Herbelin leverages data collected by Dynamics 365 Business Central to deliver world-class watches

Inventory management, parts ordering, order tracking 

At Herbelin, the use of data is already firmly established. The famous watchmaking company, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, has always made data a central element of its business strategies and has continuously evolved to remain competitive with its main Swiss and American competitors. "We had notebooks, paper pencils, accounting on files, and then our first ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) about thirty years ago," recalls Cédric Gomez Montiel, Herbelin’s Chief Executive Officer. “That's when we established the base rules for our production orders and pricing calculations. Since then, we have constantly updated them."

To say that things have evolved would be an understatement. Since its creation, the French company has produced more than 10 million watches and positioned itself as one of the biggest names in the global watchmaking industry. Its products, which the company designs and manufactures in the Jura region, are distributed in fifty countries across the world. "Data,” emphasizes Cédric Gomez Montiel, “plays a role at every stage."

Thus, the company uses its sales data, collected from Dynamics 365 Business Central, and market data as early as during the conception phase of its new collections. "We release hundreds of models every year," continues the Chief Executive Officer. "Data helps us to predict what will work or not. Then we have an entire quoting phase. Because the software allows us to accurately know the price of the components of the future watch, we are able to set the initial selling price early on." Data especially intervenes in production chain management. Herbelin produces outstanding, handmade products. After the initial production run that serves to replenish the company's safe, the watches are produced in limited quantities based on demand. "The timing is quite complex. Six to seven months generally pass between the order and the delivery of parts. Data allows us to anticipate orders and limit the unavailability of our products in stores."

In late June, the company completed a significant program, the rethinking of its order management software. "We were already using Microsoft, but we migrated to Dynamics 365 Business Central to restructure our ERP. We simultaneously worked on dashboards generated by Microsoft Power BI as well as a Power Apps that enables our salespeople in the field to take orders and better manage stocks." The application, which provides information to all the company’s departments, also tracks watches sent to after-sales service. Power Apps radically changes the way salespeople work in the field. "Until now, if a salesperson delivered a new watch to a jeweler who was to sell it the same day, it would take up to four or six months for the salesperson to return and for the piece to be once again available at the store. We are now able to monitor stocks in real-time, and thus we can be more responsive on the production side and immediately increase sales." The tool also allows salespeople to know the real-time stocks available in the company's safes and adjust their offers accordingly. The project’s deployment also involved the teams from partners DBE - Dynamics Business Excellence and BS-Team, allies in transformation projects who are very familiar with Herbelin’s business environment.

"We are culturally very loyal," continues the Chief Executive Officer. "In ten years of collaboration, Microsoft has always met our expectations, so continuing our collaboration with the company was obvious to us." Beyond Power BI, Power Apps, and Business Central, Herbelin uses the entire Microsoft suite, from its Office 365 office tools to phone communications with Microsoft Teams. "We are a very exposed brand, often featured in the press," continues Cédric Gomez Montiel. "Being the target of a cyber attack is a possibility. Another argument in favor of Microsoft is the level of security offered by its tools, which we wouldn’t be able to replicate in-house."

A few weeks ago, Herbelin reached a new milestone in its success story. For the first time, the company opened a direct sales store, a 140-square-meter space in the highly sought-after Saint Germain des Prés neighborhood. This sales and exhibition venue also provides a tremendous opportunity for data gathering. "Historically, we relied on a network of partner jewelers to sell our products," points out Cédric Gomez Montiel. "There is always a middleman between us and the end customer. The store allows us to truly know who our consumer is. That is very valuable for our data analysis." The next step is to leverage Microsoft technologies to "connect directly" to the cash registers of jewelers selling Herbelin products in order to even better understand the consumer and further improve stock management. "These innovations save us time, increase efficiency, and minimize errors," concludes Cédric Gomez Montiel. "These new processes should allow us to increase our revenue by at least 15 percent and improve our net treasury by optimizing stocks."