We’re in the midst of a remarkable age defined by disruption, transformation, and unpredictability — one of the few things we can be certain about is that everything’s very uncertain. It’s no surprise, then, that ‘resiliency’ has become a mantra for manufacturers looking to survive in the ‘New Normal’ and then thrive in the ‘Next Normal’.
Without a crystal ball, manufacturers need to prepare themselves to tackle any disruption, wherever and whenever it arises. And, in an increasingly competitive climate where customers are discovering new ways of communicating with organisations — and supply chains are being disrupted in unforeseen ways — manufacturers have turned to digital transformation to provide agility, real-time logistics info, connect the workforce and offer a single view of the customer.
In a rapidly accelerating world where priorities are changing and the landscape is starting to blur, manufacturers can’t afford to fall behind. Here are some challenges that today’s companies are facing, as well as the story of how one global manufacturer turned to digitalisation to take on the world.
Uniting the company: a framework for resiliency
As they face the challenges of the moment, manufacturers will progress through three stages as designed by Deloitte and Salesforce in their Planning Scenario Guide: respond, recover, and thrive.
The first stage, ‘respond’, has seen companies improving their employee collaboration by implementing work-from-home tools and creating employee portals. They’ve taken strides towards operational excellence by establishing crisis response portals and focussing on digital case management while boosting their commercial prospects by shifting to digital go-to-market models and upskilling their sales reps.
In the ‘recover’ stage, companies have moved towards preparing their workplace for the safe return of employees, as well as training their workforce to adapt to new processes and conditions. AR and VR tools have been leveraged for field service, and organisations have prioritised more flexible and accurate forecasting.
As businesses begin to ‘thrive’ in the new climate, the implementation of technologies will be further accelerated. Automation and AI will enable joined-up working across all functions, and skill analysis and tailored learning journeys will help prepare employees for emerging challenges. Self-service experiences and subscription-based models will become more popular, as will apps that monitor productivity on the shop floor.
Although the current moment has led to disruption and upheaval in many sectors, it has also presented an opportunity for forward-thinking companies to evolve to face the future. And in order to do so, they can follow the example of the international building materials company Etex.
A year before COVID-19 hit, Etex had shifted from a decentralised organisation spread across 42 countries to a unified global organisation where collaboration was key, flexibility was a priority, and synergy between divisions meant that every problem could be tackled by the full force of the company.
But with over 100 factories and 14,000 employees, getting a single source of data seemed like a huge task, even in an age when digitalisation is imperative. That’s when Etex turned to One CRM.
Working together, far apart: How One CRM united Etex
With multiple innovation centres — and the motto to inspire people around the world to build living spaces that are ever more safe, sustainable, smart, and beautiful — Etex has always had a pioneering spirit. So when it became clear that it needed a digital solution that enabled it to break silos and better connect its employees, it embraced the large-scale transformation.
Etex was fully endorsed by top management and had a clear idea of its objectives when using this CRM solution: establish a more aligned way of working, increase employee engagement, simplify the IT architecture, and move from having limited data insights towards achieving a single view of the customer.
To accomplish this, Etex outlined some key guiding principles:
- Go fast and focus: Reap the quick benefits of CRM in crucial areas
- Benefit from synergies across divisions: Aim for 95% alignment
- Focus on configuration, not customisation: Keep flexibility in the solutions
With One CRM, Etex worked together as one company and created a CRM solution that focussed on aligning processes across divisions and across countries, in order to become a more customer-centric organisation. They also leaned on Salesforce and Deloitte to bring 1800 users globally live on the platform in a record timeline of 16 months.
One CRM features 196 Salesforce functionalities, which has led to a huge improvement in visibility while increasing synergy and collaboration between divisions. Now, Etex is moving from strength to strength and looking towards the future with the full power of its workforce.
To learn more about how Etex is using Salesforce and CRM systems to survive and thrive in an uncertain time, check out this webinar on the future of manufacturing. To see how Salesforce can help the manufacturing industry use digitalisation to grow sales in a customer-centric era, download our ebook today!
