Meggle improves customer relationship management with IBM and SoftM

The Challenge

Paper-based processes and in-house CRM databases were making it difficult to gain profitable business and marketing insight. If Meggle could capture, analyse and act on data more effectively, it could transform its ability to create new products and bring in new revenues.

The Solution

Worked with SoftM Communications (www.softm-communications.com), an IBM Premier Business Partner, to implement GEDYS IntraWare 7, a solution based on IBM Lotus Notes and Domino technologies. The solution is integrated with a complaints management system from IBM Premier Business Partner GEDYS IntraWare (www.gedys-intraware.de).

The Benefits

Faster internal information flow helps Meggle respond faster to customer needs; improved reporting and analytics enable customised marketing to regular customers; less manual processing saves staff time; simple interface minimises retraining; flexible environment easy for in-house team to modify, reducing consultancy expenses.

Case Study

The Meggle Group – a holding company headquartered in Wasserburg, Bavaria – employs around 1,700 people and generates annual turnover of around €560 million. The Group is involved in all aspects of milk and whey production: its subsidiaries run dairies in Germany and Eastern Europe, producing milk-based products for both consumers and food manufacturers, and supplying the pharmaceutical industry with products such as pharmaceutical lactose.

In recent years, Meggle has looked to cut operational costs and reduce the administrative burden on staff by moving away from paper-based processes and siloed in-house systems, towards a more integrated, automated IT infrastructure.

“This strategy started three years ago, when we decided that we needed a better complaints management system,” explains Christoph Adler, Project Leader CRM at Meggle. “We had been using GroupWise as our communications platform, but decided to switch to IBM Lotus Notes because it would allow us to implement the Lotus-based quality management system Xeri from Plato AG (distributed by GEDYS IntraWare).“

The quality management solution provided Meggle with a number of benefits, especially in terms of complaint management, but it was still difficult for different departments to collaborate on projects. Without the ability to analyse customer data efficiently, it could be difficult to develop new products and marketing initiatives to better address the needs of Meggle’s various markets.

Strong collaboration features

Meggle realised that the IBM Lotus Domino platform had considerable potential as the basis for a CRM system, due to its strong collaboration and communication features.

“The other advantage of IBM Lotus software is its ease of use,” comments Christoph Adler. “We knew that a solution based on Lotus Notes and Domino would not require much staff re-training, and would be relatively easy for our in-house IT team to modify and adapt without the need for expensive external consultancy.”

The Group approached SoftM, an IBM Premier Business Partner, to design a system which would meet its key business needs.

“SoftM demonstrated the CRM application GEDYS IntraWare 7 to us, and ran a workshop to help us create a rough concept for the design,” says Christoph Adler. “The presales experience convinced us that SoftM and Meggle could form a productive partnership – and I’m delighted to say that we were right.”

The design, development and implementation were all handled by SoftM, working closely with the in-house team to ensure that Meggle got the solution it required. After the implementation, SoftM ran several training programmes for system administrators and end users, and is still working with Meggle to support the new system.

“SoftM added value by customising the solution for us, introducing our unique workflows and document templates, integrating the existing quality management software, and interfacing with our back-end ERP systems,” adds Christoph Adler. “We now have a CRM platform tailored exactly to our needs and processes, helping us respond faster and play a more active, targeted role in our customer relationships.”

Unified information environment

The SoftM and IBM solution brings all Meggle’s customer relationship data into a single environment, accessible across the company – eliminating the information-lag which used to result from a reliance on siloed systems and paper-based processes. Process automation also saves administrative workload for busy staff, helping them focus on higher-value roles and reducing operational costs.

With GEDYS IntraWare 7, sales staff can instantly pull up all the relevant information on a customer, helping them to handle larger numbers of clients more easily. Meanwhile business analysts and marketing managers benefit from access to advanced reporting tools, helping them design processes, products and promotions that more effectively meet customer needs.

“IBM Lotus software is far more than a communications platform – it’s the core of our IT infrastructure, supporting both quality management and the CRM function,” concludes Christoph Adler. “The flexibility of Lotus software, combined with the expertise of IBM Premier Business Partners SoftM Communications and solutions by GEDYS IntraWare, provides a powerful business engine to drive down costs and accelerate productivity.”

“The flexibility of Lotus software... provides a powerful business engine to drive down costs and accelerate productivity.”

Christoph Adler, CRM-Projektleiter Meggle