It Enablement Of Appg Refinish Business

Project Synopsis

"IT Enablement of APPG Refinish Business"

Done at

Asian paints Ltd,

Systems Department

NITIE, Mumbai

Name Mobile E-mail Id

Sriram Vasudevan 9833502344 sriram114@gmail.com

Project Title IT Enablement of APPG Refinish Business

Project Area Systems, Customer Relationship Management System.

Executive Summary

Today's business environment is highly competitive and dynamic, replete with powerful competitors for whom the entire globe is a platform. Customers are more sophisticated and selective, demanding higher levels of service, quality, and customization. In this climate, companies that maintain their focus on their customers have a competitive advantage. These companies see and capitalize on opportunities before the competition; and orient their internal processes and services to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

APPG - a 50:50 joint venture between Asian paints and PPG, USA - is the market leader in auto refinish business with around 40% market share. However, it faces intense competition from Dupont, Akzo Nobel and others. In this business, the Territory Sales In-charge (TSI) is the face of the company for the customer. One of the main drivers of the business is the quality of service these TSI's provide to the customers. At the same time, the attrition rate among TSI's is very high. So, it is imperative to devise a system which will profile the customers, and give quick and easy access to this data across the organization. More than just data access, this system will empower the APPG management to segment their customers and make crucial investment decisions.

Also, there is a need to bring in a Service focus to the Sales force; monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the services provided; and incentivize improvements in overall service quality by increasing visibility of customer issues at higher levels of the APPG management. The Market Visit in Mumbai (Metro city, big players) and Rajkot (Non-metro city, smaller players) only reinstated the need for a Service orientation for APPG. It also elucidated that APPG will have to partner with their bodyshop (Auto Service Centers) customers and play an important role in improving the bodyshop performance.

APPG' key objective was to deepen its ties with the end customer. As a result, the CRM system needed to offer visibility into all customer interactions. At the same time, this system would standardize business processes at each stage of the customer interaction.

The CRM system design proposed caters to all these requirements of APPG. The modules suggested include:

The CRM system designed can facilitate APPG in servicing its customers. However, the overall success of this implementation depends upon the commitment and the dedication offered from the top level management in APPG. To make the best use of this system, APPG will have to crystallize its strategies and final outputs/reports that it expects to have.

Apart from this, Asian Paints System department requires APPG to share the ownership of this initiative. APPG should not fall into the trap of restricting this to the IT/technology domain. Instead, APPG should take this opportunity to strengthen their backend processes, especially those pertaining to Services handling.

If planned and executed judicially, this system will help APPG drive its business with a strong customer focus.

Problem Definition

Background to the Project

Asian PPG has recently acquired the auto refinish business of ICI paints. This has added approx 400 new bodyshops (Auto Service Centers) to the existing strength of 200 bodyshops. The entities contribute to about 70% of total business of Premium PU paints for all companies. Some b/s (bodyshops) have paint consumption close to Rs. 10 lac per month.

With car market having good growth, the paint refinish business is one of the more stable growth markets. This segment is currently growing in excess of 20% in terms of paint consumption and is expected to grow at a minimum of 15-20% over the next few years. Competition is intense and customer expectations are soaring. It is a difficult business to handle compared to normal channel management. Hence it is necessary to have a differentiated strategy to protect & enhance ones market share in this segment. Currently none are doing it to any great extent. However, with the acquisition of ICI, APPG has become the undisputed leader in this segment with over 40% market share. Hence it becomes their prerogative to innovate in this market and unleash suitable initiatives that shall, not only protect but also grow their market share.

There is an increasing need for an IT solution for increasing efficiency and effectiveness for the service delivery process. So, it is very important to understand and capture the requirements of the body shops and lay down processes/systems, which will help in consolidating the refinish market share.

In this context it becomes extremely important - to capture the correct data on bodyshop requirements and problems, ways to improve them, service provided by APPG team etc. The current SAP system does not give adequate controls to monitor bodyshop servicing. Hence, there is a need for better systems and controls to monitor everything that happens in a bodyshop. The availability of a historical database shall also help in aiding any new Sales Executive in being sufficiently knowledgeable before he/she starts to service them. The processes shall also enforce him to apply more rigors in his activities related to any bodyshop.

Objectives

Laying out the CRM framework with system design for handling key processes like:

* Complaint handling

* Asset tracking

* Secondary sales accounting

* Marketing attributes of bodyshops

* Business