Reach Customer Centricity in the Cloud.Collaborating for High Performance

According to the Gartner, no leaderin business or government today canafford to ignore cloud computing.1

Many global organizations includingStarbucks, Citigroup and manyothers are already using it to supportbusiness processes, analyze data,provide applications to employees orpartners and run company programs.2

Media giants are reported to beworking on a cloudlike service thatwill enable content to be delivereddynamically in multiple formats andon a variety of devices.3 And morecloud services will soon be available,as established IT and telecomproviders including Accenture,Microsoft, Fujitsu, KDDI, ChinaMobile and SingTel join cloudpioneers like Google, Amazon WebServices and Salesforce.com.4

Given the momentum behind cloud computing across so manyindustries, it is not surprising thatIndustry and Manufacturingcompanies are beginning to evaluateits potential and capitalize on thebenefits it offers. When assessingwhat cloud can do for theirbusinesses, leaders need to take into account the distinct andrapidly-evolving challenges andmarket trends that their industryfaces today. These include thefundamental and ongoing changesin the way Industry companiescommunicate and transact withtheir customers; capture, manage,protect and analyze their ever-expanding collection of customerdata; strive to decrease their IToperating costs while upgradingtheir capabilities; shift from productselling to a Solution selling model;leverage collaboration withincompany to support cross-selling;and expand into new and emergingmarkets at lower cost.

Most energy companies are still atan early stage in their adoption andusage of cloud computing, but theindustry’s structure and prevailingtrends mean it is well-positioned toleverage major benefits from thisemerging technology. As well asfacing intensifying cost pressures,the energy sector needs to manageever-increasing amounts of data –especially linked to Smart Gridinitiatives - and make it availablereal-time to speed up decisionprocess across an increasinglydifficult and remote asset base.Cloud applications are ideal formeeting all of these requirements.At the same time, the sector’songoing consolidation and growinguse of collaboration demand thehigh degree of integration andstandardization that the Cloud can deliver.

On top of this, to identify thetransformational steps required to implement a customer strategy,companies clearly believe that a better view of the customer is the key. This unique blend ofrequirements underlines why agrowing number of companies are already investigating and imple-menting cloud computing services.

As you will read in this paper, cloudcomputing has the potential todeliver significant benefits in allthese areas helping the company to reach Customer Centricity quicklyand efficiently. For this reason, ourview is that cloud solutions are not an option but a necessity andthat their widespread take-up in the industry is a case of “when”rather than “‘if”.

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Within organizations in mostindustries, C-Levels are facingincreasing cost pressures and a needto achieve quicker payback, highermargins and profits. As part of theirongoing challenges, Executives haveto focus on increasing customerloyalty and speeding-up time tomarket of their products/services.Sales profitability and efficiency arealso at the heart of their prioritiesespecially because sales people needto make the most of time spent infront of the clients. At the same time,sales people turnover is a strongconcern. To drive loyalty and sales,customer satisfaction and overallexperience are key, but costs-to-serve have to be reduced with aim todo more with less. Finally,transformation execution challengesacross channels, functions andprocesses have to be driven towardsone goal: serve better the customer.If business executives need to drivetheir initiatives, CIOs are here toremind them the objective ofreducing the costs to serve business

needs and ensure agility, pace andscalability of the solutions in a fastchanging context.

Managers, especially in Industry andManufacturing businesses, faceadditional challenges than theircounterparts in other industries. New operating models are emerging.A new breed of non-asset based,third-party providers has emerged inthe industry, offering services inareas including risk management,price hedging, asset management,performance-based logisticscontracts and insurance. Ongoingconsolidation via mergers andacquisitions is leading to short-termcapacity surges and driving downnew capital investment, whileglobalization is increasing with theredeployment of old and used assetsacross emerging economies.

Lastly, companies need to keep upwith the market trends as the way toengage their customers has changedover the last decades. Many

businesses have taken the lead inusing social media platforms toengage and reinvent theirrelationships with customers. Theyuse networking technologies for thecustomers to ‘follow’ their favoritebrands on popular social sites, totake part in real-time discussionsabout products preferences andexperiences, to contribute to thedesign of new products and services.Social media is a win-win strategyfor business & customers that shouldbe embedded into the CRM Strategy.More and more B2B companies arenow making the most of this newtrend (see Figure.1).

