Success Story: ARDEX's experience with SAP & SYBIT

The challenge

“Many processes at ARDEX have historically grown locally without a globally uniform view of them,” reports Stefan Hugk, Head of Global CRM at ARDEX. “For example, there were no globally standardized KPIs that we could have used as a guide for the overall strategy. In some cases, the terminology in the global companies was also inconsistent.” As part of ARDEX's overarching digitalization strategy, processes, systems and data in sales and service were now to be standardized. This was followed by the questions that many global companies ask themselves: Where and how do we start? How do we take the employees with us? What requirements do we have for the new system? This first phase is crucial for the success of the project - because this is where the course is set.

3 decisive steps to project success

1. holistic goal and strategy formulation
Together with the Sybit project team, ARDEX analyzed the requirements situation and the existing technological infrastructure with regard to the strategic goal. The project team worked together across national borders and time zones - for example, the Australian team early in the morning with the US team in the evening. Requirements were recorded and merged.

2. involving employees right from the start
“Digitalization requires a rethink of processes that have been established for decades in some cases,” says Stefan Hugk. It is therefore important to involve the specialist departments right from the start. The first step: “A global survey of all companies that want to introduce the new CRM in the near future. “This global survey has already helped us to agree on the key co-workflows,” says Stefan Hugk. The results were incorporated into the use cases, which were developed in joint professional and technical workshops on site and remotely and later tested in global reviews.

3. learning from others
The international roll-out is taking place in stages. Initially, the larger and CRM-experienced companies in Germany, the USA and Australia were connected to the Sales Cloud. The goal: a global template that ARDEX can offer to other companies with specific adaptations. The next roll-out: UK.