SITUATION BEFORE THE PROJECT
In 2000, Nestlé started the worldwide GLOBE Program, which had three major objectives:

  • Implementation of harmonized Nestlé Business Excellence Best Practices
  • Implementation of Data Standards and Data Management – “Managing Data as a Corporate Asset”
  • Implementation of standardized Information Systems and Technology

In 2005, it was decided to switch to a regional solution approach for sales force automation. Nestlé GLOBE Center Europe has performed an evaluation of sales force automation tools (based on PDA) used by Nestlé Markets in Europe.

Criteria for selecting the “best in class” product were:

  • Support of Nestlé best practice processes
  • Integration to GLOBE Template (SAP R\3 and SAP CRM)
  • Total cost of ownership

By that time, AFS already had been an implementation partner for Nestlé subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. In these markets, AFS Retail Execution is being used for order collecting, market monitoring, key sales information collecting and direct delivery in Nestlé Ice Cream. This experience, competence and reliability have significantly contributed to the final decision of Nestlé to choose AFS Retail Execution as its European Sales Force Automation solution.

GOALS
Nestlé’s primary goal is increasing sales team efficiency and decreasing administration and support costs for mobile solutions, while preserving universal functionalities for all European markets. Costs savings are expected to be delivered by decreasing the overall total cost of ownership of all local “legacy” solutions by replacing them with AFS Retail Execution.

SOLUTION
Nestlé’s key requirements for the solution were:

  • Solution has to run on different device types (PDA and tablet PC)
  • Tight integration with the existing SAP/CRM system. More than 20 interfaces to the SAP environments are created
  • Supports the “day in the life” of a sales representative
  • Efficient targeting, planning and preparation
  • Efficient visit execution (tasks, order taking, monitoring, questionnaires)
  • Reduction of post-visit activities (more time for visits)
  • Integration of direct delivery functionalities used by van drivers
  • Cash collection, Trade asset support, van stock management

IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS
The following general framework needs to be taken into consideration:

  • Demand for high flexibility (one system for multiple countries)
  • Demand for high quality (one bug or issue has influence on several thousands of users)
  • Demand for high reliability (high-availability concept was developed for all system components)
  • Guarantee of low running costs (especially costs for system support (personnel costs) need to be minimalized)

AFS Retail Execution is hosted in the European datacenter. System integration and implementation is performed by the team of consultants from both AFS and Nestlé GLOBE Center Europe. Implementation is split into several stages and it is scheduled to be executed market-by-market.

The first successfully implemented market for the new solution has been Germany. The PDA version of AFS Retail Execution is being used there by more than 400 users using a PDA solution with Symbol MC70 and Symbol MC50 devices.

This implementation was followed by Nestlé Nordic (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland) in early 2007. It was the first implementation of the tablet PC based AFS Mobile SFA client. Users in Greece, France and UK joined AFS Retail Execution family in 2007, later Switzerland, Austria, etc.

By end of 2012, the project completed more than 10,000 Nestlé sales representatives in Europe using the AFS Retail Execution system.

BENEFITS
One more visit per sales representative per day in Europe.

AT A GLANCE

COMPANY

  • Name: Nestlé GLOBE Center Europe
  • Location: Frankfurt/Main, Germany
  • Industry: Consumer products
  • Web: www.nestle.com

KEY REQUIREMENTS

  • Simple integration of mobile solution into business processes
  • Possibility of smooth expansions of the system in the future
  • Solution has to run on different device types (PDA and tablet PC)

SOLUTION

  • AFS Retail Execution

KEY ELEMENTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION

  • Number of users: More than 2000
  • Countries: Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greece, France, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Israel, Australia, Japan, South Africa, etc.

THIRD-PARTY INTEGRATION

  • Database: Sybase, Microsoft
  • Hardware: Motorola
  • Operating system: Microsoft

NESTLÉ
Nestlé with headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland was founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé and is today the world’s biggest food and beverage company. Sales for 2006 were CHF 98.5 bn, with a net profit of CHF 9 bn. Nestlé employs around 265,000 people and has factories or operations in almost every country in the world. Today Nestlé is present in different markets with the following product categories: Beverages, Milk products, Ice cream, Nutrition, Culinary products, Pet care and Pharmaceutical products.