9621 Agnes Crossing, Lake Suzanneview, New Mexico Island 84604-9295.
Salesforce likes to position itself as a partner to its customers, who in turn want to put their own customers first. Beer, fries and chocolates are intended to
Salesforce likes to position itself as a partner to its customers, who in turn want to put their own customers first. Beer, fries and chocolates are intended to illustrate how the American giant is gaining an important place in the Belgian business world. From a vintage bus chartered for the occasion, we fill our stomachs and heads with food, drink and knowledge.
A broad smile appears behind the passenger window of a family car on the Brussels ring road. The thumbs up as the car passes us quickly. The authentic light blue Volkswagen Transporter in which Salesforce takes us on a tour through Flanders can count on a lot of popularity and interest.
The country’s deputy chairman, Gianni Cooreman, sits there, accompanied by a few frightened technology journalists. The charm of the hippie bus is undeniable, the noise of the brave engine that has to make it above the minimum speed on the highway is deafening. “This electric Volkswagen bus is more modern,” he notes, “but it doesn’t have the same charm.”
Salesforce has long been more than just a CRM specialist. The company sees itself as an important partner for companies that want to focus on their customers. This is not just a question of vision and culture, but also of technology: If you really want to know your customer, you need a central source of truth in which data from sales teams, branches, online shops and customer service come together. This story sounds plausible when Salesforce tells it, but Cooreman rightly recognizes that the message only becomes truly credible when customers themselves have their say. Against this background, the van sets course for the scent of chocolate.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to collect and trust data about third parties.
Kelly Notterdam, e-commerce manager Neuhaus
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to collect and trust data about third parties,” says Kelly Notterdam, e-commerce manager at Neuhaus. We listen intently while we a Mood Rehearse. We like the combination of dark chocolate and nougatine. “Since we want to collect our data ourselves, customers have to register with us. To convince them, registration must offer a clear advantage.”
At Neuhaus, registered customers are insiders. You will receive regular emails inviting you to pick up a new chocolate for free. In this way, Neuhaus wants to attract customers to his shop and the chocolatier immediately has a customer profile that he can continue to build on. The glue is the Salesforce platform.
“Today, 62 percent of our online visitors are registered,” says Notterdam as we secretly send one Cornet Doré We work inside and hope that no one has seen that we have already tried a second praline. “This customer data is shared between Salesforce’s commerce, marketing and services cloud. For example, we can use the marketing cloud to send people an email at the right time.” Neuhaus plans to extensively personalize his web shop using Salesforce. “For example, we are thinking about Einstein AI to use algorithms to show certain products to certain customers, of course with the option of still bringing new products to the fore.”
We don’t believe in loyal customers, we believe in addiction.
Ignace Van Doorselaere, CEO Neuhaus (until November 2023)
“We don’t believe in loyal customers, we believe in addiction,” says Ignace Van Doorselaere, who is currently CEO but will step down in November. He immediately admits he’s exaggerating, but we nod in understanding and squint at a third chocolate candy just out of reach. “Our insiders are important to our growth. Around twelve percent of our sales come from e-commerce. This share will grow, but our branches remain very important.” Neuhaus must therefore make the best possible use of his knowledge of the customer in order to bring them into the branch. “With Salesforce, we didn’t just buy software; we worked with a partner who really wanted to understand us,” he continues.
We’ll take our chance and try one Tent. Luckily: “Who ours Irresistible If you can’t taste it, you’re not allowed out here,” concludes Van Doorselaere. Our ticket to the exit is double and thickly silver-plated. We are not ashamed. “I’ve been working here for 25 years and eat an average of about five chocolates a day,” we hear from the guide, who accompanies us through the chocolate production to the exit.
The van is waiting in the parking lot. The sun hits the Salesforce decal that brightens up the side of the iconic bus. At the next stop, fries are on the menu: Agristo. The fuel needle indicates that the tank is full-empty-full-empty at a frequency of about five hertz, so we make a quick pit stop before the engine catapults us onto the highway in its best Boeing 747 impression.
“Neuhaus uses our platform more in a B2C context,” says Cooreman, before we take the exit towards Wielsbeke. “Agristo’s customers are other companies. Here we learn how the Salesforce platform supports B2B.”
We park the bus in front of Agristo’s state-of-the-art office and immediately dive into the production hall, where the potatoes whiz at high speed through a production line made up of conveyor belts, optical scanners, slicers and fryers. At the end of the journey, they end up in the freezer in the right bag, which is sent to a customer nearby or on the other side of the world. Don’t just say fries, we learn from guide and digital marketer Hannelore Longueville: “The type of potato, the shape, the thickness, the spices and many other factors ensure that hundreds of very different products roll off the production line here.”
