Multi-national, Multi-ERP Manufacturing: How Roxell Dissolved Business Barriers with the e-Con CPQ
Meet Roxell, a business that began in Belgium and has expanded into a multi-national developer and supplier of machines and equipment for poultry and pig farm feeding, drinking, nesting, and perching. The company now employs 300 people and works with a worldwide network of resellers, not to mention more than 65 distributors. They’re busy, and they’re thriving—a recent revenues assessment stood at 100 million—and with emerging markets in Asia, South America and Russia, the company’s growth opportunities are more than promising.
The Challenge of Worldwide Success: How to Configure Everything, Everywhere, Using a De-Centralized Business Model
Roxell has 100 resellers, 65 users on e-Quote, working in a number of countries, and they use a wide range of ERP systems that aren’t connected with Roxell’s system. Sales teams work on a lot of different roads, so to speak, when they’re in the field. Roxell faced a two-fold challenge: How could they provide the resellers they depend on with centralized, accurate information about products, services, and manufacturing processes? And how could they give salespeople the mobility to work offline and online, with the assurance that they would have current information at hand?
Roxell needed a solution that could give multiple entities always-current product configurations via web browser, eliminating the need to wrangle with multiple ERP systems. They needed a tool that would enable sales to configure quotes online or offline, using a standardized, straightforward process based on rules that prevented reps from creating configurations that were inaccurate or that couldn’t feasibly be produced.
Connecting the Roxell Enterprise with e-Con CPQ
When Roxell invested in the e-Con standalone configurator, they gained an outstanding sales and product configurator for the company’s engineering, product, and back-office teams. They also extended their reach to all their worldwide dealers with the e-Con Smart Client. The solution did not require integration with resellers’ ERP systems—while e-Con is connected with Roxell’s Infor ERP LN system, resellers need only to install the client to work with sales and product information. Salespeople can work via the e-Con Smart Client to create quotes, proposals, specifications; all documentation needed for selling. If they’re online, information comes from Roxell in real time and they’re able to send quotes to Roxell with a few clicks for processing into orders. If they’ve been working offline, all information is synchronized and updated the next time they log into the e-Con solution. They can then send customer information and accurate quotes to Roxell for processing. e-Con outputs a list of items that is then consumed by the Roxell Baan system. In addition, Roxell’s system integrates with Siebel CRM, so worldwide customer information can be sent to Roxell and housed in a centralized location for easy access and automatic updates.
Results?
- More than 200 e-Con users working for 65 resellers can work with confidence to match customer requirements with Roxell’s products. Current, relevant information and e-Con Guided Selling enables them to produce flawless quotes. The e-Con rules engine, which is the backbone of Guided Selling, provides checks and balances that prevent salespeople from making incorrect choices and prompts them for correct selections, additional options, and even cross-selling and upselling.
- Users can generate and print professionally branded documentation.
- Roxell can accommodate different languages and regulatory requirements. A customer quote or order produced in one language can be processed in another, so that both reps and employees clearly understand what they’re working with and customers are happy. The appropriate regulations are automatically associated with a customer’s location.
- Roxell also can work with confidence to convert accurate quotes to orders that automatically include bills of material, routings, and all other information needed to get production started.
- If change orders come in from resellers, all involved teams stay informed and can make decisions that keep projects on time and within budget.
All teams and customers are scattered all over the globe, using multiple systems and channels, e-Con can bring together quote through production processes so that Roxell’s enterprise works as a connected system. A huge added benefit for Roxell itself is that e-Con, in particular the e-Con Design Studio, has optimized the process of building complex product configurations that can have thousands of variables.
Turning Data Output into Business Intelligence
With e-Con, Roxell can produce goods for a literal world of customers and give dealers a sales tool that accelerates success. The company is also using the tool to improve management of the sales organization. Data out from e-Con offers measurable information that turn into valuable sales insight, including:
- Customer revenue
- Turnover per reseller and vendor
- Whether new products are taking over market position from outdated or discontinued products
- Projected customer portfolio for the coming months
- End results for business units
e-Con is playing a key role in optimizing business practices within the sales organization, and the impact is reaching many departments—starting with sales and moving to account management, sales support, sales development, and product development. Ultimately, general managers and directors can utilize e-Con’s goldmine of information as an asset that helps them strategize and plan for continuing growth. Roxell is an ideal example of a company that is taking advantage of everything e-Con has to offer. They are a pleasure and an inspiration to all teams at e-Con Solutions.