Browse > Home / CRM Planning & Implemenation, CRM Systems, Research & Case Studies / CRM Solutions Applied in the Food Industry

CRM Solutions Applied in the Food Industry

February 23, 2009 by Vera Lang

Please note it is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, opinion or advice contained in the content below.

Today I am showing two small cases of companies in the food sector who have successfully applied a CRM solution for their organization. The intend was totally different for each. One did needed a simple tool to manage sales orders. The other needed a solution for managing large marketing promotional campaigns.

Both realized benefits, both realized simple solutions that a CRM software could deliver. These two case studies are not leading edge; rather they are typical applications.

Case I: National Foods Adopted NetSuite CRM

National Foods is one of Australia’s largest food companies, concentrating on milk and dairy foods.

Food industry is characterized by perishable produce, and thus timely communication and go-to-market requirements, as well as very long product lists (SKUs) and non-matching product numbering between supplier, National Foods in this case, and food retailers such as supermarkets, milk bars and delis. Whereas by industry norm, area managers are used to manage the retail supply chain, National Food’s had started a pilot telemarketing team to contact and sell to its various customers, directly over the phone. In the pilot, the telemarketing team used Microsoft Excel to managed its sales and customer information.

Shortly after inception, telemarketing already proved to be cost effective. For the next step, the team realized it needed an integrated CRM system to make it truly effective. Their start-up scenario had several challenges: beyond lacking CRM capabilities, the current process was time consuming and there was no transparency of information.

National Foods adopted ‘NetReturn’ from NetSuite for its still only 3-man -strong telemarketing team. It was used for outgoing calls, with a full CRM cycle from lead to prospect and sale. “The full customer trail is held on NetSuite, allowing the telemarketing team to see sales and order history, any outstanding orders or problems and demographical statistics (i.e. what the customer might want to buy) in seconds.” reports NetSuite.

CRM Benefits

National Foods chose this CRM package as a lowest-cost, least-resources solution. They needed a simple, effective CRM solution that’s reliable. The telemarketing team realized the following benefits from their new CRM system:

* Easy access to customer information
* Autonomy thanks to flexibility of solution
* More control over team work process
* Streamlined call procedures
* Streamlined business work process
* Ease-to-manage browser interface require minimal usage training
* Scalable solution suitable for departmental growth
* Minimal IT costs / No need for IT investment in servers, software, system establishment cost nor ongoing support because NetSuite offers a hosted, fee-based CRM service

Conclusion – National Foods’ CRM for Sales-support

What National Foods did right is adopting CRM in the early growth phase of its departmental development. This way, the strategic mission and basic processes of the organization are clarified. Now, the CRM application can grow and develop alongside with the departmental growth. It seemed well poised to realize enhanced sales with its new CRM system along with other benefits.

Case II: Global food conglomerate Adopts Siebel with CRM Consultants

The next case shows how a consumer goods company can device a CRM solution for marketing, brand building and promotional support. The global consumer goods market constantly faces new strategic and go-to-market challenges and an altering the competitive landscape for brand manufacturers.

The marketing team of this global leader in branded foods and beverage company faced challenges in effective marketing campaign management, in particular its magazine / Recipe By Email (RBE) marketing campaign programs.

The marketing team was challenged by two factors:
* lack of quality data
* unscalability of current systems as was required to manage operations
These two factors led to longer cycle times for running campaigns. In addition, the company was not able to reach its customer base effectively. In short, it needed an effective process to support its marketing task.

To reach its consumers effectively and develop consumer relationships across a vast group of consumers in US and Canada, the food company implemented Siebel’s Marketing module.

The food company chose Infosys as its CRM consulting partner due its strong relationship with the company, vast Siebel expertise and a cost effective methodology to provide support and maintenance solution for the Siebel applications. Infosys provided a stable support and maintenance to the food company’s system operations. The solution also ensured quality data to enable the food conglomerate to run campaigns more effectively. Infosys facilitated rapid country roll-outs in an effective and timely manner.

CRM Benefits

The switch to Siebel CRM in the way that it did, the food company realized a wide range of marketing and business advantages:
* Enabled the company to serve its new and old customers better
* Increased overall consumer response to the campaign programs
* Enabled the company to reach more customers, thus increasing the subscription
* Reduced operational cost
* Led to optimal utilization of resources which allowed the company to focus on strategic business needs
* Provided substantial cost savings
(which gave an opportunity to the company to invest in business design and leverage Siebel functionalities further)
* Helped in continuous improvement
* Ensured high-system availability, leading to improved business performance
* Enhanced quality of data for effective campaign management

Conclusion – Siebel CRM to build Marketing Customer Relationships for a Large Company

As implementing CRM into an established organization is infinitely more challenging, it made sense that the food company adopted a consulting partner in its pursuit of implementing a sophisticated CRM solution.

While industries have common characteristics, it is more important to evaluate the totality of factors involved before decidiing on an industry specific CRM vendor. By sound analysis of the business needs to be met with by the CRM solution, companies can create a ‘win/win’ scenario for all around: its better-served customers, its better-equipped customer liaison teams, and its enhanced bottom line.

(Case studies sources: NetSuite, Infosys & Siebel)

Post to Twitter


Tagged:

, , , , , , , , ,

Related Articles on CRM Help Desk Software.com

Recent Articles on CRM Help Desk Software.com

Free Newsletter

Sign up for the free Daily newsletter, filled with tips and ideas on how to choose a proper CRM, Help Desk, Customer Support, or Enterprise Content Management software system. Your email address will be kept confidential and won't be shared. Easily unsubscribe at any time.

If you enjoy the free information available on this site, you're sure to enjoy the free newsletter as well:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Share and Enjoy:

Written by Vera Lang · Filed Under CRM Planning & Implemenation, CRM Systems, Research & Case Studies 

Comments



CRM Help Desk Software