Modern design. State-of-the-art performance. Reliable and efficient. Customers respond to style, but their feelings about the manufacturer translate directly into their perception of the product; and in this age of communication, the voice of the customer has never been so powerful. Our client is a global giant in the automotive industry, but out of 36 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the J.D. Power and Associates Customer Experience rankings, prior to our relationship this brand was ranked dead last. A lack of customer-centric focus was costing business. A fragmented, disconnected information system was making things even worse — driving up the cost of business through ancient, error-prone and repetitive processes. A new, streamlined business design required a three-pronged rebuild strategy: integrate information systems, enhance customer service delivery, and execute a targeted customer growth and retention strategy. A major overhaul, indeed.

Our Technology team partnered with Salesforce.com® to craft an integrated Service Cloud® CRM and database solution that would condense eight separate lines of business within the company into a central customer experience platform. This comprehensive approach brought customer and dealer information into alignment with the company’s legacy data center and back-office systems. Information on 21 million customers and 16 million vehicles was now integrated, with one million record updates performed each day. The ability for clear reporting — and knowledge sharing — opened a crucial door to subsequent improvements of business processes, and to the customer experience itself.

The new structure has improved every service touch point, and empowered business with a 360-degree view of each customer’s history. Today, our Customer Management team leverages the new technology to handle roughly 200,000 proactive outbound contacts for the company each day. Our Growth Services team has used the new power to develop a holistic engagement and sales program; so far, sales conversion rates have increased by ten percent – more than $50 million in incremental profit for the first year.

Executives at the company knew that a culture of customer centricity needed to grow from within. Our Simulated Learning technology delivered a service curriculum that is not only shorter, but graduates are better educated and geared towards the relationship-building that will define the future of the company. The benefits of this integrated solution are just beginning to be felt.