“The implementation of new technologies has always been an important goal to us as we always want to offer our customers a product that can meet all their needs,”
Ivaylo Todorov, CFO
When the market is dominated by a dozen of strong competitors, the adequate company behavior is vitally important for its survival; when the market is dominated by a dozen of strong competitors with several strong brands each, the adequate, quick and flexible response is critical to the business of the company. The ability to analyze the market trends in real time allows for that fundamental function at "Boliarka VT" JSC, a leading Bulgarian brewery with 120 years of market presence. Today Salesforce.com allows the company managers at all levels to monitor the work of the brewery as a living structure, but also to keep an eye on every single step of its competitors.
The Challenge
Since 1997 on, "Boliarka VT" JSC invested more than 30 million euros in technological equipment and renovation, Valko Valev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, says. “Today we have the most technologically advanced brewery in Bulgaria and in whole Europe”. Eight beer brands, all with different packaging, more than 100 distributors all over the country, over 20,000 merchant locations in Bulgaria - these figures show how many aspects of a brewery management must be fluent in the company to make it able to sell its products and reach the end customer. “To be able to successfully plan and manage so many brands and subtypes, market information is crucial to us, as well as the ability to quickly analyze it,” Dimitar Dragolov, Sales Director of "Boliarka VT" says. “In the beginning we started with 4-5 sales reps,” Valko Valev recalls. Today the sales team consists of 70 salespeople. Having such a big team is challenge itself, as is the way they work. Until recently, most of the sales data “lived” on paper only, inside the documents created during the interactions with customers. Entering the data in electronic spreadsheets lasted several days. Besides being slow, this process is prone to human error. “Our commercial structure was not effective enough, despite our repeated attempts to optimize it by building an information system,” Valev says.
"Until recently, most of the sales data “lived” on paper only, inside the documents created during the interactions with customers. Entering the data in electronic spreadsheets lasted several days."
In a Quest for Efficiency
The managers of “Boliarka VT” gradually came to the conclusion that the company needs some kind of integrated information system to let them manage the entire business structure so that it can work effectively. “The implementation of new technologies has always been an important goal to us as we always want to offer our customers a product that can meet all their needs,” Ivaylo Todorov, CFO of the company, explains. “At one point we came to the idea that we need a system for customer relationship management, because the environment we work in is terribly dynamic”. More than three years the top management researched the market, looking for an integrated information system for sales management, Valev says. The team focused on the Salesforce.com platform and the integrators from Next Consult. “After examining the opportunities, advantages and disadvantages of all the systems we researched, we ended up with the conclusion that the most appropriate one for" Boliarka VT "is Salesforce.com - due to several advantages it has”.
“At one point we came to the idea that we need a system for customer relationship management, because the environment we work in is terribly dynamic”
Flexible Analysis Without Need for Material Base
“The first and foremost of these advantages lies inside the great opportunity to cover all the information, to make analysis, to make decisions regarding the sales,” Valev adds. The other great advantage of the platform his team sees is that the system is “cloud-based”. The fact that the platform is used as a software service eliminates the need to invest in material and technical basis for the use of the information system.
Clean Аccounts, Quick Decisions
The ones who enjoy the greatest benefit of having the new platform were the sales experts at "Boliarka VT" who were finally relieved from large volumes of paperwork and documentation. “While we had no CRM system, our work was related with a huge amount of paperwork,” Dragolov recalls. Speed is the first of the new “weapons” of sales reps. “The time to get and process the information we need for making a decision was three times longer”, Dragolov says. “Now we can act online, instantly! We know, at any moment, where our traders are and what they are doing”. Keeping track of the competitors is another “weapon” in sales afret starting work with the new system. Through its reps "Boliarka" yields a clear idea of the activities of the competitors, an undeniable advantage for any business. “This allows us to respond adequately to the market.” The salespeople receive quick recap of the data. Managers are able to analyze the information and a take the necessary decisions quickly and timely. All the sales became much more manageable,” Valev says.
"The salespeople receive quick recap of the data. Managers are able to analyze the information and a take the necessary decisions quickly and timely. All the sales became much more manageable”
Rapid Implementation
Another key factor was the rapid implementation of the CRM system. Next Consult was able to thoroughly research all the business processes at "Boliarka VT" and remodel them inside the online platform Salesforce.com. “The actual implementation of the project took us very short time," Ivaylo Todorov, CFO of the company, says. “We succeeded in three months - from the moment we chose the platform to the moment we entered the phase of a working system”. To the managers at all levels and the sales representatives the rapid implementation is important because prolonged deployments tend to exhaust the sales teams and often lead to emotional resistance. The top management of the company also felt the benefit form the rapid deployment because it was quite soon that they could feel the advantages of Salesforce.com.
“We succeeded in three months - from the moment we chose the platform to the moment we entered the phase of a working system”
