Kinshofer GmbH

Since 2008, SMARTCRM has been supporting the Kinshofer Group in the areas of sales, field service, purchasing and management. A major advantage for Kinshofer is SMARTCRM’s multi-client capability, as the group now includes almost 30 companies. Currently, six locations – Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, USA and Canada – are mapped as separate clients in the CRM system. The clients and the extensive rights system ensure that employees have access to exactly the CRM information they need for their work processes. And management has an overview of all clients at all times.

Another advantage is our extensive interface expertise, as some of the subsidiaries or locations use independent and differently configured ERP systems that can all be easily connected to SMARTCRM. The German headquarters, Kinshofer GmbH, also started their SMARTCRM implementation in 2008 with an interface to Baan, but then switched to Infor LN. Thanks to our decades of ERP experience, we were able to make the switch easily and transfer all data without any problems.

SMARTCRM imports customers, products (product groups), quotations, special prices, as well as the figures from the ERP systems: sales, order backlog, contribution margin items, and open items. Since the CRM solution has a wide range of BI functionalities, the ERP figures can be evaluated by drill-down at various levels – from the overall company view to the customer level and down to the individual item – taking into account different currencies, and can be made available up-to-date at the push of a button. Plan/actual and year-over-year comparisons round out the comprehensive view. In this way, business and sales management are informed at all times, for example, about customer spending patterns, the best-selling items per sales region, and trends. A major advantage is that sales and order backlog items are posted to bills of materials. This means that sales for all individual attachments per crane or excavator can be displayed in the CRM system. Information on the expected contribution margin and manufacturing costs, which are important to the company, can also be viewed at any time. The use of our CRM solution has greatly simplified Kinshofer’s evaluation options and ensures optimal, targeted sales work.

This important information is supplemented by the target agreements. These are also maintained by Kinshofer in SMARTCRM on a quarterly or annual basis. In this way, the CRM solution shows the sales staff both the target figures and the current status of their target achievement. This overview, as well as lists of current customers with pluses and minuses, enables the company to efficiently plan and control the next sales steps and, if necessary, initiate measures at an early stage.

Project management is also handled in SMARTCRM. Each sales project, broken down into its various activities, including all participants and the complete activity history, is documented in the electronic project file. Quotations are transferred from the ERP system as PDF files, including line items, and are automatically archived in the project file. As a result, all projects are always traceable, and overdue quotes can be seamlessly tracked with overviews and reminders.

Field service processes are also supported by SMARTCRM. For visit planning, the team uses SMARTCRM.Organizer, which provides them with convenient and clear scheduling with daily and weekly plans, due dates and reminders. At a glance, sales management can see who is visiting which customers in the coming days and what will be discussed. Internal meetings and resources can also be planned quickly and easily with the Organizer.

In the near future, the purchasing department will also work with SMARTCRM to provide Kinshofer with a cross-client view of all purchases, enabling the development of more targeted purchasing strategies. The interface will also transfer suppliers, purchase orders, order backlog and (outstanding) invoices from Infor LN to the CRM system. There, the purchasing team can classify all suppliers in detail and view the complete activity history of inquiries or orders at any time. SMARTCRM evaluates the figures from the ERP system, taking into account different currencies, and makes them available in a variety of SRM analyses at the touch of a button. For example, you can see who discussed what with which supplier, what the current order backlog is, and what invoices are due.

Kinshofer is not only very satisfied with the CRM system, but also with the support provided by SMARTCRM GmbH. For example, the SMARTCRM project managers quickly implement new requirements in SMARTCRM, and the hotline team provides fast and competent assistance with support requests.