daimlerchrysler-siebel-casestudy

Oracle Customer Case Study

DaimlerChrysler Provides Unparalleled Service

Copyright © 2006 Oracle. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Published June 2006

DaimlerChrysler Corporation Auburn Hills, MI www.daimlerchrysler.com

Industry: Automotive

Annual Revenue: $192.3 billion

Employees: 384,723

Oracle Products & Services: Siebel Business Analytics Siebel Customer Data Integration Siebel Sales Siebel Service

Key Benefits: Improved customer service levels

Installed strong brand loyalty with customer base

Increased sales

"Oracle has helped us expand our business, and we are relying on it to help take us further.” – Thor Tielemans, Chief Information Officer, DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center (CAC) For more than 100 years, DaimlerChrysler Corporation has been a world leader in the automotive industry, supplying a wide range of quality products. In Europe, this automotive manufacturing giant acknowledged that product alone was insufficient to maintain its position. Virtually overnight, the company migrated from a product-centric strategy to a customer-centric position through the use of Oracle’s Siebel software. As a result, the company has become much closer to its customer base and has seen a marked improvement in service delivery that has led to strong brand loyalty and additional sales opportunities.

This automotive giant attributes its success to its four-pillared strategy: global presence, superior products, leading brands, and strong innovation and technology. Despite its undeniable leadership position, the company has been aware for some time that an impressive product range in a world where the roads are full is not a complete recipe for success. In 1997, DaimlerChrysler embarked on a change management project to turn the century-old product-focused organization into a customer-centric one.

“To expand, you have to differentiate yourself not just through product but also through services,” said Thor Tielemans, chief information officer, DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center (CAC).

To fulfill these ambitions, DaimlerChrysler AG opened its CAC in October 1998 in the Central European location of Maastricht, The Netherlands. This was to serve as a central customer contact point, taking care of the needs of current and prospective customers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in 13 European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Whatever individual wishes and problems customers may have, Roadside Assistance and


“We decided that what we wanted was software that was able to cover the whole customer relationship management


loop at that moment. After a rigorous selection process we discovered Oracle [Siebel] to be the most suitable application.”

Thor Tielemans Chief Information Officer DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center (CAC)

Customer Service ensures they always receive individual attention by a professional customer service representative (CSR). This multiculturally staffed CAC, the only one of its kind in the DaimlerChrysler group and indeed the automotive industry, currently employs approximately 740 members of staff of 17 different nationalities.

Robust Software Platform Due to growing sales volumes, the markets within Central Europe have an increasing demand for after-sales support. To meet this need, DaimlerChrysler made the decision, in September 2004, to establish a satellite center in Warsaw, Poland to provide consistent and repeatable processes and quality alignment in the four major Central European markets of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The satellite center serves both existing and prospective Mercedes-Benz and EvoBus customers in their own languages.

A team of 12 multilingual agents strives to achieve maximum customer satisfaction no matter what a particular customer’s concern may be--a breakdown, an inquiry, or a complaint--and irrespective of the communications channel involved: telephone, fax, letter, or e-mail. The satellite center in Warsaw is using Oracle’s Siebel software from the CAC in Maastricht to increase quality and gain cost efficiency.

DaimlerChrysler’s CAC is powered by Compass, a software solution that has been developed by CAC and forms the cornerstone of it technology roadmap. The software is predominantly based on Siebel applications with some internal modifications. Compass is active on some 375 workstations at the CAC and deals with approximately 15 million customer data records plus related vehicle information. All communication and correspondence between the customer, dealership, and CAC is stored in and processed with Compass. Compass is the point at which all customer complaints, inquiries, comments, and requests for assistance are logged, managed, and resolved. These queries are received in a variety of different ways, as DaimlerChrysler is aware that its customers are individuals each with their own preferred method of communication. Contact is processed from handwritten letters, telephone calls, telematics, faxes, or e-mails.



Thus, the CAC is not just a call center, but truly a customer assistance center.

