An established manufacturer of professional, heavy-duty tools and accessories.
Situation
Numbers drive the manufacturer’s business, so alongside other software tools related to marketing, service, and shipping, the company had previously implemented Salesforce.com as a metrics tool. However, user adoption remained uneven, causing a big issue: measuring performance consumed significant effort and sales reps had a difficult time understanding their standings. Overall use of the tool became primarily compliance-related, and over time, the organization continued to operate with more fragmented silos of information and no reliable view into performance. Ultimately the manufacturer realized it could not continue to meet the goal of growing 30% year over year without better visibility and turned to Wipfli to get there.
Strategy
In order to understand the complete picture, Wipfli conducted an extensive discovery process, which included 37 interviews with key stakeholders throughout the company across sales, service and marketing. Using the collected insights, Wipfli then addressed the shortcomings of existing software solutions and reorganized them in order to drive a more holistic and customer-centric view of performance. That meant eliminating various isolated tracking tools that only created redundancy and complexity, and introducing a Microsoft Dynamics based platform to ensure that all resources going forward would support the customer-centric direction for the future.
During engagement and implementation, Wipfli balanced the needs of both users and management, and remained steadfast on driving value for all constituents in regards to reporting capabilities and functionality. Moreover, the project was delivered on time, on budget, and on target.
Benefits
The manufacturer now has clear visibility into performance across its product divisions. That visibility generates more collaboration, while having easy access to information offers the ability to quickly spot customer sales, support and service opportunities.
New product launches at the company, which are supported by a host of promotions, are now also better managed. The company can easily track the performance of each new product launch and all other strategic initiatives, leading to more collaboration and better (and quicker) decision-making.
With reliable, customer-centric visibility into performance, the manufacturer is now well positioned to meet their annual growth goals.
