A Singular View

As the Sarbanes-Oxley Act continues to command more of the media spotlight and drum up a newfound interest in Trade Promotions Management, it appears that the core elements of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are being put on the back burner by a majority of consumer goods firms. For sandal and shoe manufacturer Birkenstock USA, however, attracting new customers while retaining long-standing relationships is top of mind. Recently, the company revamped its internal systems, from both a technology and process standpoint, to better serve suppliers and customers.

Vision Quest

Birkenstock's CRM vision first began about five years ago when the company realized that its disparate, homegrown systems would not be able to handle the growing and ever-changing needs of its 3,000 retail customers that range from mom and pop shoe stores to QVC and Nordstrom's. This led to a couple of major software initiatives starting with the implementation of a new ERP system, an overhaul that turned into a major cultural and technology change, according to Gene Kunde, chief operating officer, Birkenstock. "After reaching the final stage of that process we realized it wasn't going to be enough and we needed to do more to improve our interface with our customers," says Kunde. "That's when we decided to move forward with a CRM package."

Birkenstock chose Siebel for its CRM needs and after the ERP implementation was complete, the company took a moment to reassess its strategy. All of the knowledge gained from the ERP implementation, which was costly and time-consuming, led Birkenstock to look for a partner to help facilitate Siebel. Ultimately, the company felt Hitachi Consulting was the best fit. "They understood the package and had been there before," says Kunde. "We liked the approach that they were utilizing and the people that we were interfacing with."

Help From Hitachi

In order to bring its CRM vision into focus, Hitachi helped construct the systems implementation for Birkenstock and dubbed the project "In-Sight." This proprietary methodology simply means to provide insight into Birkenstock's customers as well as the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction always being in sight. From a technology standpoint, Hitachi also helped to:

*Provide vendor knowledge in order to choose an ASP provider, since the decision was made to utilize a hosted solution

*Transform order entry from Lawson to Siebel. Now that EDI orders go through Siebel, it allows agents the opportunity to correct pricing, terms, conditions, etc. prior to the data arriving at the back office

* Pull together the vision of integrating the Web with a self-service portal, for the retailers and call center. The portals were built as extensions to enhance call center efforts

Self Centered

According to Kunde, the creation of self-service portals took pressure off Birkenstock's call center and allowed reps to accomplish more value-added initiatives relating to customer activity. "We've been in business for over 30 years we've been doing business with certain customers for that entire period of time," says Kunde. "Before Siebel, each department of our organization had its own view as to who that customer is what they do with us." Orders arrive via e-mail, regular mail, fax and more. With the new CRM process in place, orders are consolidated and Birkenstock call center reps bring up a more complete version of their customer's order history. The system also encourages leaving footnotes to keep track of specific customer inquiries. "Reps can initiate a service request from that information to get the right people involved," says Kunde.

Self-service portals also prevent stock-outs by allowing customers to place orders without having to wait to talk to somebody live on Monday morning, for instance. "Reaction from customers is very positive," says Kunde. "We have been able to avoid some stock-outs, one of the reasons is because our customers are able to get 24 x 7 access to our inventory information. It allows them to place orders on a more timely basis."

Birkenstock's second phase of its CRM initiative is a direct reseller phase that provides more options for those customers online. A third phase aims to feed customer info to its salesforce. "We're in the learning mode and the good news is we're able to detect our employees using the call center as well as customer feedback," says Kunde. "We've received a lot of positive feedback and suggestions we can do to make it better."