SMARTCRM wins over tool manufacturer with extensive abas interface know-how

Vargus Germany GmbH :

• Manufacture and sale of threading, milling, grooving, miniature and hand deburring tools.

SMARTCRM at Vargus:

• First CRM- implementation
• Bi-directional connection to abas ERP
• Used in field sales and back office
• 18 licenses

Requirements and project goals:

• Central bundling of sales information
• 360-degree view
• Standard interface to abas ERP
• BI analysis options in the CRM system
• Analysis of end customer sales
• Overview of sample shipping
• Optimized internal communication
• Improved connection to the sales force

Our customer base from the abas environment is constantly growing. The latest addition is Vargus Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of the NEUMO Ehrenberg Group. The company, located in Knittlingen, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality cutting, grooving and deburring tools for the metal and plastics industry.

Vargus had not used a CRM system before, but now decided to introduce one in order to improve internal sales communication and field service integration. In the CRM selection process we scored with our interface competence and our extensive knowledge of abas ERP, the ERP system used by Vargus. Our bidirectional standard interface to abas convinced the tool manufacturer. In the future, SMARTCRM will use this connection to import customers, contacts, product groups, articles and key figures such as sales, incoming orders, order backlog, contribution margin items and open items from the ERP solution. In the other direction, SMARTCRM transfers prospective customers to abas. Thanks to the extensive BI functions of SMARTCRM, sales and management can access a wide range of current evaluations of the figures as well as comparisons with the previous year at the push of a button in the CRM system, for example on customer sales or the best-selling articles within a sales region. This enables early identification of trends and targeted sales activities.

As a pre-configured standard connection, we were able to set up the interface quickly and easily, while meeting all of Vargus’ individual requirements. One example is the booking of sales items to delivery addresses. Vargus sells most of its tools through distributors, but also wants to keep track of its end customers. Therefore, dealers and customers are maintained as separate addresses in SMARTCRM. By posting sales to the delivery addresses, the company is always aware of current sales to end customers and how they are developing.
Another example of the individual adaptation of the interface to abas ERP is the transfer of the promotion codes maintained there to the order and invoice items. In SMARTCRM, the different promotion codes can be selected conveniently, so that it is always possible to track which customers have taken part in which promotion and how high the sales generated by a promotion are.

Another requirement of the tool manufacturer was an overview of sample deliveries directly in the CRM solution. SMARTCRM makes this possible with the help of a list right on the start screen, the SMART Board. It shows which samples have been sent to which customers and when, and where a return is due. This ensures that sample shipments can be tracked at all times.

The sales force accompanies the dealers they support to the end customer. In the future, SMARTCRM will ensure optimal preparation before such a visit. Thanks to the complete activity history and reports, they can see at a glance in the CRM system what has been discussed with the dealer and the customer, what items the customer has already purchased, and where there may be cross-selling or up-selling opportunities. SMARTCRM.Exchange.Sync ensures a complete communication history by importing all emails from the sales reps’ local Microsoft Outlook folders into the appropriate CRM file.

The mobile CRM application is always on the smartphone of the sales force. And if a new contact is present during a visit, the SMARTCRM.App quickly snaps a photo of the contact’s business card, and all contact information is instantly stored in the CRM system.

If there is still time for a spontaneous visit to another customer, the app can also help. The integrated area search shows all addresses that meet definable criteria and are located within a certain radius. On the way back, the visit report can be documented directly in the app using speech recognition, and any tasks created can be sent to yourself or the office staff.