To reach sustainable andprofitable growth, they need to ultimately drive a truebusiness transformationaffecting every aspect of the industry’s products and services, competitivedifferentiation and value chain.

24%

25%38%

41%

52%

59%

60%To increase engagement & positive customerexperiences with prospects/customers

To protect, influence and pro-activelybuild our brand's reputation

To create new revenue opportunities

To respond to customers who are demanding it

To tap into a new source of innovation

To reduce cost of marketing interactionsand advertising

To keep up with competitors as they areinvesting in it

Source: Accenture B2B Social Media Research, 2011

The Imperatives and Challenges for C-Levels

Figure 1. Primary Objectives to Engage in Social Media Tend to be proactive

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To answer fast evolving customers’needs and expectations, companieshave to reshape their business model to shift from one centered on products and programs to one where services are used todifferentiate thanks to a Customer Centric Model.

Customer-centricity is more thanjust having a strategy. It requireshaving differentiated operationsthat enable a company to flawlesslyexecute the strategy, learn fromevolving markets, and incorporatelessons learned into future strategyto consistently remain ahead of customer needs, and the

competition’s ability to deliveragainst them.

A customer-centric operating model enables companies to breakthe silos – integrating andcoordinating the people, processesand data and supporting infra-structure across the organizationand even with partners and suppliersto deliver a unified, consistent,branded customer experience. It also increases customer needsknowledge that enables companiesto sell more and more Solutions to their customers which is moreprofitable for the company.

Customer Centricity has three imperatives and several levers to develop, as you can see on Figure 2.: 1. Increase Customer Relevance2. Deliver the differentiating

experience3. Reach Profitable Growth

To complete this shift, it has to be done across the key processesof the company, for example Sales,Marketing, Services and SupplyChain processes to have a 360° view of the customer and rationalizethe overall customer experience.

3 - Drive profitable growth

1-Increase customer relevance

2- Deliver the differentiating experience

Customer centricity

Adaptive supply chain

Customer Servicesperformance management

Not only products but solutions

Extended delivery ecosystem (partners & suppliers)

“Do it yourself” capabilities

Empowered front office

Marketing, Sales and Servicesynchronization

Actionable and complete customer data insights

Customer experience blueprints

Source: Accenture

The urge to make the shift to a Customer Centric model

Figure 2. Customer Centricity Imperatives and Levers

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In combination, the challengesoutlined previously are helping todrive major companies to examinethe potential of cloud computing toreach Customer Centricity. Agrowing number of major players arepiloting and implementing cloudsolutions, and IT budgets in thesector are steadily migrating awayfrom implementing and maintainingin-house IT infrastructure towardshosted applications and software-as-a-service offerings (SaaS).

In particular, the industry’s currentchallenges have given rise to fivemajor trends that are favorable tocloud adoption. These are:

1. Increasing amounts of data.Customers expect better anddifferentiated services based onvaluable data they are providing.Companies do not only need tocollect this valuable information butalso analyze it in combination withsales, marketing, services and

supply chain data, to serve andcommunicate with their customersin more effective and dynamic ways– thereby improving the customerexperience and companies’ top and bottom lines.

2. Higher pressure on margins. The need for ever-improving costand investment efficiency is drivingproduction operations, and creatingrising pressure on maintenance and operating costs, and on ITprocurement. There is also a need for scalable ‘out of the box’solutions for new asset startups inremote locations.

3. A growing requirement toaccess real-time data anytimeanywhere. Real-time operations are nowcrucial to avoid costly equipmentfailures and IT infrastructuresneed to be increasingly agile tosupport new growth and innovation strategies.

These factors are driving increasingcollaboration and a need for enter-prise wide 24-hour access to data on any device, especially mobile.

4. Integration and standardizationof IT operations. The requirement to achieve closerintegration between applicationsacross several business processes.

5. Increasing importance ofcollaboration.A combination of talent shortages,the drive for efficiency and the need to share huge amounts ofinformation from increasinglyremote locations are driving sharingand collaboration internally andexternally – both across theenterprise, and also throughout the supply chain with customers and suppliers. These trends aredriving cloud computing everhigher up the industry agenda.

