CRM of Fenster Schmidinger moves to the Cloud

“Our claim that the windows offer ‘great outlooks’ means that we have a vision for the future and think ahead when it comes to customer service. After all, we have found that satisfied customers or their neighbors keep coming back. This is why we already introduced the first CRM system in 2008”, explains Managing Director, Florian Schmidinger. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system by Microsoft selected back then optimized all sales, distribution and service processes. The database, which has been properly maintained since then, has allowed the management to produce reliable forecasts and reports. However, the system became outdated while the software strategy of many providers, including Microsoft, was beginning to orient towards the Cloud. In other words, the CRM on the local server would no longer be updated at some point.

For this reason, Schmidinger started to carry out market research, which is quite an elaborate process for a medium-sized company: it includes everything from looking at solutions, obtaining prices, holding various meetings, to making the final selection. “This resulted in a reflection process about our own software strategy,” says Florian Schmidinger: “At the time, I didn't like the idea that I would have to shop around for a new system again in about five years if I purchased hardware and software to be physically delivered to the company. However, if I choose the Cloud, the solution provider will take care of all the updates. As a result, we will always remain state-of-the-art. So the large corporation Microsoft was chosen again for longterm security. COSMO CONSULT had already proven to be a reliable cooperation partner in earlier CRM projects and was therefore commissioned to be project partner for migration and adjustments. After a state investment grant was approved for digitization, the project could be started.

Besides the Cloud migration, the focus was on the new installation scheduling function used to simplify scheduling and updates of service activities. “The Field Service app is a crucial step for our customer care, but it was all new territory to all of us. So great effort went into it accordingly”, reported Schmidinger. The experts at COSMO CONSULT pulled all their strings to tackle emerging challenges such as the integration of existing appointments into the new service calendar. The Field Service app tailored to the requirements of Schmidinger now meets all the required functions: It tracks the current deployment location of the service technicians as well as orders at all times. Routes can be optimized with regard to shorter travel times. Scheduling installations has become easier, as appointments can be changed using the drag & drop function in case of an absent technician, for example. Services carried out at the customer must no longer be entered in the evening, but can be entered on site. This allows for more reliable documentation.

All other functions within the CRM have remained the same. Schmidinger comments as follows: “Core processes do not change that quickly. Besides, we updated all fields during the last migration about five years ago. For the approval of the solution, it was important to me that templates and field names remained the same to ensure that everyone can continue working as usual. This was also an advantage of the Microsoft CRM. If we had selected a different software, the interface would have changed.” About ten employees work with the CRM solution at Schmidinger.

• Inquiry management: Service inquiries and complaints are digitally logged as inquiries and assigned to the respective specialist. The work capacity to handle any possible complaints is thus visible and comprehensible for the management.
• Order management: The complete processes for the implementation of orders are recorded in the CRM system. This allows to display the current order status at all times. The management can decide promptly based on needs, which order should be prioritized (such as for material ordering or billing). Digitalization also eliminates errors in manual transmission from one list to the next.
• Customer form: The customer form provides an overview of pending and completed inquiries, orders, and sales opportunities at a glance based on data from previous years.
• Sales process: Sales opportunities can be viewed at all times in form of clearly laid out digital lists. These can be monitored and managed in detail on dashboards to allow for a practically paperless process.
• Usability: Each user can customize dashboards individually to his needs and his role in the form of “My CRM” without losing the uniformity of the data and stringency of the system. Such dashboards are becoming the business cockpit for the management to control order processing and sales activities. Evaluations constitute the basis for operative and strategic decisions.

Easy and quick scheduling of appointments is the newest great benefit of the CRM system, as good service, punctuality and transparency are the basis for customer satisfaction. Schmidinger also appreciates the improved search functions, for technicians can now search even more terms and definitions such as “Has problem X occurred before and how was it solved?”. For improved customer relations management, automated welcome emails, or emails to provide contact details of the assigned service technician are available now. For quotation follow-ups, a workflow controls the sending of emails.

The next project is to migrate the company data to the Cloud outside of the CRM. Then a server will no longer be necessary. Florian Schmidinger about the CRM Cloud migration project: “From the perspective of a medium-sized company, I consider the Cloud a great gain. A company that is interested in installation scheduling will be paying us a visit in the near future. We will demonstrate our CRM system to them. A lot can be accomplished with the new software. Otherwise I wouldn’t show it off.“