Integrated Sales Force Automation System improves communication and streamlines costs for Yamaha

Oct. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Yamaha Corporation
Yamaha is a well-known global company, founded over 100 years ago in 1889. Its roots
began in manufacturing musical instruments, but with its technological expertise it moved into many areas of business including manufacturing audio & visual products, computer/network equipment, electronic devices, sporting equipment and auto components.
Yamaha Motor UK
Yamaha Motor UK’s headquarters are located at Brooklands, Weybridge – the home
of the historic Brooklands racing circuit. From there all marketing, sales and service
support activities for its motorised products are coordinated. Yamaha Motor (UK) Ltd
has 3 sales divisions that service the following product groups: motorcycles, marine
products & power products
Each division sells its products via a network of franchised dealers, managed by
dedicated Area Sales Managers, who are individually responsible for between
20-35 dealers. The dealers and salesdivisions are in turn supported by Service,
Accounts and Computer Services. Depending on the time of year and season, an
average of 2,500 units are sold each week, excluding accessories and spare parts.
The Challenge
Yamaha uses the BPCS ERP application for Sales, Distribution and Financials. The
sales team received individual sales reports from the BPCS system in hard copy on a
monthly basis. However, these reports became quickly out of date and involved large
amounts of paperwork.
In addition, to the BPCS system Yamaha also have a bespoke customer care application called Ycare, which contains information about its customers from each stage of the purchase. The service division uses this system to handle customer relations, liaising regularly with the dealer for information on warranties and servicing.
The challenge was to integrate sales, stock, service and credit data into one system,
which could be accessed remotely by the sales team’s offline, whilst at the same time
ensured that each dealer’s sales figures could only be accessed by the relevant sales
person.
The Solution
Life IT created a bespoke solution for Yamaha using a range of IBM Lotus Software.
The sales teams access the system via a Lotus Notes client, enabling them to work
offline and replicate data.
At the design stage of the project Life IT  (http://www.lifeit.co.uk) worked with IBM to evaluate the data
transfer options available for the solution. Life IT wanted an open standard, so
that the system could receive information from many different sources and Lotus
Enterprise Integrator (LEI) was chosen for this purpose.
LEI is used to extract data from the multiple back end systems on a daily basis.
Lotus Mail, Messaging & Calendars have been rolled out replacing a Novell system.
Standard Domino security and authorisation ensures that information held in the
system for one division is not available to other divisions. Selective replication ensures
that each sales person only receives data relevant to them during replication.
Business Benefits
LLife IT worked closely with Yamaha Motor to develop a Sales Force Automation
System (SFAS), which would integrate the information held in its separate systems
– improving communication, reducing paperwork and subsequently workload.
The SFAS provides both consolidated and detailed views of sales performance and
stock levels across all divisions of the company, and is accessible to all parts of the
business i.e. sales, finance and customer services.
The sales team can take the system with them to review stock and sales performance
on dealer visits across the country. The replication functionality within the system
provides them with up to date information before each meeting. The system is also
able to alert the sales person to dealer credit issues and customer satisfaction
feedback, which can then be reviewed during the meeting.

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