Andernach & Bleck GmbH & Co. KG:
- Bright steel industry
SMARTCRM at Andernach & Bleck:
- CRM introduction
- 20 licenses
- Interface to Infor COM
- Used in sales and marketing departments
Requirements and project goals:
- Standard connection to the ERP system Infor COM
- Legacy data transfer from AS400
- Central bundling of all historical and current information in one system
- Representation of order cycles and additional diverse evaluations
- Standard interface to DMS d3
- Connection to Inxmail Professional
From now on, SMARTCRM supports processes in sales and marketing at Andernach & Bleck GmbH & Co. KG. Now in its fifth generation, the owner-managed family company in Hagen, Germany, belongs to the world’s leading enterprises in the bright steel industry.
The decision was made to introduce a CRM system because all sales requirements could not be met with the ERP system alone. In the CRM decision process, we scored with a pilot phase during which Andernach & Bleck was able to put our CRM solution and the interface to Infor COM through their paces. An important requirement of the company was the optimal connection to the ERP software. Here, our standard interface which we set up without much effort performed and also mapped the company’s individual needs. SMARTCRM imports customers, prospects, suppliers, contacts, products (product groups), quotations as well as turnover, incoming order and backlog positions. Likewise, Andernach & Bleck will manage delivery addresses in SMARTCRM to which turnover positions are booked. Open items will be transferred from the Diamant financial accounting system to SMARTCRM.
In addition, data was transferred from various Microsoft Excel lists as well as from an AS400 that the company used before the introduction of Infor ERP. This offers Andernach & Bleck a particular advantage: because the central bundling of data from AS400 and Infor COM in SMARTCRM guarantees a complete sales history and thus also year-on-year comparisons, which would not have been possible without our CRM system.
SMARTCRM evaluates the imported sales figures in a variety of BI analyses and also takes into account Andernach & Bleck’s special focus on the evaluation of quantities. For example, an overview of the order cycle of their customers is displayed to the sales staff directly on the SMART Board right at the start. This makes it immediately obvious if a customer is not purchasing products on a regular basis, and the sales staff can follow up accordingly. Trends and developments at different levels can be uncovered at an early stage in the future thanks to evaluations. The important CRM information is also available to the field force on the road using SMARTCRM.App.
Another interface connects SMARTCRM with the document management system d3. This enables Andernach & Bleck, for example, to transfer a document from SMARTCRM to d3. Conversely, the direct call of a file archived there as well as the search in the DMS from the CRM solution is possible.
In the second step, Andernach & Bleck plans to connect the marketing departments to SMARTCRM. A standard interface to the marketing tool Inxmail Professional will then enable employees to send mailings and newsletters conveniently and in compliance with data protection regulations based on contact data in the CRM system. In addition, the sales department will soon be able to plan and maintain competitive information in SMARTCRM.