Automotive expert Eberspächer dismantles data silos: Dynamics 365 replaces old stand-alone solutions and creates transparency

The challenge: Isolated solutions make sales work more difficult

Electronic components, exhaust systems, thermal management solutions: the Eberspächer product portfolio covers it all. This applies both to the company as a whole, with 80 locations in 28 countries, and to its individual business units. “Here in the Climate Control Systems business unit, we manufacture everything that has to do with temperature control, from parking heaters to air conditioning systems—whether for cars, commercial vehicles, ships, or trucks,” says Lukman Ahmed, Head of After Sales at Eberspächer. “When your setup is that heterogeneous, and when you’re also aiming for the best possible global coordination, your processes have to be one thing above all: efficient and digital. And for that, you need a standardized collaboration platform.”

That is something Eberspächer lacked in the past. “To manage customer inquiries and quotations, we used either local CRM solutions or Excel tables,” Ahmed says, “and that left us with interrupted processes, data silos, a lack of transparency and efficiency, and a failure to coordinate the dispatch of quotations.”

That’s why, as part of a pilot phase, Eberspächer decided to put its sales on a new technological footing: Dynamics 365. “What’s most important for us is to plan sustainably for the future,” explains Philipp Posch, Head of Sales Applications at Eberspächer. “And Dynamics fits very well into our existing infrastructure of Outlook and Microsoft Teams.” But one thing became clear very early on: it turned out that mapping Eberspächer’s sales processes onto it wouldn’t be as straightforward as expected—so the team decided to bring on board ORBIS, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network. “For Eberspächer, it was hugely important to take another detailed look at the processes globally and to define exactly when any given step has to take place; for example, when preparing a quotation,” says Michael Schwarz, Senior Manager at ORBIS. “To achieve this, everyone involved from the various locations and departments must come together. Only then can you pinpoint differences and standardize processes.” So that’s exactly what Eberspächer did. Together with ORBIS, it implemented a solution whose functions were tailored precisely to the company’s needs but was nevertheless capable of mapping all processes in the standardized Dynamics 365 environment.

The solution: Set up Microsoft Dynamics 365 as the central platform for more corporate agility

First to be rolled out was the Dynamics 365 Sales module, which is seamlessly integrated into Microsoft Teams. “In the past, the worst case scenario would be to have a quotation printed out, signed by hand, entered into another system, and sent to the customer from there,” Ahmed says. “Today, we can review all relevant information, such as the margin of a quotation or the internal approval stages, at the touch of a button—and the processes are documented automatically.” Moreover, integration into Teams enables employees to jump directly from Teams to a specific customer inquiry in the CRM system and vice versa. The module also makes it easier to prepare quotations: thanks to a link to the SAP ERP system, all the required data, such as information on materials and prices, is pulled automatically.

Colleagues in marketing now also benefit from this shared data basis: the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights module lets them see more quickly how many customers are located in which countries, so they can put together newsletters in a more targeted way. Available in around 25 languages, this module can also be used to map the entire process from creating and approving a newsletter to sending it to subsidiaries and customers. This greatly simplifies collaboration with external service providers such as agencies and local marketing departments. “On top of that, our Dynamics solution lets colleagues without programming skills make adjustments themselves. This increases speed and efficiency,” Posch says.

These changes are already making themselves felt: the technical expertise for all of the business unit’s products is now accessible on a single platform. “Dynamics 365 enables a transparent and cross-process view of the entire organization. This lets us react with more agility to changes in the market,” Ahmed says. “Because only companies that do that will continue to be competitive and viable—and stay that way.”

The new solution has already scored highly in data protection terms as well: “Some time ago, we were the victim of a cyberattack. It took several weeks before we could start using our other applications again, but our central CRM system based on Dynamics 365 was back up first and fastest, after just two weeks, thanks to its connectivity. Plus, it recorded the lowest data loss of all systems. That really highlights the data security of this solution,” Posch says.

Going forward, Eberspächer is set to roll out further modules, such as Dynamics 365 Field Service and Dynamics 365 Commerce. It will also connect additional areas of the business and continue to grow the platform. Furthermore, in the years ahead there are also plans to modernize the customer and partner portal and the product data management system, as well as to set up internationally available sales reporting using Power BI. In the future, the topic of AI is likely to play a role in the form of Copilot for Dynamics 365. However, Eberspächer expects its use of Dynamics 365 Customer Service to bring about the biggest changes. “Our technical support department has traditionally relied on email and the telephone—but in this area, too, we want to make our colleagues’ day-to-day work easier with digital solutions,” Posch says. Concrete scenarios have also been outlined for using Dynamics 365 Remote Assist in customer service.

This all points to an enormous transformation for the automotive supplier’s future. “When it comes to converting these sorts of processes, you need to put comprehensive support in place, with key users and on-site training, to make sure you achieve employee buy-in,” says Gerold Luz, Senior Account Manager at ORBIS. “Only then can a project like this become a success. And that’s what happened at Eberspächer.” By letting go of outdated practices, the automotive supplier laid the foundation for the digital transformation of further processes—without system breaks and data silos, and with more transparency and efficiency.