MLP: Simpler Processes and Improved Usability with SAP Customer Relationship Management

Transcription

1 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. Picture Credit MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG, Wiesloch, Germany. Used with permission MLP: Simpler Processes and Improved Usability with SAP Customer Relationship Management Partner

2 MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG Industry Financial consulting Products and Services Financial services and insurance Web Site SAP s SAP Customer Relationship Management application Partner maihiro GmbH ( For more than 40 years, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG has followed a clear corporate strategy: offering high-quality financial advice to academics and other discerning customers. By specializing in specific lines of business and corporate structures and by maintaining full independence in its choice of products, the company is able to ensure tailored and targeted advice. 2 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

3 Independent financial advice as a recipe for success As an independent financial consulting company, MLP aims to serve its customers. Rather than choosing products from a select group of providers, it instead analyzes the entire market to find the best concept for the customer. Overall, the MLP Group manages assets worth more than 24 billion. Founded in 1971, the financial and investment adviser has a full banking license. The company s greatest assets are its consultants and employees, and significant resources are invested in their selection and development. All consultants work for MLP in an independent capacity. 568M Revenue (2012) Since 2008, the company has been using the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application for its central customer data management. In the current upgrade project to SAP CRM 7.0, the company hopes to increase end-user acceptance thanks to the accelerated access to information through an improved user interface and enhanced search functions. 825,000 Private customers 3 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

4 Up-to-date customer data and information at the click of a mouse When MLP implemented SAP Customer Relationship Management in 2008, the declared aim was to support the development of targeted marketing campaigns and increase consulting performance. Although the application offered a number of useful functions in this area, the consultants tended not to use them, instead valuing their own independence and tried-and-tested processes. As a result, the application did not achieve the desired acceptance levels. MLP manages its customer base centrally in SAP CRM. The application offers consultants and branch offices role-specific access to their customers data. In return, consultants and branch offices are expected to keep basic customer records up-to-date in the system. Initially, the company failed to find the desired levels of penetration with the application. Give us good software with a standardized dashboard and without multiple user interfaces that complicate our processes! was the message from consultants to the MLP head office. So the company reviewed the user requirements and evaluated the new release of SAP CRM. The intuitive operation, customized interfaces, improved search options, and better overall system performance convinced MLP s IT department of the application s benefits. The migration plans took shape. 4 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

5 Continuing a proven collaboration As a long-term strategic partner, MLP has been using SAP solutions for a long time and has an extensive SAP software landscape. In addition to using SAP CRM for its customer relationship management, the company also deploys the SAP ERP application as its enterprise system, the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse application for analyses, and SAP NetWeaver Process Integration technology for importing data to its commission system and for inventory reconciliation. But this was not the only reason for choosing SAP. The main reason for the continued collaboration was the very highly rated features of SAP CRM 7.0. As its implementation partner, the company chose SAP CRM specialists maihiro GmbH. The migration project involved several prior visits to SAP and consultations with SAP. This allowed us to ensure that our requirements for the CRM system had been fully implemented in the standard. Udo Lorczyk, Team Lead, IT Broker and Banking Applications, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG 5 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

6 Clean technical concepts as the basis for implementation Technical consultants maihiro, who have a proven track record in customer relationship management, were used in the implementation phase. The implementation focused on the central project objective: upgrading from SAP CRM 5.0 to SAP CRM 7.0 with a 1:1 porting of functions and processes. No existing processes were modified, and no new processes were introduced. The scope of the project was split into seven work packages: business partner master data, client transfer, contact management, mass business partner changes, interface and portal integration, authorizations and user roles, and interface and navigation. The introduction phase involved the following: In clean technical concepts, the team first assessed which requirements were actually necessary. The requirements were fully mapped in the standard system so that the software supports all standard processes. Existing processes were migrated, with optimizations being introduced subsequently. SAP services, such as analyses of optimization potential, were used in the upgrade. The go-live service from SAP allowed support at short notice. Verification sessions indicated how the system behaved and provided a platform for follow-up work. SAP CRM forms the heart of our customer data system and will allow us to increase consulting performance and improve customer service. Udo Lorczyk, Team Lead, IT Broker and Banking Applications, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG 6 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

7 The central data hub for customer information The MLP project management team s key motivation for migrating to SAP CRM 7.0 was to establish the CRM system as the central customer data system with the further aim of ensuring gradual uptake of the application s numerous other functions. To this end, user acceptance is a key criterion. Dr. Raimund von dem Bussche, head of customer intelligence management at MLP, summarizes the project: We wanted to give our consultants and employees software that is so attractive that they use it not only to maintain the core data of their customers, but to organize their complete working day in the system. This is why the company particularly values the modern and more flexible interface offered by SAP CRM 7.0. It offers a greater degree of customization and allows users to tailor their view of customers. The ability to assign colors to customers is another useful feature in this area. Complex searches can also be created and saved. As a result, consultants and branch offices enjoy faster and simpler access to information. Thanks to its functions, SAP CRM 7.0 offers a complete process chain, from information retrieval and management through to data analyses and systematic quality assurance. MLP bundles isolated customer processes into an integrated information pool, which is made available via MLP s network irrespective of location which clearly benefits consultants, who can access this up-to-date information in real time during customer meetings. 7 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

8 Good start with the standardized dashboard for consultants One of MLP s mottos is: The company s greatest assets are its consultants and employees. This is why it was so important for MLP s IT department to provide consultants and employees in customer service with an attractive and high-performance CRM software solution. The migration to SAP CRM 7.0 has already seen the following benefits: Modern interfaces with high degree of customization Intuitive and simpler operation Faster access to information Extensive, flexible searches that can be saved Greater end-user acceptance At MLP, the CRM system forms the central platform for standardizing the consulting applications and is the perfect framework for further process improvements. Another significant benefit is that SAP CRM 7.0 is fully supported by SAP standard maintenance. Overall, the CRM upgrade was viewed as a success throughout the company. It has integrated the project fully into the successful series of MLP New Generation renewal projects. Since the upgrade, user figures have risen significantly, with most consultants now carrying out a lot of their work in the CRM system on a daily basis. We are also planning to introduce further functions gradually in order to achieve even higher usage rates. Dr. Raimund von dem Bussche, Head of Customer Intelligence Management, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG 8 / SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

9 MLP MLP and SAP neighbors and partners Various projects for extending the CRM deployment are already being planned for the near future. The interaction center was recently commissioned, and greater integration of Outlook with SAP CRM is planned for 2014 with and calendar functions. CMP29027 (13/12) 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. With the idea of BYOD ( bring your own device ) playing an ever-greater role in a consultant s everyday life, MLP s head office is also assessing how consulting applications could be made available as cloud solutions for a wide range of mobile devices. SAP is again the ideal partner in this area too. And MLP IT is also casting covetous eyes toward the SAP HANA platform. The team is currently investigating how in-memory technology could be used to run real-time analyses of customer and inventory data. Until now, such ideas were filed under Wishful Thinking, but who knows for how much longer? 9 / 9 Picture Credit MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG, Wiesloch, Germany. Used with permission

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