R&D MarketingKnowledge sharing teams have membersfrom different departments and skills areas

Sales EfficiencySolution Selling Information that assists creating matching solutionsfor clients is available on demand at theright time

Reaching Out to Suppliers and CustomersStakeholders communicatedirectly to people across organizations

Internal ExternalSource: Accenture

Cloud: a technology whose time has come in the Industry & Manufacturing sector

Figure 3. The Evolution of Collaborative Networks Beyong theSales Organization

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Social Sales Case Study

Sales executives of a globalcommunications and high-techcompany recognized that becominga solution-driven enterprise wouldrequire better collaboration andeasier access to sales-relatedcontent. Like many other B2B operators, the company’s existingcontent was scattered and difficultto find. Its sales professionals had no easy way to share best practicesor contribute to a global body ofknowledge. Similarly, they lacked a direct feedback mechanism thatallowed them to comment on sales assets.

Accenture worked closely with the client to design a social net-working capability, based on theSalesforce.com Chatter platform.

The solution created a vibrant digitalcommunity comprising more than3,000 sales and marketingprofessionals. It delivered three key benefits:

• More client-facing time, based onbetter access to relevantinformation needed in daily saleswork and improved reuse of existingsales and marketing collateralcreated by others.

• Improved sales performance,based on the improved quality ofmarket and customer intelligence,sales and marketing materials, andsales training program.

• Improved engagement amongemployees, brought about by adeeper sense of belonging to a global sales community and theability to take advantage ofenhanced peer-to-peer networkingand collaboration.

By designing and implementing acutting-edge social sales capability,Accenture helped to support thetransition from being a devicemanufacturer to a solution-orientedcompany. Along the way, Accenturehelped position the client as aninnovator in workforce collaborationand a company clearly on the pathto high performance.

Managing Information

Mobilizing People and Coordinating Their Activities

Team: fewer organizational layers are needed to close a deal

Sales person time allocation : social sales speeds up the sales process, providing shorter lead times

1. Identifying ProspectsSocial sales improveinternal leadgeneration andaccount informationsharing

2. Gaining buy-in andidentifying Up SellingOpportunitiesSales people canFollow the latestAccount insights andScope proper offerings

3. Creating SolutionsMobilizing a teamacross departmentalLimits enablesimproved teamquality and agilecollaboration

4. Closing the DealWith better fit Between customer’sneeds and offerings,Comparnies are ableto improve theirwin rates

Figure 4. Social Sales Improves Sales Force Productivity

Source: Accenture

Accenture defines CustomerCentricity as the uniquecombination of 3 different must haves for your company:

1. Customer Relevance, as in thisspecific Industry market, yourcompany needs to deal with a huge amount of information andcope with it, to transform raw data to real knowledge to target and segment relevantly its pool of customers;

2.Differentiating CustomerExperience, as customers are moreand more seeking for particularservices and the feeling to beunderstood and unique. Thisobjective can be reached in the onlycondition that your company as wellas your potential partners workhands in hands, cutting edges andcollaborating on key processes tobecome one single voice in front of your customers;

3. Drive profitable growth by provi-ding a more complete experience toyour customers, delivering solutionwhen they expect product, beingefficient and on-time on logisticmatters, and providing them withoutstanding customer services.

To attain this unique set of business-driven levers, Accenture hasidentified a common path to reachCustomer Centricity in the Cloud:

Automate and Enhance Key processes…Accenture will help you refine andenhance your key processes thatoperate throughout your organization,from Sales to Marketing andServices, to reach a high level of automation, standardization,and integration, leveraging out ofthe box applications while alsobeing driven by business needs.While facing demanding customers,companies need to stand as onesingle body articulated with fluidityand agility to serve one only goal:satisfy customer needs. Accenturewill help its clients refining their processes to move toward high performance.

