Introduction

As the automotive industry is expanding fast, most companies are more concerned with prices to ensure that there products sell in the market. ABC motors have taken a different approach where quality and the customer preference take priority in inventing their new products. The company is keen on integrating technology and innovation to ensure that its products meet customer preferences. The company focuses on SAP’s CRM solutions in sales and marketing, service and analytics, interaction center among others. This has enabled ABC motors prioritize their products on quality rather than price as it sales point in the market. The company has come up with a high quality vehicle brand that it intends to launch in the market.

Product definition

Using enterprise resource system, the company has integrated various functions and processes in the designing of the products to meet the required customer needs. The use of SAPCRM is crucial in the initial product design because it will enable the use of changing customer demands in the market and target the innovation towards these demands. It use will also accelerate the development process of the products while providing relevant data for use in innovation.

There are several ways which the ABC engineers can use SAPCRM in the project design process. First is by of creation of an initial central hub for the project and management of resources. This is critical as it provides a portfolio where one can visualize the entire project in relation to the market. In additional, this will speed up the development of the design process in a very effective way. The data gathered and maintained in the SAPCRM will be useful in analyzing the new data sources and evaluate them internally to significantly reduce product failures. It will also provide a link between supply and demand in the market through which will help designers fit market demands. It will also make it easy to fast track results and make necessary changes to the design in case the product does not satisfy customer needs (Chiu et al, 2006)

Product requirements

The ABC motors require two parts from the suppliers for design to be manufactured. The required parts are highly customizable gear train and standard leather seats that are available from few suppliers and many suppliers respectively.

Drive train:

SAPCRM is essential in creating a system where that compiles customer information across all channels. In gathering materials required for product design, the software can help recording supplier interactions and automating the workflow of the process of acquiring these parts. 

Leather seats

 The system can automatically acquire the necessary details of the suppliers that like cost and efficiency to facilitate choice of the best suppliers. It can also help avoid duplication where the same part can be ordered from different suppliers while prioritizing the parts that are available from few manufacturer.

Marketing

Several capabilities of the SAPCRM software are very useful in marketing of the new products. It empowers markets with tools that are effective in engaging the customer experience. The software can be applied in marketing in a number of ways below.

Selling the product

            Selling the product to partners

The software can be used in selling the product to the customer in a number of ways. It is useful in managing stock, delivery of the product to the external supplier making the marketing of the product easy. It is possible for the customer to order the product from the suppliers or partners of ABC through the software directly. In additional, it allows for direct orders from the customer of the product directly from the manufacturer making it efficient as an online company. Selling the products can requires of analytics, interaction center, marketing and sales and web channel modules. The E-business is essential for ABC motors in reducing operational costs, covering a wide market, improving customer care services and targeting new markets more easily. The mobile platform is also important to reach customers in using mobile device platform.

            Meeting customer demand

In marketing meeting customer demands is very important. The SAPCRM enables the marketer to analyze the behavior of the customer and optimize his campaign towards a targeted group, which will improve marketing effectiveness. To meet the customer demands, the software will also enable the market to analyze purchasing behaviors and patterns for the customers. It therefore provides measurements and report that are useful in optimizing marketing to meet the customer demands. It is also possible to analyze various markets and identify their customer demand (Sahay, & Ranjan, 2008).

Maintenance/service

Maintenance   and servicing of the product needs to be well structured to ensure that customers do not lose faith with the company which will significantly affect the sales of even the other products. The SAPCRM will provide the necessary notification on the product performance enabling necessary actions to be taken whenever it requires maintenance. The company can continually improve the product maintenance and collaborating with the producers of the service parts and suppliers to ensure its products are efficiently maintained. Maintenance service can efficiently make use of analytics, interaction center and service modules. This will enable the company efficiently evaluate its products based on customer feedback and performance.

Recalling the product

In some instances, the products are recalled by manufactures if they are discovered to be ineffective. The use of ERP simplifies product recall management (Chiu et al, 2006). The software provides a forward and a backward product traceability that is essential in product recalls. This will make it easy for the ACB to trace their products that require recall to the end customers.

Analytics

SAPCRM and Google ANALYTIC provide an important tool for the company to analyze its performance. CRM and Google analytics are reliable for the ABC motors to analyze customer traffic through its online system with the use of tracking code to provide track activities in the entire system (trackman et al, 2010). The CRM analytics the company’s customers’ data and presents the results for use in decision-making. These analytic services enable the company to restructure necessary area in the sales, marketing and other policies to fit the customer requirements, reduce the cost of operation and set competitive pricing. The information obtained from the analytics software can be used to improve the design of the product to be a more appealing and easy to use. Production can also be increased if the customers demand is higher than the supply. All these can be identified through the feedback obtained from the analytics software (Sahay & Ranjan, 2008).

References:

Chiu, Y. C., Chen, B., Shyu, J. Z., & Tzeng, G. H. (2006). An evaluation model of new product launch strategy. Technovation, 26(11), 1244-1252.

Cui, A. S., Zhao, M., & Ravichandran, T. (2011). Market uncertainty and dynamic new product launch strategies: a system dynamics model.Engineering Management, IEEE Transactions on, 58(3), 530-550.

Sahay, B. S., & Ranjan, J. (2008). Real time business intelligence in supply chain analytics. Information Management & Computer Security, 16(1), 28-48.

Trkman, P., McCormack, K., De Oliveira, M. P. V., & Ladeira, M. B. (2010). The impact of business analytics on supply chain performance. Decision Support Systems, 49(3), 318-327.