Overview

Digitized sales processes in SAP for Jenoptik with top xRM

Jenoptik is known for its outstanding optical technologies. The company also focuses on excellence internally – and therefore now uses top xRM from top flow for end-to-end digitalized sales processes in SAP.

 

 

In 2021, the Perseverance rover landed on Mars and has been searching for traces of microbial life on the red planet ever since. It has various instruments for this purpose: two microphones, a laser, 23 high-performance cameras and more. Jenoptik, a German company, is also significantly involved in the project. The Jena-based technology group is providing the majority of the camera lenses for the Mars project. The company is therefore an excellent example of high-tech made in Germany – and of the successful transformation from a state-owned enterprise to a world-renowned technology provider following German reunification.

 

 

Modern tools for internal processes

This success is possible thanks to the tireless work of highly qualified employees, a strong focus on research and development and the use of modern tools for efficient business processes. To this end, the company continuously invests in its IT infrastructure.

Occasional generational changes are unavoidable. Andreas Buchholz, Senior Business Analyst at Jenoptik, reports: “For a long time, SAP ECC as an ERP system and SAP CRM as a sales solution provided us with excellent service. However, SAP CRM was approaching the end of its life cycle. We therefore decided to replace the previous sales software with the modern SAP C4C (Sales Cloud). At the same time, we introduced SAP S/4HANA as the new ERP in order to be able to standardize processes across locations thanks to its cloud capability.”

In fact, there was a lack of standardized company-wide processes in some areas at the time – particularly in sales. Depending on the location or national company, some of the processes were still paper-based, while in other cases they were carried out using the old ERP system or other software solutions. “This led to a loss of efficiency and an unnecessary lack of transparency. For example, it was not always possible to access all documents easily. The sometimes decentralized file management and lack of digitization also entailed the risk of certain information being stored redundantly or outdated. We finally wanted to change this,” explains Susanne Gloth, Business Process Manager Sales & Services at Jenoptik.

 

Digitalized sales processes in SAP for maximum transparency

This desire for transparency and maximum information quality prompted Jenoptik to add a further component to the desired IT infrastructure: a tool for electronic file management in sales for the entire company – including all national subsidiaries and locations in the DACH region. This future tool was also to be

• seamlessly and interface-free into the new SAP environment – consisting of SAP S/4HANA and SAP C4C,
• support modern approval and workflow management,
• also suitable for other business areas in the future,
• be adaptable to the individual needs of the company and
• lead to audit-proof documentation at Jenoptik.

Susanne Gloth: “We had thus defined the key criteria for the desired solution and were able to start our research.” This ultimately led the optics specialists to top flow and its SAP add-on top xRM: an enterprise content management system (ECM) that enables companies to comprehensively digitize their files and serves as the basis for paperless end-to-end processes – all in conjunction with automated workflow management.

“With top xRM, we had found a solution that covered the requirements we had defined. So we contacted top flow to discuss the possible applications and a comprehensive implementation project for top xRM at our company. The subsequent meetings were so promising that we were quickly able to agree on a joint project,” summarizes the process manager.

 

A standardized sales process for Jenoptik

By opting for top xRM as a solution for electronic file management, Jenoptik now had all the elements it needed to design a new sales process.

To achieve this, the new IT system needed to record all sales processes and the resulting documents across all locations – such as opportunities, quotations, orders, deliveries, shipments and invoices. When creating a new opportunity in SAP C4C (Sales Cloud), employees should also be able to enter all documents and emails simply using drag & drop and access them at any time via SAP S/4HANA for subsequent documents.

“In addition, all approvals were to be digital in future,” adds Business Analyst Andreas Buchholz. “As a result, we hoped that these measures would result in fewer manual processing steps, shorter processing times, a simpler search for information and lower process costs.”

 

Digital file management in three steps

A cross-company project team put the plan into practice:

1) A mashup and digital files

To begin with, the team first designed a digital file that combines all the data, functionalities and features from SAP S/4HANA, SAP C4C and top xRM required for the digitalized sales process in SAP across all systems in a shared web application, a so-called mashup.

Technically, an SAP Fiori application runs in SAP S/4HANA, which is also integrated into SAP C4C (Sales Cloud). Users can therefore now access the file from different pages.

Parallel to the introduction of top xRM, the project managers digitized and centralized the current file inventory, including all important presales, customer, order, delivery and transport files. This ensures a uniform level of information at Jenoptik.

2) Workflow management for faster approvals

However, the new mashup is more than just a common user interface for different systems. It is based on a standardized approval management system for sales. To achieve this, the project team stored a specific workflow logic in top xRM that enables two variants:

• First, as a default solution, an automated workflow. The system automatically forwards any approval requests to the previously defined persons who are responsible for the respective case. This depends on the order volume, for example.
• Alternatively, employees can also initiate approvals manually in the system.

3) Comprehensive user training

The project was concluded with comprehensive user training. In workshops, they learned how to use top xRM and the new FIORI interface correctly. Well-trained key users and the project management were available at all times as contacts for direct feedback. To ensure the greatest possible usability, the project managers combined the start of productive operation with an intensive hypercare phase in order to be able to react quickly to user feedback.

 

A successful project gains company-wide attention

After several months of close cooperation, Jenoptik and top flow were able to successfully complete the project. The advantages of the new system landscape have long since convinced even those people who were still skeptical at the beginning. And that’s not all: more and more areas of the company beyond sales have since shown interest in using top xRM – such as service and product development.

Andreas Buchholz and Susanne Gloth draw a highly positive conclusion:

“In view of the success of the project, we are not surprised that other areas of the company are also developing an interest in using top xRM. With the processes set up here, we were ultimately able to considerably reduce our average processing times in sales and at the same time make massive cost savings. The project paid for itself after just a few months. What’s more, our files are now absolutely audit-proof. In order to take advantage of these benefits worldwide, we are currently introducing the system in the USA – and expect similar success there too. This is good news for us. After all, there are other planets besides Mars that we would like to help explore!”

 

The highlights for Jenoptik

• New workflow management for faster approval processes
• Digitized sales processes in SAP by digitizing all important file types for sales – e.g. customer, order and transport files
• Web-based Fiori apps that combine all relevant applications across all systems in one interface
• Tight, interface-free integration of SAP S/4HANA, SAP C4C and top xRM from top flow

 

“Other areas of the company have also long been interested in top xRM. After all, we have significantly reduced our average processing times in sales and made huge cost savings. The project paid for itself after just a few months.”

Susanne Gloth, Business Process Manager Sales & Services at Jenoptik

 

Jenoptik AG

• Company headquarters: Jena
• Portfolio: Optical technologies and photonics (camera and laser systems, traffic safety, sensor technology, etc.)
• Turnover: approx. 1.16 billion euros (2024)
• Founded: 1991 as a spin-off of the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine
• Employees: approx. 4,600
• Internet: https://www.jenoptik.de/

SucSt_2025-01_Jenoptik WEB final



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Overview