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To enable a supplier company to better plan its production and deliveries, Arlanis Reply has implemented an automated standard process for its customer, which is supported by the Salesforce Community Cloud with Sales Cloud integration. Suppliers and distributors can now be managed more efficiently.
In order to forecast the right number of products for production and delivery, it was important for a major supplier of a drive system for electric bicycles that its customers could quantify how many orders they needed and by when. To achieve this, Arlanis Reply offered its customer an automated standard process supported by Salesforce Community Cloud with Sales Cloud integration to efficiently manage suppliers and distributors. This saves the supplier the time-consuming process of contacting individual customers and means that it always has an overview of its customers' requirements - without a great deal of effort.
As there was no standardized and automated process, the supplier company's previous method of obtaining orders from customers required a lot of time. In order for the sales representatives to forecast the expected number of sales, customers had to submit their pre-orders ahead of time with the exact quantity. The problem was that they could submit their forms in different ways - by phone, fax or email - which led to difficulties in managing all the documents in one place.
Furthermore, it also became apparent that it was not always easy to expect customers to place their orders ahead of time. In this case, the supplier had to contact the customers to request this information individually and manually, otherwise there was a risk of losing a sale and disappointing the customer if orders were not delivered on time.
By integrating the Salesforce Community Cloud, Arlanis Reply enabled the company to create a unified process and put responsibility in the hands of its customers. When orders need to be placed, customers fill out a form online and request the estimated number of products for the following months. The request is then validated internally and approved for ordering.
The same Salesforce product is now used by everyone and the data is created automatically. This saves internal staff from having to manually edit the data, enter it into their system and confirm the final details with customers - a big time saver in the long run. The best thing about the changeover is that the user interface is easy to use for both employees and their customers, reducing training time.
Customers are now able to create and change their orders independently.
Customers can log in to create requests themselves and add products or make changes to their order requirements within a certain period of time. Thanks to the automated email system, they also receive reminders with deadline notices and order confirmations. Overall, the process has been simplified and now provides transparency in quotes where customers know exactly what they are ordering and what costs they will incur, as well as deadlines for their pre-orders to be fulfilled on time.
Just as all Salesforce Clouds work together, the Community Cloud is no exception. When customers fill out their forms created in the Community Cloud, it creates an opportunity and updates the new orders directly in the Sales Cloud, where all other customer data and opportunities are stored. Each customer has their account stored in the Sales Cloud with their contact information as well as past and existing opportunities and orders. This gives sales and service staff a quick overview of customers and processes. They can understand which accounts need more attention and where each customer is in their
order process. In addition, reporting can be specified to see total sales and progress from “week to week” or “month to month”.
In several workshops and sprint reviews, Arlanis Reply and the supplier company collected ideas and reached the final solution through several user stories. Requirements and goals were defined, existing structures and future framework conditions were discussed and finally a successful process was created to the satisfaction of the company's employees and customers.
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Arlanis Reply is a consulting company within the Reply Group that specializes in Salesforce solutions. As a long-standing Salesforce partner, Arlanis Reply supports its customers in the successful digitalization and optimization of business processes. The range of services extends from consulting and implementation to integration into complex system landscapes. With a team of certified Salesforce experts, Arlanis Reply implements innovative solutions in the areas of CRM, customer experience (CX) and marketing automation. The company relies on Salesforce technologies such as the Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud and Data Cloud as well as Mulesoft. Customers benefit from the company's extensive expertise in various sectors, including the automotive, finance, telecommunications and manufacturing industries.