Leading backup power generation manufacturer in the US implements a streamlined, end-to-end digital quote process to boost revenues by 25%.
When customers are accustomed to instant transactions in the digital ecosystem, turning around with a quote for a product they want to purchase is a surefire way to hurt your business's bottom line.
This is precisely the challenge that the US' leading backup power generator company was grappling with - the fact that the company manufactures products for residential, light commercial, and industrial application only heightened this challenge
The Challenge
The backup power generator market is growing at a CAGR of 6.7% annually, and the US is the largest market globally by the size of demand. What can hurt a business's growth prospects more than an inefficient opportunity management platform in this rapidly growing market? Our client was struggling with the following three challenges in an otherwise optimistic market:
Insufficient capabilities in the existing opportunity management application
Legacy opportunity management systems left businesses content with having all information related to leads in one place. What followed was phone calls to these leads with little to no context regarding the needs of the expected-to-be customer. Today, however, such applications result in lost opportunities for the business, as they result in lengthy quotation times and reduce the productivity of the sales force - our client's end customer experience was also degraded.
Inefficient communication bridges to connect stakeholders
When customers are used to instant messaging and omnichannel buying experiences, the inability to connect with leads can hurt conversion prospects. Today's competitive e-commerce landscape necessitates aggressive lead nurturing strategies, where sellers seek to build relationships with each opportunity. The lack of a real-time messaging system to connect the sales and partner touchpoints with opportunities impeded our client's ability to capitalize upon the pool of qualified leads.
Fragmented data landscape paves the way for fragmented processes
Our client's opportunity management system stored opportunity-related data in a local database. As a result, this data could not be shared across systems and made available to relevant stakeholders. This led to a sub-optimal employee and partner experience, contributing to inefficient conversion and customer experience. In addition, the lack of a bridge between sales and resource planning systems left other gaps in operational efficiency for our client.
The Solution
Migrate opportunity data to the cloud, speed up the end-to-end quote process with digitally-augmented workflows for dealers and employees, and reinvent customer and partner experience for an omnichannel world with tightly-coupled commerce and ERP cloud solutions.
Our cloud, DevOps, and data experts initially sought to reinvent our client's partner program by deploying advanced capabilities within their opportunity management environment. Moreover, we integrated opportunity management and dealer connection applications to help our client power a simplified partner program that brought native marketing and sales support to their distribution network.
A focus drove our work with the client to improve the overall demand generation ecosystem by improving the digital experience of all stakeholders involved in the process.
A key aspect of the overall transformation was moving the data from the local databases to SAP Cloud. Multiple applications could now ingest this data by taking opportunity data to the cloud, which allowed us to build digital continuity in the end-to-end quote process.
In addition, the client's existing SAP Hybris implementation was tightly integrated with the ERP, enabling employees to connect incoming demand signals to the right points in the distribution network. Moreover, dealers could now reach out to customers in real-time and increase their sales volumes by delivering a better experience to end customers.
In addition, our teams also collaborated with the client to understand and mitigate the pain points in the existing subscription process. They suggested improvements in the opportunity management process models.
Ultimately, we facilitated an omnichannel experience transformation for the client, in the aftermath of which customers, dealers, and employees connected via a single platform - which empowered the business to orchestrate a seamless experience for the end customer with a faster and more streamlined quote process.
The Impact
Seamless omnichannel experience drives revenue growth
- The transformed quote process minimized unproductive exchanges between our client's departments, dealers, and customers. With all the product information and opportunity data available centrally in the cloud, streamlining the end-to-end quote process could now be made possible. As a result, the quotation turnaround time was reduced by around 50%.
- Whereas the opportunity management process previously involved calls and back-and-forth communication between dealers, sales teams, and other departments, the improved platform and brought 30% greater ease in the opportunity management process.
- Eliminating the pain points in the subscription and speeding up the quote process now enabled our client to process a greater volume of new opportunities while also delivering a faster and better experience to the end customer. This resulted in a 25% annual revenue gain for our client, with better growth prospects down the line.
