13 October 2009
Printer specialist Konica Minolta Business Solutions partnered with Experlogix to streamline its product quote system.
Konica Minolta Business Solutions New Zealand (Konica Minolta NZ) is a leading printer and document solutions company and has been working with New Zealand businesses for more than 35 years, helping organisations efficiently manage information flow and harness new document technology. Konica Minolta NZ differentiates through the quality technology brands it offers as well as customer service excellence.
As the business has grown, so has the need for Konica Minolta NZ to manage its product configuration and sales processes, and ensure all its departments have access to the most current data.
With product information being held across multiple departments and being updated at different times, building correct product quotes was becoming increasingly difficult. Errors were being made and time was being lost finding the right information.
“We wanted a quote-and-order solution that was database driven so that a single version of the truth existed rather than many copies as we originally had,” says Brendon Avery, general manager of IT at Konica Minolta NZ. “By removing the need for any paper-based systems and automating as much of the sales order process as possible with order configurator data in a single database, we wanted to eliminate the chance of error, either in reworked or incomplete orders.”
Konica Minolta chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Experlogix Product Configurator as an integrated, easy-to-use solution.
It was absolutely critical that the quote could be done once and done right to eliminate the amount of rework that we were burdened with in using our old system
Brendon Avery, Konica Minolta NZ Built on the same .NET/SQL Server platform, the two systems integrate seamlessly, delivering the scalability and flexibility needed to handle complex quote and order requirements at a low total cost of ownership.
“It was important that we could make the product configuration process as easy as possible so that quotes could be completed in a timely manner,” says Avery. “It was absolutely critical that the quote could be done once and done right to eliminate the amount of rework that we were burdened with in using our old system. Today, the Experlogix Configurator with Microsoft Dynamics CRM ensures our orders are configured with 100 percent accuracy, it streamlines our processes and ultimately saves on costs.”
Experlogix Configurator has delivered on all levels. Konica Minolta now has a refined quote-and-order solution where users can be sure they are producing correct quotes with up-to-date, accurate information. This has resulted in a more efficient work process as well as increased customer satisfaction.
“Our product configuration process completely integrates with the sales order process and ensures that our quotes contain all the components and costs associated with the solution being presented to the customer,” concludes Avery. “This has improved our profitability and has strengthened our customer satisfaction levels. Further down the road, I am expecting to see enhanced product pipeline reporting, which should result in improvements in our stock keeping levels. It is expected that we will see time saved in configuring a product and accuracy improved to 100 percent on all orders.”
This article first appeared In the 2009/10 edition of the Prime Partner Guide
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