How Kopinor is putting data to work for members

/in , , /by

Kopinor licences the use of copyright protected works on behalf of authors and publishers. The organisation manages agreements and reimbursements between 22 members organisations including 5 publishers’ associations and 17 authors’ associations.

With effective use of data and business analytics, Kopinor is making processes run smoothly for its members.

Meet Tom…

Tom Karlsen is System Administrator at Kopinor.

In addition to managing and maintaining systems, he also looks for new ways to improve data quality and workflows. He wants to help colleagues effectively serve Kopinor members.

We asked him what he’s been working on and why business analytics is important to Kopinor.

Here’s what he said:

Millions of records captured in CRM and ERP systems

Data is the foundation for much of what we do.

Our ERP and CRM systems capture millions of values about copyright holders, licenses, agreements, collections, payments, rights, obligations, and other details.

These systems help us effectively manage agreements and reimbursements between 22 members organisations including 5 publishers’ associations and 17 authors’ associations. Last year, we distributed NOK 280 million to Norwegian and foreign rightsholders.

I’m part of the team that’s responsible for system optimisation and data management. We ‘re continually examining data capture and information flows and asking ourselves:

  • How can we make processes more effective?
  • What data and insights do we need in order to best serve our members?
  • How can we access information in the best way?

There’s a long list of projects we are currently working on.

Issues with system upgrades

We’ve made some significant changes during the past 6 months because we ran into issues when we upgraded software. This got to be a real headache.

We had 12 smaller components working together to input or exchange data with SuperOffice CRM and our ERP system. The set-up was too complex with too many moving pieces.

To solve this issue, we eliminated extra components and added input fields directly within SuperOffice. Then we looked for a clever way to extract data from our systems and organize it for different goals, roles or tasks.

We  chose Business Analyze and introduced it to users. Business Analyze extracts relevant data and sorts or filters it into lists and reports. The results are displayed on dashboards.

In some cases, we also embedded dashboard reports back into SuperOffice. What better way is there to access information and keep on top of things when you already use SuperOffice?

More efficient with business analytics

Business analytics help us work effectively. We distribute relevant insight to different parts of the organisation in seconds. Without analytics we couldn’t serve our members as quickly.

Our leaders use Business Analyze to monitor key targets and guide overall business management. We used to have 30% response rate when we sent members one specific type of mail request, for example, but we now we have 80%.

Our consultants use Business Analyze dashboards as part of their daily work. They see important information about member agreements and can answer questions fast,  without running long queries or searching through databases.

We have dashboards for:

  1. Control purposes – for example to ensure accurate reimbursement or invoicing according to agreement terms. We run queries directly to Visma ERP.
  2. Workflow efficiency – we use dynamic work lists so people know what stage a task is in and what is on their ‘to-do-list’
  3. Goal tracking – measure goals like how many mail responses we receive back (return rate)

 

This ‘self-service’ dashboard is set-up so users can quickly answer questions about members, processes and renumeration without having to login to different systems or understand how they work.

Business Analyze has made a big difference. We rely on it to tell us the status of almost anything! As long as we have the data, it tells us the answer.

 

About Kopinor
Kopinor licences the use of copyright protected works on behalf of authors and publishers.

Industry: Information Sector
IT Systems: SuperOffice CRM, Visma Business ERP, Emarketeer, Business Analyze
IT Partner: Ganske Enkelt

www.kopinor.no

Business Analyze and i-Centrum partner to deliver business analytics for Swedish B2B companies

/in , /by

Oslo and Gothenburg May 8, 2109

SaaS business analytics platform provider Business Analyze and Swedish CRM specialists i-Centrum, announce today their partnership to provide fast and effective business analytic solutions to B2B organisations across Sweden.

By combining data analytics and visualisation technology with consulting expertise, the companies will offer increased value to current customers and growth-seeking B2B organisations.

The new partnership will help businesses use data to optimise processes, generate revenues and improve sales, marketing and customer experiences.

“We’re very glad that i-Centrum will be our local sales, consulting and implementation partner. We believe the two organisations have an exciting match of comptence and cultures that will benefit customers,” says Einar Gynnild, CEO at Business Analyze.

