KPN Case

The Customer:
KPN Belgium is progressively expanding the number of offered products and services and has become the number one challenger on the Belgian telecom market. To industrial customers, the company offers ICT-solutions and streamlined total solutions for both fixed and mobile phone systems, internet and data services. KPN constantly improves its service and tries to anticipate customers’ needs and wishes. Calls to the KPN customer service are handled in less than thirty seconds by one of the 230 staff.

KPN Belgium is a full subsidiary of the Dutch KPN-Group with more than 35 million customers, 27,165 employees and sales amounting to € 12 billion.

The project scope:
Of course KPN Belgium already had a customer database for marketing, sales and CRM purposes. It almost grew organically from the existing IT-systems. However, the old database did no longer meet the requirements of a modern, growing and customer-conscious company. The system lacked flexibility, caused important delays and made the company lose money. Something had to be done about it, sooner rather than later. The selected consultant was also expected to persuade the employees and sales people that the proposed CRM system was realistic, workable and - naturally- really cost-effective.

The solution:
“We were fully aware that the old database was obsolete and that we needed a new tool. After some research, we soon found out that the sales supporting software of Salesforce.com was really what KPN needed”, says Philippe Carron, Commercial Manager with KPN Belgium. But it was of vital importance to learn how to use this tool as effectively as possible. KPN urgently needed consistent information and more reliable data about its clients and prospects. Furthermore, it was essential for all involved to acquire the ability to control the quality of all this data. The system had to perform, be user-friendly and easily accessible to all who needed it.
“Salesforce.com suggested four reliable partners, one of whom we found out was 4C Consulting”, Philippe Carron explains. “We were promptly convinced that we had made the right choice with 4C” 

"The 4C Consultant worked in phases. In a first round of discussions, he found out what our problems were. Whenever he reached a milestone he would inform us about where he stood and what progress had been made in the implementation of the reorganisation process. This made it easier for us to check if he did not diverge from the course that had been charted at the start. The implementation also required a certain effort from KPN-Belgium, two KPN-people contributed full time to the project. It soon became obvious that their involvement was a useful investment.

In early December, not even two months after the project was started, training sessions were organized for all involved (about 50 people) in groups of 10 or 12. After two months and five days, the new software was made operational.

That we now can work efficiently with Salesforce.com and can fully use its potential is a huge step forward”.

“Our CRM has matured. Today, our customer management is handled in a more systematic, professional way. It is based on relevant facts and genuine knowledge and it is permanently updated with data introduced in the system by our staff. Today, we have a clear profile of each and every (potential) customer and we know his/her history. We know about his interests and preferences in the area which is relevant to us. No information gets lost, provided our people have the required discipline to feed the system with the relevant data, an effort requiring one or two hours every week. In return, they get an important amount of added value. The company also gets a clearer picture of the performance of every single employee. This information is quite relevant, considering we have introduced a variable salary system.“
 

Domains of expertise:
“4C Consulting is a relatively small player. That is why we expected them to consider and treat us as an important customer and believed they would do anything possible to help us as efficiently as possible. In addition 4C Consulting could boast a number of impressive references, especially in the telecommunications area. We also found that the company proposed a reasonable budget and fully understood why we wanted the transformation to be implemented fast. For all these reasons, we selected 4C Consulting among the nominees”.

The 4C representative acted vigorously. The cooperation was intense and systematic and the consultant had a keen ear for the wishes and questions of all those involved. After a few days, 4C Consulting managed to tell us how much time the implementation would require and how they would proceed. In the next phase the consultant entered in a dialogue with the pilot users, to find out what functionalities we believed should be integrated into the system.

4C Consulting also anticipated resistance to change by directly involving all users in defining the content of the new database. Another plus: 4C Consulting managed to remain within the inevitable budgetary limits, without having to remove certain functions. For instance, we wanted to forecast the prospect behavior of customers and that is exactly what we managed to do as soon as the new software became operational. This is an important asset even if it requires consistent and systematic integration of new data by the account managers. Their discipline is rewarded as the new database is a huge step forward in terms of efficiency.