R. STAHL: Salesforce as a "single source of truth"

R. STAHL has faced a number of challenges in recent years:

• In 2009, the company introduced Microsoft Dynamics as its CRM system, which no longer met its technical requirements. Above all, it did not meet the requirements of the global and strategic sales teams, who wanted to focus on customer development and exploit their potential.
  

• In addition, although the Microsoft system was connected to the SAP and Qlik software solutions, there was no seamless data exchange between the applications. As a result, a lot of information was stored in Excel lists on local servers that could not be accessed centrally.
  

• For some information, there was no way to store it in the CRM system, which left gaps in knowledge and experience when employees changed.
  

• There was no holistic view of customers, which made it difficult to support them and hindered the development of targeted marketing campaigns.

As part of the standardized selection process, we were able to convince R. STAHL with our overall package that we are the right Salesforce partner for the company's digital transformation. This is because our team has many years of expertise in the introduction of the Sales Cloud and its connection to other systems such as SAP. We also adapt solutions to individual requirements and set them up for the future.

Detailed catalog of requirements as a basis

The project officially started at the beginning of 2022. In an initial workshop, the extensive catalog of requirements drawn up by R. STAHL was jointly analyzed and, based on this, a sensible technical system architecture was designed and implemented. The basis for this was the Salesforce Sales Cloud, which has since completely replaced the outdated CRM system. The primary challenge in this step was to create a standardized, up-to-date database, as all data was previously stored in a wide variety of applications.

MDM concept for consistently high data quality

At the same time, existing processes were rethought and optimized. For example, we have developed our own Master Data Management (MDM) concept, which ensures a consistently high quality of master data thanks to clear role management.

Guided change management process for maximum user acceptance

Particularly relevant in a company of this size (approx. 1,700 employees worldwide) a guided change management process. We were able to apply our best practices here and ensure a consistently high level of motivation and user acceptance with the help of various measures, including employee training and the use of a mood barometer.

We worked closely with R. STAHL throughout the course of the project. The company's core CRM project team comprised 14 people from all international regions and subsidiaries. Later on, around 40 people were involved in testing the system, among other things.