“Last year we started ramping up in Denmark to meet steadily increasing demand for business analytics. Now, by partnering with i-Centrum, we will be better able to serve Swedish organisations. Our goal is to be the leading provider of business analytics in Northern Europe.”

Business Analyze reported 77% growth in demand for its cloud analytics solution in 2018. As more processes move online with greater speed, businesses use analytic dashboards, scoreboards and reporting tools to gain fast answers to questions about customers, behavior, and performance – across business units and functions.

“Business analytics is an important part of our service offering. We are excited about this partnership because what Business Analyze offers is different than any other analytics platform,” says Filip Vanthöm, CEO at i-Centrum.

“On one hand, it is closely woven together with SuperOffice, enabling our existing CRM customers to plug into it and gain new perspectives in as little as seconds. On the other hand, it connects to many other well-known data sources and is easily adapted to unique user cases. We look forward to many new projects.”

Business Analyze and i-Centrum invite customers and CRM enthusiasts to explore the power of analytics and join us at SuperOffice Market Expo 2019.  This will be a day to celebrate partnerships, share experiences and learn about developments in CRM, data analytics and digitalization.  We will be hosting product demonstrations throughout the day and are proud sponsors of this upcoming event.

www.businessanalyze.com

www.i-centrum.se

Contacts


Einar Gynnild, CEO at Business Analyze
einar.gynnild@businessanalyze.com
Tel: +47 993 50 760

Filip Vanthöm, CEO i-Centrum AB
filip.vanthom@i-centrum.se
Tel: +46 704 19 99 60

Danfoss Semco optimizes processes with global ‘Sales Pipeline Project’

/in , /by

This article is based on the presentation held by Lars Sørensen, Management Consultant at BestAnswers ApS, at SuperOffice CRM Dagen 2018. Updated March 2019.

Lars Sørensen (pictured) is project leader for the ‘My Sales Pipeline’ project.

The project at-a-glance

Company: Danfoss Semco – part of the Danfoss Group, a family owned global company, with more than 24,000 employees worldwide.

Business: The sale, development, production and service of certified fixed fire-fighting systems under the brand SEM-SAFE®.

Project: Company-wide project ‘My Sales Pipeline’ to optimize sales revenues and processes

Involved: More than 20 people at headquarters and 4 regional offices.

Software tools: SuperOffice CRM, Navision ERP, Business Analyze

Lars Sørensen is project leader. He was involved in rolling out the project in Danfoss when he was Business Excellence Manager.  Now, the program, involving sales leaders, managers and sales support people worldwide, is also implemented at Danfoss Semco.

The project involves refining internal processes, optimizing use of SuperOffice CRM, and rolling out Business Analyze for analytics and sales reporting.

Better insight into sales

The ‘My Pipeline’ project is part of the broader company-wide strategy to optimize sales and customer experience. During fact-based coaching sessions, the pipeline and/or single opportunities are discussed in detail based on data from the CRM and ERP systems.

Better insight into the development of the sales pipeline – several quarters ahead- reduces the chances of unwanted surprises and enables the company to act pro-actively.

– Danfoss Semco is well aware of how important pipeline management is for steering the company, but having an accurate view of past and future pipeline developments is easier in theory than in practice. Sales teams have different needs and ways of working with CRM systems. Everything needs to be aligned.

– By defining this as a global project, sales optimization and customer experience stay in focus, even when – understandably – there are many other activities that require people’s time and effort.

Leaders have a dedicated forum to discuss what’s working and what isn’t on a high level.

Danfoss Semco uses Business Analyze to help them analyze data from their CRM system, improve reporting and monitor key metrics.

– Business Analyze has proved to be a good tool allowing upper management, sales, finance and production insight into future sales projects.

Lars describes four important aspects of the project:

#1 Measure KPIs

– We set sales targets and measure progress for all different units, segments, time periods, divisions etc.

– Individual and team targets are connected to the broader company goals. This builds a mutual understanding about the business and its culture, and the importance of each person.

– Sales performance, hit rates, sales cycles time and other metrics are visible on dashboards.

