Overview

Open the door to paperless processes at Butzbach with top xRM

Butzbach GmbH Industrietore – an expert in high-quality industrial and hangar doors – relies on fully digitized end-to-end processes. This is made possible by the digitally integrated documents of the enterprise content management system (ECM) top xRM.

 

Paperless office and digital processes – a long-cherished wish –

Even decades ago, pioneers of the information age were already thinking about the paperless office. But even today, many public authorities and companies are still struggling with processes that are at least partially paper-based – causing costs and environmental damage. There are many reasons for this: complex legal requirements regarding retention periods, incompatible IT system landscapes or simply a lack of time to subsequently digitize overflowing archives are just some of them. It was a similar story for Butzbach GmbH. Founded in 1953, the family business from Kellmünz specializes in industrial and hangar doors, employs around 270 people and achieved a turnover of around 38 million euros in 2022. One of the most important reasons for its economic success is its outstanding service portfolio: the company does not primarily focus on mass production, but offers its customers a broad, highly customizable range of development and services – including customer-specific designs as well as subsequent assembly, commissioning and maintenance of the products.

Customers like being able to choose freely from the wide range of high-quality services. For sales and customer management at Butzbach, however, this is increasingly leading to a high administrative workload. Madlen Hatzelmann, Head of Finance, Quality and Processes at Butzbach, explains:

Digitization is mandatory – integration is optional –

“Until recently, we had a process with several media discontinuities for handling customer orders: We primarily used SAP for the individual process steps, but sometimes also Excel and paper-based folders. This led to data redundancies and inefficiencies, as employees occasionally had to spend a long time searching for information. This made it clear that if we wanted to improve and work more efficiently, we needed a central ECM for sales and customer support that would reduce both administrative effort and redundancies.

”
This realization led to the company’s employees responsible for process design beginning to outline the initial requirements for a future-proof solution.

With clear goals for the digital process

• In previous quotation and order processing, the current process and processing status was often not transparent. In addition, no IT-supported approvals were provided. The future solution should change this and also shorten throughput times for customer-related processes through software-supported workflows.
• The new information system was to store all customer data centrally in one place and thus speed up the search for information. It should also enable a simple, interface-free connection to the SAP system and integrate the important objects available there, such as quotations, orders, invoices and customer and assembly information.
• Butzbach also wanted a simple connection from Microsoft Outlook to the new system.

Madlen Hatzelmann remembers:

“We very quickly came up with ideas on how processes could run better. We were then able to derive practical goals from this. This part was rather easy. We suspected that finding a solution that met all the requirements would be more difficult.”

top flow offers interface-free SAP add-on for ECM and digital processes

With concretely defined goals in hand, the real work begins: finding the right tool for the desired improvements. During its research, the family business came across the enterprise content management system (ECM) top xRM from the Baden-Württemberg IT and SAP specialist top flow. top xRM offered exactly the features that Butzbach was hoping for: it enabled the door manufacturer to digitize all SAP-based business processes more easily end-to-end and to perfectly integrate all documents along the entire process chain.

“That’s why we found top flows an attractive solution right from the start,” reports Madlen Hatzelmann. “As an SAP add-on, it also had the advantage that it would integrate seamlessly into our existing IT architecture.

”
Finally, employees from both companies met to clarify further details of a possible cooperation – with the result that top xRM would be introduced in the near future.

Digital customer service with top xRM

top xRM is an add-on specifically designed for SAP environments. The joint project team set up for this purpose by top flow and Butzbach GmbH Industrietore was therefore able to quickly integrate the software into the existing IT architecture. This laid the foundation for the subsequent project steps – in particular the individual adaptations that were still outstanding. For example, the team had to connect the relevant databases from the various SAP modules – such as accounting, order processing and sales – so that employees could find all customer information quickly, reliably and centrally via top xRM in an electronic file. It also integrated mail traffic via Microsoft Outlook into the add-on. Some one-off digitization work was also required in order to convert all previously physical documents into electronic form.

The team gradually implemented important project tasks quickly and efficiently. It only encountered a few challenges when connecting SAP Sales & Distribution. Madlen Hatzelmann comments:

“Internally, for example, we use some release logics for orders with a high order value or complex, technical requirements. We had to take this into account when introducing top xRM. In addition, our service technicians and fitters were already recording the operating data of the doors as well as working hours and consumables in a digitally connected, SAP-based service app at the customer’s site. For installation work, it is important that the key technical data is always available on the tablet. Therefore, top flow had to make specific adjustments to ensure that these functionalities and information would continue to be available digitally even after the introduction of top xRM.”

End-to-end digital processes without paper

One of the project team’s tasks was to implement top xRM technically. On the other hand, it also had to integrate the system smoothly into the company’s existing processes and then use it for further process optimization. Among other things, the team established new, document-based and completely paperless workflows: from quotation and order processing to assembly and invoicing. In technical terms, the project team use MS Outlook, which is now connected to top xRM, for SAP document dispatch.

Butzbach is shaping the digital sales process of the future with top xRM

Overall, top xRM enabled the project team to map the entire sales process via a central digital customer and sales file. Since then, all customer information has been bundled and Butzbach employees no longer have to laboriously search for it. The electronic workflow also ensures faster throughput and response times in sales and increases the ability to provide information to customers. In addition, all persons involved in the process can view the processing status at any time and across all locations. The training courses held before the system went live ensured that all key users and the company’s internal IT department were familiar with the system at an early stage. In addition, top flow will continue to provide security in the future through accompanying second level support. As a result, top xRM fulfills all the goals that the company had set for the introduction of the new software. Madlen Hatzelmann is also convinced:

“Now we finally have software that speeds up our processes and puts an end to the paperwork. It creates the best conditions for further growth without getting bogged down in administrative work. It also helps our company to operate more sustainably. Our experience from this project will definitely encourage us to consider further digitalization topics – also together with top flow!”

Butzbach GmbH Industrial doors

• Location: Kellmünz
• Portfolio: Industrial doors and hangar doors
• Turnover: approx. 40 million euros (2023)
• Foundation: 1953
• Employees: approx. 270
• Internet: www.butzbach.com/de/de

SucSt_2024-01_Butzbach – PRINT final



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Overview