About Volkswagen Australia
Volkswagen Australia refers to an automobile company the is foreign owned. It majorly earns its revenues from importing and distributing Volkswagen vehicles, spare parts as well as other vehicle accessories in the country. It is an employer to an estimated 181 people while its administrative functions are controlled from Chullora in New South Wales. Volkswagen Australia serves as an outpost to the German mega auto-enterprise Volkswagen. Its primary activities entail importing and distributing its mother company’s vehicles and spare parts within Australia. Some of its renown products include Polo, Tiguan, Passat, Scirocco Jetta and Toureg (Amasaki & Mikkonen, 2016). According to the latest statistical data, its annual turnover is estimated to be at 217 million Euros. Volkswagen Australia assumes the organizational structure of the mother company and has two main departments namely the Financial and Automotive Services divisions. The automotive division is charged with coming up with the various brands that the corporation offers while the financial department handles with the commercial functions or the organization. Since its entry into the Australian market, Volkswagen has been among the companies forming the leading park especially regarding the net sales recorded in a year. This places it in a precarious situation regarding its sensitiveness to market determinants and trends since failure to heed to any of them will cost it a fortune. Its main competitors are Renault, OPEL, Mercedes among many others (Lombardo, 2015).
Apparently, the company prides itself for economies of scale as well as having a reputable brand. Those have seen it reap huge rewards since it is the best automobile distributor in the country. However, the current status unravels issues that need to be addressed urgently or risk an uncertain future since it is likely to negatively affect a majority of its critical functions. For instance, there is an observable redundancy in data sharing platforms, especially regarding customer information. Client data is hugely duplicated meaning that it is hard for its management to make decisions as they are likely to be inaccurate. There is also the problem of its information technology systems being out of sync with the reality as they are at the moment in silo architecture. In it goes unaddressed could cause the company to lose profit margins since other competitors like BMW, Renault, OPEL and PSA have adopted ultramodern ways of storing and retrieving data. Thus if the same trend continues, the company is likely to find itself losing its stranglehold on the Australian market. Apparently, companies that fail to observe to the latest market trend often find themselves far behind in preference by customers since they fail to cater for their needs. Volkswagen needs to avoid this by all means by implementing a consummate CRM program (Amasaki & Mikkonen, 2016).
Challenges faced by Volkswagen Australia
Also critical to its prospects in the idea of enhancing its marketing capabilities by automation. Apparently, customer segmentation is poorly done at the moment since its approach is more of generalized as opposed to other companies that have employed customer targeting. This sees the company miss a plethora of opportunities to make the most of the observable customer behavior. The company can do this through integrating critical information about his clients like purchasing behavior and patterns. Also, a majority of its campaigns are done manually which to a great extent is bound to be obsolete in future. This is brought about by the fact that the prevailing software system is not able to handle massive amounts of information and also the fact that their speed is not up to the task with the market requirements. The majority of its software setups are not automated meaning that the production process is likely to take more time thus hampering its general efficiency (Punzel,2014).
This sees the company spend a lot of time and money which otherwise could be used to cater for other organizational welfare. Many of its competitors are gearing towards automating all their functions since this will be the biggest determiner of success in the coming days. Thus failure to tore the line will see the company lose ground on the realities on the market. The sales and marketing department is one of the most critical dimensions of the business. Its automation status is a work in progress meaning that the future things are likely to be tougher. This will entail employing the right mechanisms in managing time, customer care, managing opportunities, accounts managing its market share as well as analyzing its profitability status. All these will go a long way in helping the company identify and optimize its profits through observing the consumer patterns exhibited by its broad customer base (Amasaki & Mikkonen, 2016).
The findings above point to the fact that is the identified gaps are not filled in time, they could result in the company missing out on its profitability (Punzel,2014). Therefore, the objectives of this program are to enhance the company’s abilities to attract and retain customers, improve the rate at which it acquires them, maintain their satisfaction and loyalty towards its products, increase its upsell chances, boost positive response its campaign messages, and cut down the cost of operation. Also central to this program is the aim to the company’s lead conversion as well as quality. Its execution should result in enhanced annual profit margins, boost loyalty of its business partners as well as lowering the cost of marketing. With all these in place, the company will be able to maintain its dominance in the market while ensuring its long-term profitability since it will be in a position to attract and maintain customer loyalty (Lombardo, 2015).
The Need for Digital Transformation
Apparently, central to all objectives listed above, attracting and maintain its customers will be important in future. The goals of the program will be to minimize the time taken to communicate leads to the sales department through utilizing Sales Force Automation systems – SFA. This will help the company to minimize resources while ensuring the right response is exhibited by the audience. Also through the same system, the company should be able to reduce the time required to generate forecasting reports as well as eliminating duplication of client information. This will be achieved through. Marketing Automation and Customer Service applications (Punzel,2014).
The above findings dictate that the company should orient its CRM program towards automating its systems so that it can obtain the right information from the customers as well as the sales and marketing department. The automation should be able to augur well with the prevailing organizational structure since a majority of the units are either half or not automated at all. The firm will implement the SAP model since apart from guaranteeing a seamless, automated communication, it also enables the company to achieve the fastest rate of information transfer between one department to another thus meeting the demands of the CRM value model chain (Kumar & Reinartz, 2014).
