Lamb Weston Meijer puts the customer first
Lamb Weston Meijer is on its way to becoming the largest producer of frozen potato products worldwide, along with Lamb Weston US. The implementation of SAP Sales and Service Cloud is helping to achieve this ambition.
About Lamb Weston Meijer
Golden, crispy fries. Curly Twisters. Classic Pommes Duchesses. And crunchy, creamy cheese bites. Think of something delicious, and Lamb Weston / Meijer probably has it. The range of frozen fries, specialties, appetizers, and dried potato flakes is available in over 110 countries worldwide. The customer base of the American-Dutch company includes restaurants, fast food chains, supermarkets, wholesalers, and the food industry.
“The new system had to meet the business requirements.”
Hasan Parlamis, Manager Customer Experience at Lamb Weston Meijer
Putting the customer first
Lamb Weston Meijer, together with Lamb Weston US, is on its way to becoming the largest producer of frozen potato products in the world. Achieving such a grand ambition requires everyone within the organization to prioritize the customer. That's why Lamb Weston / Meijer decided a year and a half ago to implement an innovative CRM cloud solution: SAP Sales and Service Cloud. Acorel is the supporting IT and advisory partner in this endeavor.
Lamb Weston Meijer's wishlist
The choice of SAP Sales and Service Cloud was carefully considered and not made overnight. Hasan Parlamis, Process Improvement Manager, explains: “The new system had to meet the business requirements, such as online and offline availability, easy mobile use, a solution that strengthens collaboration between departments, and one that consolidates customer information and insights in one place.” Additionally, there was a preference from the IT side for an SAP solution since Lamb Weston / Meijer already works with SAP ECC and SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP).
Before the implementation: fragmented information
Previously, customer, lead, and market information at Lamb Weston / Meijer was stored in various ways; in Excel sheets, mailboxes, notes, website requests. While there was an IT solution available for consolidating customer information, only the sales and customer service departments were using that system. “Due to information being scattered across different areas in the organization, not everyone could efficiently and promptly assist customers,” says Hasan. “There was a lot of pressure on our customer service representatives because they received many internal information requests. Furthermore, we lacked an overarching view of the business pipeline.”
“The information was scattered, and there was a lot of pressure on our customer service.”
Erwin Picavet, Lamb Weston Meijer
Now: one platform for customer interaction
The project team started in September 2016, and in March 2017, SAP Sales and Service Cloud went live. Lamb Weston/Meijer opted for a phased implementation, with the focus in the first six months primarily on the basic functionality of the CRM system: lead management, account management, contract management, and the management of activities, tasks, and the calendar. Hasan explains, “We now have one platform where our commercial departments collaborate. In total, they have already registered 28,000 accounts, 23,000 contacts, 20,000 visits, and 1,300 leads centrally in SAP Sales and Service Cloud. We plan to expand the functionality at a later stage. This approach keeps it manageable for both IT and users. We want to ensure we can walk well before we start running.”
“We want to ensure we can walk well before we start running.”
Jeroen Dekker, Lamb Weston Meijer
An open system where departments collaborate
For Lamb Weston / Meijer, it was essential that the new CRM solution was not limited to sales and customer service staff but that departments such as marketing, logistics, finance, and procurement could also work with the solution. The vision at Lamb Weston / Meijer is that you can only truly put the customer at the center if everyone turns to the same system for retrieving, adding, and storing customer information. Hasan explains, “Otherwise, you never really get rid of separate emails and Excel sheets, which means not everyone can provide customers with up-to-date information. By engaging all departments, everything is interconnected, and we can also optimally involve the customer with our brand. Our internal slogan for SAP Sales and Service Cloud is 'Our new customer interaction platform for connecting, creating, learning, channelling, and succeeding together'.”
Additionally, the open system enables better analyses. Hasan elaborates, “By having crucial market data centrally located, we are better equipped to identify opportunities and assess whether our growth aligns with our ambitions and the market situation. And by working much more efficiently with SAP Sales and Service Cloud, we have more time to seize those opportunities effectively. This leads us to faster and more substantial results.”
“We all have the same view of our customer.”
Koen Thijs, Lamb Weston Meijer
Rapid implementation thanks to workstreams
Lamb Weston / Meijer successfully implemented SAP Sales and Service Cloud within a relatively short time frame. This success can be attributed in part to the approach introduced by implementation partner Acorel, based on so-called workstreams. Hasan explains, “At the beginning, we had an extensive list of tasks we wanted to accomplish together. Then the Acorel project team suggested working in separate workstreams, each with a specific task; a workstream for data migration, for reporting, for testing, communication, training, and so on. This division provided focus and accelerated the implementation process.”
This best practice was one of the reasons Lamb Weston / Meijer chose Acorel after discussions with various parties. Hasan recalls, “During those conversations, there was an immediate connection with Acorel because they listened well to our ideas but were also not afraid to challenge us and ask critical questions. They have in-depth product knowledge and understand our business. Additionally, they had a clear vision of the execution from the start. And yes, we did have discussions about the balance between standardization and customization, but that's a positive thing. It forces you to think carefully about it. I can genuinely say that the collaboration with Acorel is pleasant and open. We make an energetic team.”
“The collaboration with Acorel is pleasant, open, and energetic.”
Hasan Parlamis, Manager Customer Experience at Lamb Weston Meijer
A bright future outlook
Now that the foundation of SAP Sales and Service Cloud is in place, Lamb Weston / Meijer is considering the next step; real acceleration. Hasan and his team aim to expand the solution with five new features: quotes & order management, opportunity management, service tickets, SAP Jam Collaboration, and business analytics. Hasan envisions, “I see us recognizing opportunities, converting them into leads, preparing quotes, and directly routing signed quotes to SAP IBP, all through Cloud for Customer. We will use SAP Jam Collaboration to work cross-departmentally in workgroups on quote processes and to involve external partners and customers in our business.”
“With this platform, I have complete control over my customers and processes.”
Vicenzo Della Corte, Lamb Weston Meijer
Acorel Managed Services
The SAP CRM cloud solution has a new release every quarter, allowing all users to automatically benefit from the latest functionality. This means the project for Lamb Weston / Meijer is never truly finished. Hasan explains, “We see it as a solution that we can continuously develop and improve so we can always maintain high adoption rates and customer engagement.”
Lamb Weston / Meijer collaborates with Acorel Managed Services for further optimizing the setup of SAP Sales and Service Cloud and for 3rd line specialist matters.