A little later, in Agristo’s beautiful meeting and tasting room, we discover that the company has well organized its IT strategy. After all, the potato specialist’s ERP system runs on SAP S/4 HANA. “The migration is several years behind us,” says Thomas Eeman, Program Manager Go To Market Strategy & Customer Interaction, as if that were normal, while we suspect that many SAP customers will be jealous of this statement.
Of course, we are here today mainly because of Salesforce, with the easy connection of Salesforce to SAP and other platforms of various customers being an important requirement for Agristo. “That’s what we use Mulesoft for,” explains Eeman, who, according to a sticker on his laptop, has one potatoholic Is. Meanwhile, Longueville supplies the table with some fried Agristo products.
“We grow primarily with our customers, so we look for customers who can grow,” Eeman continues. While we listen, we try some fries. “Over the last year and a half, we have focused primarily on digital transformation programs in light of customer interaction. We want to proactively relieve customers of their worries and solve problems before they arise. To do this, we have to know our customers well and know which moments are really important.”
We need to know our customers well and know which moments are really important.
Thomas Eeman; Program Manager Go-to-Market Strategy and Customer Interaction Agristo
Agristo keeps detailed records of its customers’ interactions across various departments. Here, too, each department has a good picture of the customer and their relationship with the company. “We grew a lot, then silos emerged. For example, the service department has a lot of problems to solve, but these people have little power to actually solve problems.” The Salesforce platform must break down the silos. This is not just a question of technology, but also of governance. We nod while eating a hash brown. The spice of this example is exquisite.
The sun has transformed the hippie bus into a mobile winter garden when we take our seats again with full stomachs. We position ourselves far from the door as our confidence in the castle has waned somewhat after a few difficult hurdles. Along the way, we talk to Cooreman about the sense and nonsense of AI, its role within Salesforce and the future of the NFT hype. The fluctuating fuel needle forces a second pit stop: no one knows exactly how full or empty the tank is, and stopping is not an option.
One Brussels rush hour later, we enter the Haacht brewery thirsty. While Neuhaus and Agristo are already fully benefiting from the possibilities of Salesforce, Managing Director Commercial Strategy Bart Van Gelder is very confident. The contracts with Salesforce have been signed and expectations are high, but the rollout of Service Cloud and Sales Cloud is not yet complete.
However, the brewery has the potential to become a relevant reference case. “We have different contacts with our customers,” says Van Gelder. “We sell drinks, but we also rent real estate to operators. The brewery therefore has to deal with repairs to buildings and we have teams dealing with cleaning tap systems. There is also a legal service that would like to be informed about what has been agreed with customers. In short, there are many facets that weigh on complexity.”
While we sip from a bottle Sparkling autumn We have a dark suspicion that all of these different customer touchpoints could benefit from one single source or truth about the customer and we agree. Haacht Brewery also wants to use Salesforce to ensure that the entire company knows the entire customer, so a salesperson walking into a coffee shop knows that cleaning service is coming next week and the lease was renewed last month.
“The company does this with our Consumer Goods Cloud,” explains Cooreman quickly before we begin the brewery visit. “This is an industry-specific version of our sales cloud.” We nod, take notes and rush to the brewing kettle.
“We have always remained true to the original Primus recipe,” says the guide, not without pride, as we tour the installations. We end the tour with one at the bar Super 8 Flandrien and we’re not entirely sure whether to believe that the 8 stands for Haacht, but it sounds plausible.
Beer, fries and chocolates: Salesforce has chosen its customers well for this excursion. The fact that the customer is the focus and that you need a system that breaks down silos is both a common thread and a well-known story. Salesforce shows that the Customer 360Strategy is more than a marketing story, it really resonates with customers. We have been in this business for some time and now know from experience how difficult it is for a technology company to get a customer to testify about a case. Salesforce welcomed us to three customers today, including a tour and tasting.
When the transporter reached Haacht, the entire planning was already well advanced, but the people from the brewery were eagerly awaiting us. “Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was inspired to start his company in Hawaii, where he became very intrigued by the concept of ohana,” Cooreman said offhandedly. Ohana means “family” in the broadest sense of the word, and Salesforce always claims at its events that the relationship between the company and the customer is part of an Ohana event. As we get out of the old hippie car, somewhat grateful for our lives, and wave goodbye, we realize that Cooreman and his Belgian Salesforce colleagues have done a wonderful job of transferring this philosophy to Belgium.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