... With a strong cloud enabler...To support their business needs,Accenture will leverage a uniquecloud solution that support not onlythe processes –from out of the boxto customized functionalities – butalso offer a brand new set of tools toenforce and operate the main leversto reach customer centricity. One ofthe other key benefits of the CloudTechnology is its agile infrastructurethat will drastically cut IT costs, with -40% lower maintenance andrun costs, while being amazinglyquick to build and deploy.

... That allows collaboration andreactivity throughout yourextended company eco-systemThe cloud technologies are providinga unique framework where youremployees, your customers and yourpartners will have the possibility tocollaborate directly on key processesin a fast, easy and intuitive way. Nomore barriers, no more constraints,your company will react faster tomarket changes with drasticallydecreased time to market, be fullyintegrated, attract more talentedresources to increase customersatisfaction.

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How can Accenture help you in yourjourney to reach Customer Centricityin the Cloud?

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Using the cloud to create businessvalue to yourcompany

Cloud solutions will cover the exactsame scope than traditional ITapproaches while being costless and providing with an unlimitedrange of business creationpossibilities to your company. Forinstance, a global automotivecompany uses a cloud solution tobuild a unique private social networkbetween its customers, their carsand their car dealers supported by arevolutionary collaborative platform.

There are several examples ofIndustry organizations already usingcloud computing to support newservices. These include:

• An Energy Management companydeployed one global process forSolution selling, commercial efficiency increase and highermargins thanks to cross selling (see details next page)

• An Electrical Equipment companydeployed a cloud solution to sharesales forecast with the supply chainto adapt the capacity planning.

• An IT company developed a partnerportal in the cloud for suppliers anddistributors to share opportunities.

ContextSchneider Electric is a $20-billionworldwide leader in Energy management with a presencein 120 countries and more than100,000 employees. One keycharacteristic is a strong externalgrowth of the company over thelast few years (M&A).

This client was facing the need toalign its business units on the sameFront Office processes and enhancecollaboration across entities in orderto sustain their plans for growth.A program has been launched asa global initiative to enable oneconsistent Customer Experience,Solutions and Cross-Selling, GlobalAccount Management, CustomerCare and Sales Force Efficiencythrough a common tool based onCloud Solutions. Several tools wereinvestigated and Salesforce.com wasfinally the one selected for deployinga unique CRM Solution to 17,500end-users (sales people, call centeragents, field service engineers,marketing, quality and customersatisfaction directors) worldwide.

Business SolutionTo address the resolution of thisunique challenge, Accenture wastasked with an ambitious goal todesign, implement and deploy thesolution at a rapid pace and scale toall users in 80 countries within an 18 month time frame while securingadoption and business valuerealization thanks to a global teamcombining the best of Accenture’sdifferentiating skills in Industry,Management Consulting and SystemIntegration (leveraging the BangaloreCloud Center of Excellence). Accenture closely partnered with

Salesforce.com to design, build anddeliver a unique solution focusing onbusiness requirements (conferenceroom pilot sessions, prototype…).The approach is iterative and sequen-ced to deliver quickly to the business.

The deployment strategy is based on maximizing value creation withthe rapid deployment of a core light CRM Solution throughout thecompany providing 6 functionalities:Opportunity Management, SalesForce Efficiency, Case Management,Account Management, Real TimeCommercial Business Intelligenceand Collaboration Capabilities forFront Office Teams.

This is also supported by thecapability to add plug-ins in order to insert additional processes /functionalities as required to caterfor the needs of the most complexorganizations. This also enabledintegration with back office systemsas well as incorporating feedbackreceived from deployed users thanks to the Ideas module.

Accenture also supports this clientby providing an industrializedapproach to deploy the solutionworldwide: this approach is knownas ‘Rapid Deployment Toolkit’ andallows to deploy several sequencesof entities within 8 to 12 weeks .Accenture is also driving the changemanagement on several sequencesof countries by delivering trainingdocuments and sessions, changeassets, Network of Excellence (RunMode organization) and BusinessValue Realization Toolkit.

