Global access to consistent sales Information
Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG, a chemical company based in Budenheim, Germany, recently harmonized sales processes for its international locations on the Salesforce Sales Cloud platform. During the project, cbs helped integrate its end-to-end processes with its SAP ERP system. SAP Cloud Platform Integration and the SAP Application Interface Framework were the main components of the integration strategy followed. Today, Budenheim is profiting from harmonized processes and global access to sales information that is consistent throughout the company.
Due to structural growth at its international locations, Budenheim often used to store and manage sales information on customers, contacts, and opportunities in decentralized archives. Local sales employees also followed different procedures in handling the corresponding documentation. These factors resulted in master data that was not consistent across the company’s regions and areas of sales and logistics. In addition, Budenheim employees had neither mobile access to sales-related reporting data nor a central overview of processes. This lack of transparency made it difficult to take advantage of ways to plan ahead strategically, identify sales opportunities quickly, and make the right decisions.
Budenheim thus forged a plan to harmonize its sales processes around the world and establish a consistent platform based on Salesforce Sales Cloud. In order to implement end-to-end processes, the company needed to integrate its master, logistics, and invoicing data between Salesforce and its central SAP ERP system.
To facilitate forward-thinking integration on its Salesforce cloud platform, Budenheim joined forces with cbs to carry out an advance project that would define its integration strategy. The two partners also took the potential incorporation of further cloud applications like SAP SuccessFactors into account. In doing so, they spent the initial phase analyzing the interfaces already at hand and the technologies in use, along with related tools and pain points. In the second phase, the project team took stock of future requirements with regard to hybrid scenarios, monitoring, and operations. Based on the resulting analysis of the current situation and Budenheim’s needs going forward, SAP Cloud Platform Integration (SAP CPI) and the SAP Application Interface Framework (SAP AIF) were selected as the right integration solutions for the job.
Budenheim now uses SAP CPI to ensure connectivity, technical transformations, and orchestration among its various platforms and applications. SAP AIF gives the company a centralized, process-oriented perspective of the relevant SAP interfaces. Meanwhile, the latter solution also provides for a standardized approach to interface development and enhancement regardless of each interface’s underlying technology.
Through its Salesforce implementation, Budenheim has established globally standardized sales processes and replaced a variety of local standalone solutions. Its use of SAP AIF is also enabling the company to benefit from centralized interface monitoring and automatic alerts in SAP ERP. Furthermore, SAP CPI is ensuring that the integration between SAP and Budenheim’s Salesforce platform is simple and efficient.