Success Story: Schuler's experience with SAP & SYBIT

Background & Objectives

Shortly after the go-live of SAP CRMs, the project management was faced with the task of training key users, evaluating and implementing further requirements, and simultaneously supporting other SAP projects. To receive advice from an experienced SAP partner both procedurally and strategically, it was decided to opt for support services through SYBIT.

The IT department of Schuler AG aimed for an increase in quality and efficiency as well as enhancing its own business flexibility. A prerequisite for this was the sensible and efficient use of internal resources. Improvements were also expected from being able to utilize the foresight of a consulting firm and its experiences, while also acting independently and agilely.

Requirements

• Process improvements in pre- and after-sales, marketing, service, interaction center, and master data management
• Interface enhancements to SAP ERP, SAP BW, Exchange, and other servers
• Increased user acceptance through consolidation and prioritization of requests
• Improved communication between IT and business areas
• Centralized change management for greater transparency
• Short reaction times and fast problem resolution
• Support and relief of internal IT

Solution

Around 80 percent of all CRM requirements from the business area are collected and verified by the CRM Business Manager. These are then transferred as internal change requests to the SAP CRM IT team and jointly discussed in weekly status meetings according to priority. Subsequently, alignment with SYBIT takes place, where technical and functional topics are prioritized and transferred to a backlog. Defined sprints are then used to process the various topics over time using project management software.

This process ensured clear transparency and swift handling of change requests, significantly increasing user acceptance. Meanwhile, internal processes and communication have been significantly improved. During the maintenance of the interface, SYBIT supported through middleware training and close guidance, as well as translating requirements during a change process as part of an internal restructuring.

Outlook

Schuler AG aims for a close connection between business and IT strategy. As a result, the rollout of the SAP CRM system in additional countries is planned with the goal of strong sales network interconnection and the realization of a unified concept. Additionally, increasing mobile availability is a topic that the company will also address in the future - together with SYBIT.

Creative Solutions with SYBIT

That a CRM should represent a 360-degree view of customers is a given. Due to its corporate structure, Schuler requires a more comprehensive view: the customers are mostly large corporations, and key accounts require a comprehensive view of the customer with all participating locations and corporate hierarchies. The interests of the key accounts in Germany differ from those of colleagues in the USA.

To meet these requirements, SYBIT's AMS team developed a Customer Scorecard with corresponding logic. This enables a view of the customer for all parties involved and provides live data from the CRM. Both past and future data can be displayed with just a few clicks: whether past or planned customer visits, opportunities, or open projects. This saves users from navigating the CRM. To enable users exactly the functions they envision, the SYBIT team was creative, offering various solutions - and was able to deliver the appropriate functions in a short time.