Key Results• 5 Business Processes deployed tomore than 17,500 users in less than1 year and half in more than 80countries• Adoption Rate: 5 connections aweek in average, Run mode in place. • Training Satisfaction : 95%• 5 Major releases delivered and 5minor releases• More than 20% of cross sellingopportunities supported by the solution• More than 20% of account coverage• 360° view of customers andcollaboration between processes

“This project led togetherwith our partnersAccenture andSalesforce.com alreadydemonstrated avaluable ROI : + 20% of cross-selling, + 20%of account Coverageand an impressive 70% adoption rate“

Philippe Trichet, Senior VP Customer Experience& CRM at Schneider Electric

Case Study: What we achieved with Schneider Electric - a French Global Specialist in Energy Management who shifted to a Customer Centric model in the Cloud

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The Industry and Manufacturingbusinesses understand thatcustomer service is critical for theirgrowth and profitability. But how to build the business model,capabilities, organization and culture that will enable them tofulfill aspirations remains difficult.However, as customers they serveincreasingly demand new ways toachieve their own business objectives, those businesses thatsucceed in becoming true serviceproviders will reap the rewards. They also identified the need for a cultural shift from product driven manufacturing to aservice/solution culture that isfundamentally based on a closeunderstanding of customer needs.

On top of this, the ubiquity of social media, coupled with theemergence of new networkingtechnologies, is pushingorganizations in all industries torethink how they communicate,collaborate and engage with theirkey stakeholders. One opportunitythat holds great promise – especiallyfor organizations struggling to keeppace with the fast-changing B2Bsales environment – is social CRM,more precisely Social Sales. Bydrawing on the networking capabilities of social mediaplatforms, organizations can buildhighly collaborative, cross-functional communities of expertise.They can dramatically improve salesforce productivity and they canstrengthen (or, in some case, build)solution-based business capabilitiesthat their customers now demand.

Accenture believes that to achievetheir aims, there are a number of key activities and capabilities thatbusinesses will need to develop in order to orientate their businessmodels to an increasingly customerdriven model with deep collabo-ration across departments. CloudComputing Solutions can supportthe business process transformationtowards a 360° view of the customerdriving Solutions selling, as wellas more collaboration within depart-ment and across employees, suppliersand partners thanks to the embeddednetworking capabilities in the Cloud.

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Conclusion

1 “What the Enterprise Needs to KnowAbout Cloud Computing,” AccentureTechnology Labs, October 2009; “GartnerIdentifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologiesfor 2010,” Gartner, Inc. press release,October 20, 2009; “2009年云计算中国论坛专题报道” (“Cloud Computing in 2009Forum dossier”), Chinese Institute ofElectronics Cloud Computing ExpertsAssociation, http://server.it168.com; “TheCloud Wars: $100+ billion at stake,” Merrill Lynch, May 7, 2008; Avenade2009 Global Survey of Cloud Computing,http://www.avanade.com; LaurianneMcLaughlin, “Cloud Computing Survey: ITLeaders See Big Promise, Have Big SecurityQuestions,” CIO Magazine, October 21,2008.

2 Eric Auchard, “Salesforce.com Signs Citigroup Deal,” Reuters.com, November 15, 2007;“Salesforce.com Powers Starbucks Campaign to MobilizeAmericans in National Service,”Salesforce.com press release, January 21,2009, http://www.salesforce.com; Ron Condon, “The Opportunities and Risks of Cloud Computing Services,”SearchSecurity.co.uk, February 23, 2009.

3 Ethan Smith, “Disney Touts a Way to Ditch the DVD,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2009.

4 Ben Worthen and Justin Scheck, “TechGiants Ramp Up Their Online Offerings,”Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2009; “CloudServices/SaaS: What Telcos Are Doing,” IDCTechnology Assessment, October 2009;“China Mobile Enters Sphere of CloudComputing,” Interfax, November 17, 2009;Bernard Golden, “The State of CloudComputing in Japan,” CIO.com, November 5, 2009; “SingTel to HelpEstablish Singapore as a Regional CloudComputing Hub,” SingTel press release, July14, 2009; Chris Preimesberger, “FujitsuLaunches Cloud Services in North America,”eWeek.com, December 8, 2009.

References

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About AccentureAccenture is a global managementconsulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 236,000 people serving clients in more than 120countries. Combining unparalleledexperience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, andextensive research on the world’smost successful companies,Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The companygenerated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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Contact UsFor further information, pleasecontact:

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