SAP and Microsoft tools for Customer Service

World’s largest car dealer to use SAP and Microsoft tools for Customer Service

Inchcape, the London-based largest car dealer in the world, is making itself much strong now by improving its customer services arising from major SAP and Microsoft implementations. The company has also vowed to setting a benchmark for customer service as a means of gaining an edge over its competitors and boosting profits, and says technology will make the difference.

As of this week, Inchcape has also announced that is has just sign a deal with SAP AG for a design and roll out of a high end software solutions that can help deliver and realize the vision of Inchcape to become the most customer-centric automotive retail group in the world. The said software collaboration with the world’s leading provider of business software will allow IT and process best practices to be applied globally across all its Retail and Distribution businesses in the 26 countries in which Inchcape operates, as the company implements its ‘strengthen and expand’ growth strategy.

SAP has been used by the company already in automating and streamlining operational processes in its car dealership and has allowed its sales staff to spend more time with customers and develop stronger and deeper ties with them. If will further use SAP in pushing its plans further so it could promote its best practices around the world where the company has a near £5bn turnover and 12,000 staff worldwide.

According to André Lacroix, chief executive at Inchcape, the SAP system would "also be a platform for the fast and efficient integration of new businesses as we execute our expansion strategy in developed and emerging countries”. What he was saying also includes some of the newly acquired retail operations in Russia such as the purchase of Peugeot and Audi dealership chains.

As to its Microsoft deal, the company want to benefit from Microsoft in its aim at producing a better business intelligence data for management. The company is implementing the Microsoft business intelligence system Office PerformancePoint Server so that it could measure improvements and draw out useful information for dealership managers.

“We’re trying to understand customer behaviour - how many customers are asking for quotes, or buying finance, for example, and how they feel about buying from us. We had no idea of these things 12 months ago. Other business areas being measured include parts sales and service,” said Peter Wilson, chief information officer at Inchcape.

Inchcape has also said that it has a data warehouse running on Hyperion Essbase and Microsoft SQL Server. In some of its branches and operations the company is exerting more and more effort and spending investments in replacing some of the legacy systems with the use of a legacy consolidation tool. Wilson also said that some of the problems that need to be overcome pertain to old data and he advised other that when trying to tackle a business intelligence overhaul, a company should never underestimate the issues surrounding legacy data.

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