Javier combarros Gómez

Javier Combarros, CRM Senior Application Expert and business analyst responsible for the CRM Analytics implementation for the Holcim EMEA Digital Center, shares the relevance of CRM Analytics and how it is being addressed at Holcim.

CRM ANALYTICS

Data Analytics and specifically CRM analytics is becoming increasingly relevant for companies looking to make decisions based on facts from a trustworthy source of information. Data allows for more exhaustive and accurate analysis from customers, sales and marketing activities that provide the business with valuable insights regarding customers' preferences, needs and behaviors. By analyzing this data, businesses can gain a better understanding of their customers and identify opportunities for growth and improvement. These insights can then be used to make more informed business decisions and improve customer satisfaction.

Making smarter data-driven decisions faster with Customer Relationship Management Analytics

Holcim Group companies in the Europe, Africa and Middle East regions use Salesforce for their CRM. This cloud-based solution has helped us to tackle the transformation of our sales department, particularly when it comes to some of the most critical areas of our sales processes, including: 360° customer insight, sales funnel management, customer visit tracking, quotation processes, sales forecasting, customer care, etc.

This means millions and millions of inputs from different data sources, which businesses are unable to visualize without the right analysis tool. That's why one of our core strengths is turning this raw data into valuable information and delivering it to sales departments in a way that is easy to consume. To that end, we leverage a CRM analytics solution, in this case the one from Salesforce.

An approach that raises to the challenge: Adaptability, integration and scalability

CRM Analytics (formerly known as Einstein Analytics and Tableau CRM) is Salesforce's product for visualizing what's happening in Salesforce CRM and related systems as an AI-powered advanced analytics tool. From incorporating the ability to report data graphically, dynamic filtering and navigation with multiple levels to a range of chart types and a mobile app, CRM Analytics features a host of benefits.

What does CRM analytics empower us to do? Respond to business and market challenges in three specific areas: adaptability, integration and scalability.

We are faced today with unexpected business challenges and needs resulting from geopolitical instability and uncertainty, supply chain issues and material shortages, the impact of COVID-19, inflationary environment, etc. Using CRM Analytics means that we can address these needs, adapting to diverse requirements since there are no code panels for meeting these challenging business needs in a time-sensitive, successful way.

Sales teams require a wealth of information to deliver the best results for their business. Used on a daily basis, relevant information like credit data, invoices and deliveries is often not included in native CRM data. To fix this problem and create a truly useful and powerful CRM Analytics tool, CRM has been combined with middleware like MuleSoft to easily synchronize these external models into the Analytics database.

Our scope is also complex, supporting users in more than 30 countries in the EMEA region with Salesforce. This landscape has pushed the boundaries to allow a CRM Analytics scenario in which local data visualizations and global analytics solutions coexist. Examples of global solutions that have been developed include:

The Sales Co-Pilot initiative notifies the sales team of any relevant customer response that could impact Holcim's earnings. Includes pop-up smartphone notifications with summarized info to lead Sales reps to appropriate actions.
Customer 360 is the solution for sales reps looking for a single space for a simple yet comprehensive view of customer details. Customer 360 offers insight into the customer's current situation and its evolution from different standpoints and departments: sales, service, finance, etc.

In short, the CRM Analytics solution and its more advanced features allow us to provide our sales teams with valuable information in a simple yet comprehensive environment so that they can successfully take action before a major event occurs, like losing a customer or wallet share – a cornerstone of business transformation.