#2 Focus on pipeline quality

– If data isn’t accurate, a ‘full’ pipeline creates a false feeling of safety. We, therefore, look at issues such as: overdue opportunities, old opportunities without any activities or stage changes, and ‘stuck’ opportunities, in order to have a healthy, reliable forecast.

– We have a set of dashboard reports that address each of these topics. Each report ensures relevant opportunities are analyzed and either rejected or followed up.

# 3 Analyze opportunities from several views

– Managers have several views the pipeline, past developments and movements. The ‘change report’, shows, for example, opportunities that have changed stage, close date, value, probability to win etc.

– One example is the report showing all open opportunities, per stage and per month. This gives better control of sales several months ahead. In fact, it might be the most important report. Danfoss Semco can look into the forecast with good reliability at least 3 quarters ahead.

#4 Use dashboards actively in meetings

– The sales teams review reports from Business Analyze in their weekly sales meetings.

– We urge people to come up with ideas how to make things better and more efficient.

– We adjust and develop SuperOffice and Business Analyze as we go. Most of the changes are done in-house, so it’s not far from idea to implementation.

More unified approach to sales management

The overall result is a more unified approach to sales management. With better forecasting and opportunity management, it is easier to prioritize resources, manage pressure and be proactive.

The next step in this journey is to connect data between Navision ERP, SuperOffice and Business Analyze.

There are many ways to create a better end-to-end customer experience by connecting data together.

Analyzing customer data and turning it into customer value is continuing to be high priority for Danfoss Semco as they enter 2019.

Danfoss Semco can be reached at https://semsafe.danfoss.com/ and you can reach out to Lars at https://BestAnswers.info

Net Promoter Score Dashboards

/in , /by

Do you measure Net Promoter Score? Are you planning to measure customer loyalty soon?

Sending out a survey is a great start, but having effective tools and analytics in place to interpret results and understand next steps for improvement is also important.

Better analytics and insight

Business analytics software helps you get the most out of NPS efforts because it calculates scores – on an ongoing basis – and makes feedback immediately available on dashboards. Rather than periodic score report, you help customer-facing teams become instantly aware there is an issue that requires their attention.

With better access to feedback, customer-facing teams can work pro-actively to address the issue in a timely fashion. The faster they reach out, the faster they can build relationships.

Senior leaders and stakeholders gain insight into customer feedback and can use that insight to plan and make decisions.

Sample dashboard

Let’s assume you want to share Net Promoter Scores with key stakeholders for the year to date. How could this look?

In the report above, the overall score is represented in blue dots.

You point-and-click the colored areas of the bar graph to see the number of promoters, passives and detractors.

There is a drill-down report that shows a detailed list of responses.

The detractor drill-down, for example, provides full details about each customer with score=0-6. You also see their contact details and comments (if they have answered an open-ended question.)  This list is easy to share with people that are skilled at addressing issues.

If you connect your NPS data to CRM data in Business Analyze, there are many additional ways to simplify workflows, assign tasks, track trends and analyze loyalty by segment. You can answer questions like: ‘Which customer type is most likely to recommend our product?’ or ‘What sales channel gets the highest score?’ If you ask more questions, you can add these and dig deeper into what customers do or do not like.

The first step

The first step is to connect your survey data to Business Analyze. This may be stored in a customer feedback tool like Questback, your own database, or Excel spreadsheets.

Are you interested in learning more?

Our experienced consultants will be happy to discuss your requirements and show you examples. Contact us or send an email to sales@businessanalyze.com

NPS®, Net Promoter® is registered trademarks Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld

3 Steps to Data-driven Sales Coaching

/in , /by

Christoffer Bergstrøm, Sales Director at House of Control, discusses the impact of data-driven sales coaching.

More than 100 people recently registered for our webinar ‘How to sell more with data-driven sales coaching.’

Since this topic was so popular, we’ve summarized the webinar ‘take-aways’ into 3 steps. Each step includes a list of key sales reports to help you guide coaching meetings.

 Why data-driven sales coaching?

‘Data-driven’ means having a systematic approach to sales coaching based on quantitative sales metrics. Rather than starting coaching sessions based on a personal understanding, each session starts with clear, measurable expectations that both parties agree on. From there, you systematically review what’s happened and plan next steps, developing one area at a time.