Invaluable Information Two years ago, DaimlerChrysler CAC rolled this system out to its roadside assistance technicians using handheld devices. Customers experiencing a breakdown call a toll-free number and are immediately put through to an experienced CSR who will speak to them in their native language. The CSR will locate the nearest dealer offering roadside assistance, and the mechanic will then be able to see, using Compass, the location of the breakdown, the problem experienced, and details of the particular vehicle involved. After having resolved the problem, the mechanic then enters follow-up information into the system detailing time of arrival, length of time to complete the job, and the nature of repairs carried out. This is then analyzed using Oracle’s Siebel Business Analytics to provide invaluable information to the development and warranty departments of DaimlerChrysler.

Since August 2000, the CAC has been offering Telediagnosis and Mercedes-Benz Info Service for Maybach and Mercedes-Benz drivers in Europe who have a telematics device in their vehicle. In the event of a breakdown, the Telediagnosis system enables the CSRs to see the technical status of the vehicle on their screens, as well as the vehicle’s position via the Global Positioning System (GPS). The Mercedes-Benz Info Service also provides information to customers who can contact the CAC directly from their vehicle by simply touching the respective button.

“Customer orientation is given top priority in the CAC. We know from experience just how quickly the desires and requirements of our customers change,” Tielemans explained.. “Simply reacting to these is often not sufficient. Our CSRs put themselves in the customers’ shoes; their problem is our problem. Every employee who is selected to work at the CAC is responsible for helping the company realize its goals. By handling our customers’ needs proactively, we create sales opportunities, strengthen brand loyalty, and generate added value for the company as a whole.”

Since implementing Compass, DaimlerChrysler CAC has seen a marked improvement in service quality. There has been significant improvement in service levels for the period between


“By handling our customers’ needs


proactively, we create sales opportunities, strengthen brand loyalty, and generate added value for the company as a whole.”

Thor Tielemans Chief Information Officer, DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center (CAC)

2003 and 2005, with 72% of calls answered within 20 seconds in 2003, rising to 87% in 2005. The scope of services provided has grown considerably over the past few years.

Since opening in 1998, the CAC has solved almost 5 million “cases.” These cases can be requests for roadside assistance, as well as customer inquiries, complaints, comments, and suggestions. All the cases have been brought to the CAC’s attention by a staggering 1,810,675 letters, 809,918 faxes, and 905,922 emails to date, as well as approximately 9,262 inbound calls per day.

Customer Satisfaction “Remarkably, we frequently receive thanks and compliments from our customers who have received breakdown assistance. Flowers sent by grateful clients are a regular occurrence. Breaking down is always a trying experience, and the fact that these people are so impressed with the service they have received that they bother to contact us and tell us so is a clear demonstration that we are becoming an effective customer-centric organization,” Tielemans said.

“Oracle has helped us expand our business, and we are relying on it to help take us further. We are currently rolling the Siebel-based Compass solution out to our dealers so that we have yet another means of capturing information from our customers. We will have 500 dealers online next year and ultimately we will have 2,000 across Europe,” Tielemans said.

DaimlerChrysler CAC also plans to use Siebel in its Market Performance Center. This is the division that has responsibility for sales and marketing across Europe, as well as for the retail network.

The CAC’s strong focus on customer satisfaction ensures that customers receive the highest level of service that is associated with the DaimlerChrysler brands. DaimlerChrysler now has the most impressive product range and the most valuable brands in the automotive industry.

“Backed by our strong customer service operation powered by Siebel, we believe that we are unrivalled in the European automotive industry,” Tielemans said.


Why Oracle? To support this operation, DaimlerChrysler needed a robust software platform that could not only handle the demands of its current client base, but could also adapt to the changing perceptions and needs of the growing number of customers.

“We decided that what we wanted was software that was able to cover the whole customer relationship management (CRM) loop at that moment. After a rigorous selection process we discovered Siebel applications to be the most suitable,” Tielemans said.

Implementation Process Initially, in 1998, a group of 50 people were using Siebel to handle the calls into the CAC. However, the company achieved its fast growth target of covering the whole of DaimlerChrysler’s European operation within one year. There are now approximately 375 employees using the system in Maastricht.

Advice from DaimlerChrysler Build your own confirmation and operation competence for

Oracle’s Siebel line of applications

Build a proper development, test, and production environment

Reduce customization as much as possible

DaimlerChrysler Corporation is unique in the automotive industry: Its product

portfolio ranges from small cars to sports cars and luxury sedan, and from

versatile vans to heavy-duty trucks or comfortable coaches. DaimlerChrysler has a

global workforce and a global shareholder base.


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