"Conway is now able to paint a complete picture of the customer, by centrally collecting all touchpoints and insights."

Joris de Baets, Director Process Optimization at Conway

Conway improves information exchange with SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud

The Belgian company Conway specializes in on-the-go consumption. The organization supplies groceries to gas stations, supermarkets, and tobacco and magazine shops. Representatives of Conway regularly visit these stores. However, the information exchange between them and the headquarters needed improvement. That's why Conway implemented SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud – together with Acorel.

About Conway

Conway is part of the German Lekkerland group. The group assists retailers throughout Europe in creating their on-the-go assortment and managing the associated logistics. Conway is responsible for the Belgian market. The company helps retailers optimize their shops by finding the best layout and making improvements based on shopping behavior. Since January 2020, the Lekkerland group has been part of the REWE Group.

Improving information exchange

Joris de Baets, Director Process Optimization at Conway, explains the challenges that come with his work. "Around twenty Conway representatives visit independent retailers across the country to acquire new customers and advise existing ones. To send them well-prepared on their way, they were informed and directed by the internal sales organization at the headquarters. Until recently, this process was quite unstructured. Representatives received emails and Excel spreadsheets with customer information because we didn't have a system to manage our customer relationships."

"In turn, representatives kept their own reports containing insights from their conversations. But due to the lack of a central information gathering point, that information didn't reach the right people effectively."

De Baets continues: "This situation made it difficult for Conway's sales department to seize sales opportunities and gain new insights. We had limited visibility into the quality of sales conversations. And our statistics didn't provide sufficient insights. This made it challenging for us to execute targeted sales actions."

"For instance, when one of our beverage suppliers wanted to run a promotion at stores near train stations, it was difficult for us to quickly identify suitable locations. And processing reports on the success of promotions centrally and making them available to all responsible parties was complex. Yet, those insights are very valuable."

Bringing sales and service closer together

Conway decided to enhance the digital support for the sales and service departments. After exploring the options, the organization chose SAP Sales & Service Cloud. These cloud applications bring sales and service together, allowing Conway to paint a complete picture of the customer by centrally collecting all contact points and insights. Joris: "Once we knew which applications we wanted, we looked for a partner to lead the implementation project. We chose Acorel because of their expertise with SAP and their knowledge of the market. Additionally, our sister organization Lekkerland Netherlands had positive experiences with Acorel."

Two countries, two focus areas

Conway decided to collaborate with Lekkerland Netherlands on the project. Joris explains why: "Both organizations wanted to implement Sales and Service Cloud. In the Netherlands, improving service processes was a priority, while our focus was on sales. We maintained this division of focus during the implementation. We hope to learn from each other's processes when we shift our focus to the service solution."

Joris explains the process. "Together with Acorel, our sales and service managers examined the minimum requirements. Through workshops, we determined if we could shape our processes within the solution's standard capabilities. This led to defining four sprints that resulted in a prototype and later the actual configuration." This approach proved successful. "By involving the business from the beginning of the project, the end result aligned directly with our employees' needs."

"If a customer filed a complaint about an order, the sales representative had no prior knowledge. Now he knows in advance and can respond."

Joris de Baets, Director Process Optimization at Conway

Relevant customer information anytime, anywhere

The end result is a tool that better connects Conway's representatives with the headquarters, says Joris. "All sales information is now centrally stored and permanently accessible online for our employees. Thus, representatives always have up-to-date information about the customer and the contacts. Previously, service and sales interactions sometimes overlapped. For example, a customer might file a complaint about an order with customer service, but the sales representative visiting was unaware. Now he knows in advance and can respond."

"This solution aids representatives in their work. They see the route planning in their Outlook calendar. There are standardized surveys with questions and actions they need to present to the customer. This provides our staff with guidance during conversations, ensuring structured customer visits. Moreover, representatives input the insights they gather directly into the application, making the knowledge immediately accessible to the sales organization."

"For leads and upsell opportunities, we are also adding Opportunity and campaign management."

Joris de Baets, Director Process Optimization at Conway

From resistance to embrace

Initially, some employees were resistant to the announced change. However, once the solution was active, this resistance quickly turned into enthusiasm. "Representatives see that it works and embrace the additional possibilities the solution offers. They are already contributing various additional features and requests. We have never seen this happen so quickly."

Joris is also interested in Lekkerland Netherlands' experiences: "They already manage all customer service emails in Service Cloud. Based on their findings, we will determine when we will take that step as well."

This is just the beginning

Joris expects to derive even more benefits from the SAP solutions in the future. "We will add extra functionalities for opportunity and campaign management. This way, we will digitally record leads and upsell opportunities. Representatives will also see which email offers customers receive from us."

"Additionally, I anticipate great benefits from SAP's data visualization capabilities. Currently, our reports are mainly numerical, but I believe we will make them more visually appealing in the future. Several other Conway departments are eager to support their activities with Sales and Service Cloud as well. For instance, the Credit Control department, which ensures the creditworthiness of customers. Improved information exchange between them and the sales and service departments would be very valuable for us. This way, we can better leverage customer interactions and follow up on actions."

Joris will undoubtedly resume these follow-up projects with Acorel. "Our collaboration with Acorel was very pleasant. They are experts in their field and have proven why they are referred to as Customer Experience experts. I have full confidence that we will successfully complete the remaining phases."