Autogermana

Distributor
Microsoft Dynamics CRM

“Thanks to the project by AlfaPeople, we have synchronized information, which reduces manual processes and optimized resources, that ensure better customer service”

Juan Manuel Zuleta, CRM Coordinator

Business Needs

Autogermana is the official BMW Group representative in Colombia. They have their own dealer network; already 15 points of sales located in major cities in Colombia as Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Cartagena, Pereira, Eje Cafetero, Bucaramanga, Ibagué and Villavicencio, where they exhibit the latest models of vehicles.

In addition, they have 15 customer service points, to ensure personal attention to clients. The BMW service point on street 200 is the largest in Latin America.

Autogermana was looking for a solution to integrate CRM and their ERP vertical automobile software. They tried to carry out an in house development through web services, but they failed because it did not get to the extent they were searching for. So they decided to look for a tool to facilitate integration.

It is at this point that they managed to integrate easy handling solutions and a good configuration.

This process was carried out in several phases: the first one was to validate the way how the ERP shows its services, this communication was validated by the ERP representatives to ensure that the rules of integration between the two solutions would not be broken. Then, the business integration solution was implemented in order to make the connections between the business process software and the garage.

The project came up because of the loss of time synchronizing data, as it required a manual effort to transcribe sales information, after sales service, order management, billing and inventory management from one system to another (CRM to ERP and vice versa).

To carry out this job they had a team responsible for entering information into the CRM and replicate it manually in the billing system (ERP). Many problems were observed including manual errors, loss of full visibility of customer activities (purchasing, associated vehicles, information from the auto repair shop, etc). It is in the middle of this processes were the integration need was seen, to reduce time to look up for information in different databases and human resource time.

They also had another CRM flaw: they had no information on sales, since the ERP was on charge of handling this process, blocking the analysis of customer information, which should be solved with immediacy to create optimal marketing and customer service campaigns.

All these plans came up from management offices, seeking to optimize the time of the person in charge of this transfusion data process. The objective was to remove manual effort and using time more efficiently as well as having information instantly, uploading unified customer information and visibility (360°) and discard searching on multiple systems.

Solution

Autogermana required a solution that would enable the bidirectional transfer of information between the ERP and CRM, keeping data integrity and the capacity to handle it, in order to carry out Account and Order Management, Updating Invoices Management, Garage and Inventory Management processes between CRM users from administrative areas and ERP users from garage areas.

Autogermana now has a bus enterprise data based on Dynamics CRM that updates in real time ERP and CRM. They eliminated double fingering, reprocessing of information, the lack of credibility of both systems, the lack of sync data.

And on the other hand, they added access to information more than 80 employees through a website, which increases the reach of their processes. Connectivity achieved was endorsed by Microsoft and the company that owns the vertical automotive in 3 continents. The system is proposed to be extended to the entire Latin American region.

The solution processes about 1000 records in the course of the day, fully synchronized between applications eliminating overtime typing and errors that may occur in transcribing information.

Benefits

Increased agility in processes

Due to the integrator, communication between the two systems (CRM and ERP) is done in real time, eliminates time data transcription from a human resource, and achieves a more efficient and faster process by integrating these two databases.

Consolidation of information

Having visibility on information in an integrated CRM solution and a web portal avoids transcribing and saves time, as there is no need to enter data in two different solutions, keeping the control and integrity of data. This solution is used on sales, pot sales, administrative and other processes.

Efficient access to information

And having a solution quite easy to use makes the information available to all users, thanks to its integrated interface. There is no need to be an expert. Only search inside the solution and obtain whatever is necessary.