A Basis for over 25 Countries
Xella International GmbH has brought together the sales activities of its local companies in a tailor-made CRM system, thereby optimizing its position in the construction materials market.
From Chile and the US to Mexico and Hungary – all over the world people build their houses using materials from Duisburg manufacturer Xella. The sale of brands such as Ytong (aerated concrete), Hebel (commercial property construction), Silka (sand-lime bricks) or Fermacell (plaster fiber boards) and Multipor (mineral insulation boards) necessarily produces large amounts of data: information about construction projects, contacts, schedules, materials or delivery quantities – from over 25 countries. “Anyone looking for success in the competitive construction materials market must continuously monitor and improve their sales channels”, explains Rudolf Surrey, manager of sales strategy at Xella. “However, such activities are only possible on an international level if there is a uniform information base that enables the business of all national companies to be consolidated, analyzed and, if necessary, reorganized.”
Xella launched the “Xella Xales” project in September 2005, aiming to create this uniform worldwide repository of information. The construction material specialist sought to optimize its international sales activities and to map them in a tailor-made system for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) based on Siebel. “We were looking to find an implementation partner who understood our processes, who was familiar with the Siebel software and who would be able to implement our requirements”, says Mr. Surrey. T-Systems agreed to act as a general contractor for Xella, offering consulting, development, implementation and software operation services. The advantage: The construction material specialist receives everything from a single source, many coordination processes are rendered unnecessary and there is just one single point of contact. Also, thanks to the optimized sales channels and processes, Xella can now further enhance its position.
