SMARTCRM with AMS connection at H+K

CRM support in sales and marketing departments of the full service provider

With a high acceptance by the employees, SMARTCRM has been supporting the sales and marketing processes of the H+K Härte- und Oberflächentechnik GmbH + Co. KG since 2014. Prior to the CRM introduction, to document customer contacts, visit reports and similar data , the company used Excel spreadsheets or the local Microsoft Outlook. In this case, the colleagues had no knowledge of nor access to the information.

H+K opted for a CRM system since

  • the company, the number of employees and the amount of data grew strongly in recent years and this type of documentation became too confusing,
  • the searching process for specific information was time-consuming and laborious for the employees,
  • and due to the various isolated applications, several software often had to be used for one single work step.

SMARTCRM scored by the full service provider for all heat treatment processes with

  • the interfaces to AMS and abas ERP, used by H+K,
  • the flexibility of the CRM system allowing an easy adjustment to individual corporate requirements,
  • with expertise and good support from sales.

SMARTCRM imports over the ERP interface

  • customer data,
  • quotations including items,
  • turnover figures.

With functions equivalent to a business intelligence system, SMARTCRM also provides the evaluations required by H+K. Quotation tracking is of great importance for H+K as well. For this, quotations including items from the ERP system are centrally archived in the customer file in SMARTCRM and follow-up tasks with reminders can be sent. In addition, SMARTCRM creates analyses such as the average handling time or the number of quotations, among others available.

Moreover, H+K relies on SMARTCRM for tour planning. Using the area search and numerous filter options, the required customer addresses are easily selected. The addresses are then transferred to Bing Maps. After the subsequent return to SMARTCRM, appointments and activities for later documentation can be simultaneously generated.

This year, the new standard IATF 16949:2016 came into force for the automotive suppliers. The quality management requirements were simply implemented in SMARTCRM. This way, a convenient solution for documentation, evaluation and follow-up in line with the quality management has been established for H+K:

  • meeting of the customer’s requirements
  • information in the context of the product monitoring obligation
  • measures to be taken

Needless to say, H+K also uses SMARTCRM in marketing. The employees can select the relevant target group for a marketing action using the various selection options. They create mailing letters using the templates stored in the CRM system and automatically archive them.

The complete user report can be found here

Assessing for instance only the time that our employees needed for the search and the preparation of information in the past, one recognizes how SMARTCRM has strongly optimized our sales processes. Now one opens the customer file and all information is available at a glance. Especially for the field service, which is not always on site, it is fundamentally important to inform yourself about the latest activities before a customer visit.

Regina Volz, Customer care / sales at H+K Härte- und Oberflächentechnik GmbH + Co. KG
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