Capgemini Invent helps Hellmann deliver on growth strategy with Dynamics 365

Leveraging technology to solve complex logistics

Founded in 1871, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has developed into one of the largest international logistics providers, handling 20 million shipments a year from 264 offices around the world. The company specializes in solving complex logistical challenges in industries like automotive, consumer goods, fashion, healthcare, and perishables through its air, sea, road, and rail freight offerings. In addition, the company provides contract logistics solutions for warehousing, packaging, and digital commerce.

Seeking to accelerate its growth trajectory over the next 10 years, Hellmann wanted to ensure that its technology infrastructure could support its business strategy. The company conducted a thorough analysis of every system and process, identifying those in need of modernization. At the top of the list was its home-grown customer relationship management (CRM) system, which did not provide the visibility and insights necessary to support the transformation the company was looking to enact. To ensure the best-fit replacement and drive a required IT transformation forward, Hellmann turned to its long-time partner, Capgemini Invent Germany.

Optimized customer relationship management with Microsoft 365

Focusing on Hellmann’s vision and strategy, the partner determined that the ideal CRM solution for the company needed to be quick and flexible to implement. The platform also had to balance clear and structured out-of-the-box features with the ability to adapt to Hellmann’s business requirements, integrate with existing Microsoft 365 investments like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Excel, and provide a scalable foundation that would easily accommodate future needs. After conducting a technology-agnostic platform evaluation, the team recommended the Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Marketing tools and created an extensive business case that outlined the benefits the new solution would provide over the next 10 years.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and Marketing offered the best fit for the organization given its ability to provide a comprehensive and integrated solution that will expand to meet Hellmann’s needs as the company grows.

Patrick Schumann, Head of CRM and Service Transformation, Capgemini Invent Germany

The project team spent six months developing a Dynamics 365 production pilot for Hellmann North America that covered a broad set of sales and marketing functions. These included account management, contact management, activity management, lead management, and opportunity management, as well as a LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration.

The pilot process was designed to incorporate user feedback very quickly so the team could be sure that the solution was providing the features and benefits Hellmann end users needed. This approach rapidly demonstrated how transformational the solution could be in terms of delivering a better experience for end customers and improving visibility and insights across the business. Early adopters recognized the change after their very first interaction with the solution and provided enthusiastic feedback.

New capabilities streamline selling

One of the important features that the Hellmann and Capgemini Invent team rolled out is fully automated lead scoring. This process assigns each marketing lead points for specific actions like opening a newsletter email or attending a webinar. Once the sum of the points reaches an established threshold, the lead is automatically assigned to one of Hellmann’s 600 salespeople around the globe based on the appropriate region or industry.

“This ensures that sellers are spending their time on only the best qualified leads,” said Patrick Schumann, Head of CRM and Service Transformation, Capgemini Invent Germany.

Early feedback from end users has been extremely positive as the new system includes many features that make it easy for sales teams to do their day-to-day work. For example, the Dynamics 365 integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows sellers to enhance their business network and connect with potential clients in just a few clicks. In addition, on-site client meeting reports can now be documented in a mobile “Visit Report” app that Capgemini Invent built on top of Dynamics 365, allowing salespeople to enter important meeting data that they can then submit to their teams while on the road.

For the first time, the Hellmann team has full transparency into the sales funnel and can make data-based decisions to steer their sales teams. This will only become more impactful as time goes on and more data is collected in the system.

Marcel Schmidt, Senior Manager CRM and Service Transformation, Capgemini Invent Germany

An end-to-end customer experience

With the successful pilot now in production, Hellmann is currently in the process of rolling out the solution globally to approximately 1,000 sales and marketing users. Once the solution is fully live, calculations show that the company can expect its lead generation and opportunity conversion to improve by 20% while also reducing the customer churn rate by 10%.

Hellmann is already preparing for the next steps on its CRM journey and exploring the use of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to incorporate the next best action and offer capabilities. In the future, the leading logistics organization is looking to further enhance the customer experience with Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Commerce while improving sales workflows with Microsoft Viva Sales.

With the collaborative support of Capgemini Invent, we are able to optimize our customer experience significantly. Due to their exceptionally high degree of expertise in digital business transformation and our industry, we have upgraded our sales processes and digital marketing capabilities tremendously.

Patrick Oestreich, Chief Commercial Officer at Hellmann Worldwide Logistics