From a coaches perspective, a data-driven approach makes coaching easier and more effective. Not only will you help reps hit their targets in the short run, you help them develop a better understanding what they can do, on their own, to be more successful in the long-run.

For example, sellers may be clear they have a monthly budget, but do they know exactly how many new opportunities this means?

From a sellers perspective, data-driven sales coaching is easy to understand. There’s no ‘fluffy’ terms or uncertainty. Every goal is measured and sellers can take control of their own development, without being forced to rely on anyone else.

Keys to success

Data-driven sales coaching employs well-known, but sometimes overlooked techniques:

  • Base coaching on measurements and actions that increase sales
  • Recognize sale performances to reinforce desired behaviors
  • Coach often – set fixed times for meetings

Before you start, it’s important to clearly define your sales process and ensure the process is set-up correctly in your CRM system. There should be one process per sales type.

If your sales data is inaccurate or poor quality, don’t worry. As you and your teams use data, the quality will improve because all the parties see its advantage. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation.

Step 1: Determine what is required to reach budget

A good starting point for coaching discussions is to agree personal target revenue with sales reps. This is usually a breakdown of your company or team budgets.

From here you can reach a common understanding of requirements and ensure targets are realistic.

This includes answering:

  • How much (# cases and value) needs to be in the pipeline in order to hit monthly target?
  • How many new opportunities (# cases and value) need to come into the pipeline (refill)?
  • What is the difference between actual and required?

The pipeline requirements, are calculated based on a person’s 4 key sales velocity metrics. These include: number of opportunities, hit rate, average deal size, and lead time (also called ‘sales cycle’).

In the example below, John has a budget of 100,000 Euro per month. Based on the last 6 months, he has 44 opportunities per month, a hit rate of 55%, an average order size of 17,707 Euro and lead time of 65 days (2,18 months). Assuming these factors stay the same, he needs 181 034 Euro in new opportunities per month.

Example: Pipeline Requirements Calculator

If a person joined your team 6 months ago, they might need a ramp up time. In this case it might make sense to base pipeline requirements on their sales velocity for the last 3 months rather than all 6.

Once pipeline requirements are established, each sales rep has their own roadmap. This makes it easier to control what’s happening and make adjustments. It’s much better to know there are too few new opportunities before the end of the month, so there is time to do something about it.

Using the same calculations as above, you can stretch the limits and test different scenarios. What happens if hit rate increases 2% or lead time decreases by 1%? Which one of the variables gives the greatest improvement? Even a minor improvement can have a major impact. Maybe you want reps to focus on one of these KPIs for the next 6 months.

Step 2: Secure movement through the pipeline

Coaching sessions should include a look at activities. Without a planned activity to move cases from stage to stage – they risk being lost or forgotten.

This includes:

  1. Cases past the decision date.
  2. Cases without a planned activity. e.g. email, phone call, new meeting
  3. Cases that have an activity planned, but the plan hasn’t been followed.

By benchmarking the time opportunities spend in each stage or where cases are lost, you can also identify areas for improvement.

Step 3: Evaluate the sales process and plan ahead

The final step is to evaluate sales processes and analyze data. Different views of sales data are needed to analyze results. A single view of the pipeline doesn’t give a clear picture.

Some key reports used in analysis include:

  • Forecast and sold versus budget – review current period and discuss upcoming forecast per month and accumulated
  • Pipeline requirements report – gain visibility into status and spot variance from target
  • Open opportunities by stage and close date – manage opportunities and evaluate
  • Win/loss report – understand win/loss rates and reasons
  • Lead source report – review the best source of leads
  • Sales per segment or product – see whether reps are working strategically towards the right customer segments
  • Activity reports – spot trends and make comparisons

These reports provide valuable information about sales processes. While there is certainly a mix of skills that are important to being a good sales coach, using data to understand performance is always a good start. As the amounts of sales data increases, the more insight that data gives us.

Get your sales coaching reports

Interested in calculating your pipeline requirements or learning more about how Business Analyze can help you coach reps to success? Contact us here