolin Europe GmbH / Messer Cutting Systems GmbH

Since 2003, Castolin has been using the CRM system SMARTCRM at its German subsidiary. The European locations are gradually connected to the CRM software. So SMARTCRM was installed in the respective language version in Austria, Switzerland, the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Since 2004, The Messer Cutting Systems GmbH has been also working with SMARTCRM. All installations are supported by system administrators from the Messer Information Services GmbH.

Transparent Information

Castolin and Messer Cutting Systems introduced the CRM software with the goal, among others, to optimize sales management. A major role was played by the connectivity of the field service staff as well as the centralized quotation preparation. SMARTCRM convinced with its offline capability thanks to which the employees can see and edit all data on their notebooks. In addition, one of the company’s wishes was to have a transparent and centralized database accessible to all sales representatives at any time. This was allowed by using an interface between CRM and ERP systems.

SMARTCRM and Baan ERP

As the locations of Castolin in Germany and in the United Kingdom decided to implement the Baan ERP system – now part of Infor –, SMARTCRM GmbH configured an interface between SMARTCRM and Baan. Today, all companies that have received a SMARTCRM installation have also implemented Baan. So the interface can be used at each site with little effort and the central data management is guaranteed. SMARTCRM imports over the interface address and product data as well as figures. On the other hand, the CRM system transfers address information and orders to Baan ERP. Additionally, all old data from different previously used systems (i.e. AS/400, Super Office, Microsoft Access) were once imported.

Quotation preparation and tracking

SMARTCRM supports the European companies of the Castolin group as a central sales management tool. So the staff uses the CRM software to prepare, for instance, quotations, orders as well as costs estimations directly from SMARTCRM. Since templates were stored in the CRM system, the documents always correspond to the respective corporate design. SMARTCRM fills the system not only with the associated recipient’s data but also provides, thanks to product text modules in multiple languages, the preparation of professional quotations or orders in the local language. The pricing, which is transferred from Baan ERP, guarantees the automatic use of the correct product prices. Give the employees a product and its desired amount, and you see on its own tab at once all important price and product information, e.g., discount, additional charges as well as the current price of the metal used to produce the product. After the creation of a quotation or an offer, SMARTCRM sends automatically a task to the field staff in order to ensure its follow-up. The quotation can at the press of a button be generated in PDF format and sent directly  to the customer per e-mail. Since each process of a project, from the initial request to completion, is represented on a different tab, the employees can see at a glance the progress and the current status of the project.

Figures and Goals always in sight

SMARTCRM imports all important figures, e.g., sales revenue, contribution margin or open item, via an ERP interface and provides the employees with many daily analyses. In addition, SMARTCRM displays by which sales representative and customers the demonstration material is and to which value.  So they never lose track and SMARTCRM offers the management a sound basis for planning and decision-making. The sales staff defines also their targets in SMARTCRM . The CRM software shows them the current state of target achievement as well as lists of your customers with positive and negative sales revenues. For an optimal overview, the targets of sold products per product group are automatically displayed in SMARTCRM every month.

Conclusion

SMARTCRM facilitates sustained sales management for the companies of the Messer Group. Using the interface to Baan ERP, extensive analyses and the representation of the sales targets allow a daily overview at the press of a button and warn early on when the course differs from the intended target. The field staff is kept informed thanks to their Notebooks on all figures and customer activities and whilst on the go  create easily quotations or visit reports. Due to the multi-language capability of SMARTCRM, Castolin can use the CRM software in many locations outside Germany. Further installations abroad will follow.