Customer Solution Case Study
/ Hungarian Heating Supplier Turns Customers into Partners through Customer Relationship Management Solution
Overview
Country or Region: Hungary
Industry: Retail
Customer Profile
Buderus Fűtéstechnika, based in Hungary, is a European market leader in the sale of high-efficiency gas condensing boilers.
Business Situation
Buderus needed of a better solution for handling customer services, in particular a 24-hour telephone hotline and a demanding partner-card scheme. In the longer run, it needed to replace its entire business management solution.
Solution
Working with Microsoft Partner, ZASNET Systems, Buderus chose Microsoft® CRM to handle all customer facing enquires with a view to later implementing Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision®.
Benefits
n Instant caller identification and retrieval
n Real-time traffic analysis
n 24/7 customer service monitoring
n Encourages partner loyalty
n Accelerates delivery of new services / “One of the key benefits of Microsoft CRM is how easy it is to customise—this and a demonstrably short learning period for users, makes it the kind of solution we can continue to develop as our business grows.”
Geza Matuz, Chief Executive Officer, Buderus Fűtéstechnika
Buderus Fűtéstechnika is the Hungarian subsidiary of Bosch-Buderus Thermotechnik, one of the world’s largest industrial heating equipment groups managing a growing network of domestic partners from a relatively small operational base in Hungary. Buderus concluded that inappropriate data storage methods and an outdated business management solution was undermining its range of customer services and reducing the benefit of marketing initiatives, such as an ambitious loyalty-card programme. With the help of Microsoft® Certified Partner ZASNET Systems, the company implemented Microsoft CRM (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™) to handle all its customer-facing work. As a result, the company now tracks partner activity in real-time (whether by telephone, e-mail or loyalty card), provides a more responsive service to customers, and is cutting back on the time its staff spend on data management. Buderus can now keep track of how loyalty points are being used and how best to target its partners with further incentives.
Situation
Buderus Fűtéstechnika enjoys a market-leading position in the sale of high-efficiency heating equipments from gas condensing boilers to solar heating systems throughout Europe. In Hungary, like anywhere else in the world, it needs the support of many partner companies, which enjoy a range of incentives to encourage brand loyalty.
Buderus set about this in two ways; it uses the ‘Buderus Hotline’—a telephone-based service where sales, marketing, or customer service enquiries are handled 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. It also launched a partner loyalty card scheme, where purchases made from Buderus suppliers get reward points against future purchases. However, both these schemes were fast outgrowing the solutions in place to handle them. Partner contact information was being handled by the Microsoft® Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, which was suitable for punching up individual contacts, but less than ideal when a hotline call came in and needed to be identified immediately by the sales or customer service person.
Not having a dedicated customer relationship management (CRM) solution was hindering Buderus in two ways:
n Customers were receiving a slower, less-personalised service because call handlers lacked access to a current case history.
n Initiatives that should have been feeding Buderus with valuable real-time sales, marketing and customer service information, were failing to do so, because of inappropriate data management solutions and lack of integration.
Geza Matuz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Buderus Fűtéstechnika, says: “What Buderus needed was a consolidated, easy-to-access, extensible and customisable partner management system.”
Solution
In early 2003, Buderus called on Microsoft Certified Partner ZASNET Systems first to overhaul and then run its IT infrastructure. As part of this process, ZASNET identified a two-stage package of upgrades.
In the short-term, Microsoft CRM was recommended to manage the pressing needs of the Buderus Hotline and partner-card scheme, and in the longer term the client’s aging business management solution would be replaced by Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision®.
“Back in 2003, Buderus had a set of Microsoft products without proper and effective configuration,” says Zoltan Szigethi, CEO, ZASNET Systems. We came in and over the course of 14 months brought the whole system up to date, step by step, everything from the basic infrastructure through Active Directory® construction to business logic.”
It was subsequently agreed to proceed with a three-stage rollout of Microsoft CRM, starting in December 2004, but staggered to meet the customer’s most urgent needs. Firstly, the import wizard in Microsoft CRM Import Wizard was used to convert all the client contact information previously stored in Microsoft Outlook, combining the benefits of a fast, centralised database with the familiarity of Microsoft Outlook’s interface. As part of the same phase, ZASNET was required to develop a new CRM extension module to manage Buderus’s partner-card scheme.
The second phase involved designing another new module, this time to interface with a remotely functioning call centre, connect the Panasonic phone system with the Windows Server™ 2003 operating system infrastructure, and integrate all incoming customer service data from the Buderus Hotline with the CRM partner database. This module adds real CTI functionality to Microsoft CRM.
Finally the built-in lead-management functionality had to be customised and integrated with an aging proprietary business management system called Zenit, prior to this too being replaced.
Although rollout is still only in its second phase, Matuz explains how things are already being done differently. “Sales representatives can now enter partner-related activities directly to the system. Marketing campaign lists are generated from the CRM structure and partner card activities are managed by the third-party partner card module, integrated to the Microsoft CRM system. Consequently, all partner-related information can now be accessed centrally.”
Microsoft CRM rollout is due for completion later this year, and Microsoft Navision implementation is expected in late 2006.
Benefits
Instant Caller Identification Leads to Better Customer Service
Before Microsoft CRM, contact information was stored in Microsoft Outlook and partner transactions were detailed in the Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet software lists and text files. It was hardly ideal, even for those handling incoming calls, let alone any other department trying to interpret or act on the caller’s demands.
With all partner information now stored centrally and accessed instantly, Szigethi explains how customer service has already improved. “Incoming calls are now identified from the Microsoft CRM database, so customer service people see an onscreen pop up when the phone rings. Agents can immediately screen out problem cases or flag up open ones, influencing the initial conversation with the customer.”
Real-time Data-Tracking Provides Real Business Intelligence
Microsoft CRM’s interface with the Buderus Hotline does more than improve customer service; it also gives senior management access to real-time data on how resources are being used and customer needs met.
Szigethi says: “As all customer calls are registered and entered into Microsoft CRM, so Buderus management can immediately monitor customer services, see open cases, and even create statistical data to monitor the ratio of sales marketing or service calls. This has revealed, for instance, that in the summer service calls are down, but others are up.”
Delivering New Services to Partners
Buderus is constantly searching for new ways to improve customer service, with some potentially valuable areas previously beyond its capacity to explore. Microsoft CRM has been designed for easy customisation, which means companies can integrate new components as and when they are available.
“This will be a good platform for future product registration,” says Matuz. “Some Buderus products need professional and registered installation, which could now be managed by simply adding another customised application. One of the key benefits of Microsoft CRM is how easy it is to customise—this and a demonstrably short learning period for users, makes it the kind of solution we can continue to develop as our business grows.”
Turning Partners into Points…and Back Again
Buderus’s partner-card scheme needed all partner-related activities to be registered. The number of reward points someone received could be influenced by whether they had purchased their product from a Buderus warehouse, wholesaler, or third-party agent. However, processing all this through a text-file database was proving expensive, time consuming, and restrictive in how that information could be later used.
Now all this is handed by ZASNET’s partner-card application, interfacing with the sales module of Microsoft CRM. As a result, partners can use their points as currency, as was always intended. Furthermore, Buderus can now keep track of how those points are being used and how best to target the partner for further incentives.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship
and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics