Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH

Grenzebach is an automation specialist with a wide portfolio. They are a family company and what's known as a "hidden champion": About 90% of the world's plate glass is produced on a Grenzebach system. In addition to the classic areas of the glass and building materials industry, they also develop innovative solutions in areas such as intralogistics, sustainable energy production and friction stir welding. With headquarters in Germany and production sites in Germany, Romania, the US and China, the company has 1600 employees worldwide. There are 3000 Grenzebach plants installed in 55 countries around the world – each one individually designed and constructed and still serviced by the company.

Along with a CRM solution, Grenzebach was also looking for a suitable implementation partner, and they took their time to find the right one. The first step was to use input from the various departments to produce a tender specification and preselect eight CRM providers, including both big names and smaller companies. After that, they evaluated the technical and commercial criteria. This was followed by requests for tenders and an intensive testing phase in the form of workshops. Pischel adds: "We're thinking long-term. So the combination of CRM solution and partner needs to be a good fit for us. We decided on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM world, coupled with COSMO CONSULT, because it made the most sense to us both functionally and economically."

The CRM solution is used by nearly every department at Grenzebach, including Marketing, Services and Management – and this holds true across all their locations worldwide. To Pischel, this offers a crucial advantage: "We have large-scale projects. The only way to pull that off is for everyone, in all locations, to be able to work closely with one another. The Microsoft CRM platform is perfect for us, because otherwise, our business model wouldn't be possible." Having a 360-degree view of customer data means that knowledge is available to everyone. It allows all the various departments to better serve the customer. For instance, the company can offer upgrades and notify customers of any upcoming service that might be required, e.g. an oil change every four years to maintain the 500 different gearboxes in one of their plants. This generates additional revenue. "The platform transfers the knowledge of every employee into the database, and now we have a transparent view of the installed base. With this interdepartmental overview, we're able to offer the customer a lot more," adds Johanna Budweiser, Online Marketing at Grenzebach. Group-wide standardized reporting also adds transparency and assists Management with decision-making. The marketing module allows us to always keep our marketing and communication materials relevant and personalized for the customer. This module also now allows us to clearly segment our target groups. Plus, we can create detailed customer profiles. We're able to collaborate more effectively and, at the same time, we're also increasing interaction with our customers and potential customers.