This model dictates that for any system to achieve maximum value it has to exhibit expedited transfer of information from quarter to another. Obtaining the automation mechanism will observe the company’s procurement procedures for the purpose of predictability and reliability. SAP is reputable for the same thus working with it will give Volkswagen Australia the pleasure of enjoying punctuality and reliability. If the identified organizational functions are duly automated, the company will realize approximately an upgrade in an efficiency of 60 percent. This will go a long way into ensuring that customers are satisfied with the products rendered (Amasaki & Mikkonen, 2016). Making sure that the implementation is carried out swiftly and on time will help the company to catch up with the rest. Also, it is important to realize that the competitive edge of the enterprise depends on the promptness with which it tackles its problems. With this in mind, it will be necessary that Volkswagen Australia adopts the most suitable product suit to avoid inconsistencies resulting from compatibility issues.
Observably, there are glaring gaps in the status of the company’s information systems since they are in silos. This implies that it is not up to the task with the demands in the market and the level of competition in the industry. It has also seen customer information be duplicated thus rendering any generalization about their behaviors as well as purchase patterns inaccurate. Thus for the system to be effective, it has to get rid of the apparent redundancy, be prompt in seeking their reactions. This will help the company to tailor its operations so that it suits its demands as well as customer needs. Also, the flow of information to and from the sales and marketing team will be instrumental in knowing how best to approach various market segments without this; it will be poorly positioned since it will not realize the evolving needs of its customer base. As a result, it is likely to remain behind in the market (Lombardo, 2015).
Objectives of the CRM Program
Using the SFA, the company will be able to monitor and adjust the rate and convenience of the information shared thus greatly boosting sits economic prospects. Also by getting prompt information from customers, it will be in a position to adjust its operations so that it meets the physical needs of its huge customer base. This will be achieved through modifying the databases so that they contain the relevant information that can be used to redesign its automobiles with what the market realities demands (Lombardo, 2015). A new CRM database will provide updated systems, prompt and proactive response mechanisms, as well as a seamless inter-departmental data transfer protocol. Apart from ensuring long-term profitability, it will ensure to cater for customer care since he will be attended accordingly.
The training program is for the purpose of ensuring that they are aware of what the new systems demand of them as well as maintaining high standards in the long term. The organizational culture is crucial in this stage. Traditionally the organizational staff were used to working with individual departments which are answerable to the chief executive officer. As a result of implementation of the CRM strategy, they will be made to work as a unit since this will enhance achievement of objectives as all efforts will be directed towards reaching the premeditated goals. Therefore, they will have to learn how to work in tandem with other departments of the company. Training them will entail acquainting them with the core of the premeditated and implemented CRM strategy thus enabling them to apply it without much difficulty (Kumar & Reinartz, 2014).
They will learn this in workshops where they will realize the modus operandi of the new system. This will take four days for them to fully comprehend on the contents of the program. This should help them in getting used to the new way of doing things in the company. This training program will assist them to be part of the change that the organization is eyeing since their contribution will be integral to the overall success of the CRM program. They will learn how to perform their duties in a manner all departments move in one direction. This will be substantial since it will help them to boost the chances of the company realizing its objective both at the moment and in the long terms.
Developing a timeline will help the business to ensure that its undertakings are finished ion time thus avoiding unnecessary delays. Apparently, the company operates on a large scale with three departments forming the basis of its operation. They are the Financial and Automotive Services divisions (Kumar & Reinartz, 2014). Both units require an upgrade if the company harbors intentions of sustaining its profitability in the long term. Since the company is or the high-end sort, the customizations are likely to encounter complex modifications thus requiring more time for the implementation to come full circle. With all activities put into perspective, the whole exercise should be completed in 90 days. All 181 company employees will be automated since they are part and parcel of the enterprise. It will entail a radical overhaul in some departments while in other it will only entail a slight adjustment since some of them have already started to go digital. With this in mind, 65 percent f all departments will be improved. Also, organizational databases will be thoroughly revised to get rid of any redundant information before new entries are made. This will go a long way in ensuring that subsequent storages are precise and accurate (Kumar & Reinartz, 2014).
Central Objectives: Enhance Customer Attraction and Retention
The upgrade will entail Marketing automation, SFA and also Customer Service Automation. The costs will be incurred in the following activities.
Implementation costs. These will touch on the various application functions as well as adjust in case there is a shortage or mismatch in due course. It will experience at the initial stages.
Software purchase and installation- $1000
Consulting analysis and project management $900
Customization, Integration and Data Conversion into the preferred format-$1300
System Implementation and integration-$1000
User and Administrator Training $800
Technical and User Support $500
Annual Costs: these will cover the annual and long-term maintenance of the project since there may be inconstancies over a period most of the time resulting from unplanned eventualities.
Software Maintenance $1000
Overall expenditure $6500.
A perfect implementation of this program will help Volkswagen Australia to maintain its stranglehold pf the market while securing its current and long terms economic sustainability. Otherwise, failure to implement this will lead to the mega company losing ground thus chasing the leading pack which could force it to close shop.
References
Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2014). Customer Relationship Management Concept, Strategy, and Tools. Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://symbiose.uqo.ca/apps/LoginSigparb/LoginPourRessources.aspx?url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20110-3.
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