Jiří Červinka, the COO and CFO of Window Holding, openly shared his perspective on digital transformation from the manufacturing industry at the fourth annual Digital Transformation Summit . Learn how, thanks to digitalization and the Salesforce platform, Vekra is able to monitor and manage the entire process from the first contact with the customer to production and service. Jirka also outlined future challenges and steps leading to business support, marketing campaign automation, and the ability to choose installation dates made available to clients using Salesforce Field Service Lightning. The interview was conducted by Martin Hronek, Senior Business Architect at Enehan.
Jirko, can you briefly introduce the company Vekra to us?
Vekra is the Czech number one in window production chinese overseas australia database and our main brand. We are a holding company, but Vekra is the backbone of our business. Last year, we had a turnover of approximately 2.5 billion crowns and employ around 1,400-1,500 people. Vekra accounts for two-thirds of our employees and turnover. We currently have four production plants, about 15 large showrooms and several smaller ones. Our technicians are located throughout the region. If we talk about “our business”, we will mainly talk about the Vekra brand and our own retail network. This is a bit specific compared to other manufacturing companies, because we not only produce windows, but also sell them to end customers, install them and provide service. We have the entire process under “one roof”.
What is the meaning of the concepts of digitalization and digital transformation within a manufacturing company?
>>>lass=”yoast-text-mark” />lass=”yoast-text-mark” />>Vekra uses digitalization tools from the first contact with the customer to the completion of the production of what they ordered. From the moment of demand, we start tracking the customer’s journey using digital tools. Communication with the sales department takes place via the Salesforce platform, where the salesperson requests the processing of a price quote, records communication, agreed discounts or goes through the approval process. During this process, all departments in the company are involved. After the quote is approved, a contract is issued, which takes place in another system.
Once the first part is completed, the process moves to the production department. Salesforce helps manage the assembly process and other service activities. Digitalization has allowed us to better track and manage the entire process from the first customer contact to production and service.
How is the current turbulent times affecting your company?
First we had to learn to function in a pandemic, now we be sure to include your contact information in every brochuree struggling with rising input prices and inflat
ion. How is digitalization helping you in this situation?
Looking back, I can say that we are glad that we started the digital transformation before Covid. Only because we managed to get customer data and documentation for the assembly crews into one environment did we “sail” through Covid, inflation and energy prices. The company is stronger, more stable and with greater turnover every year.
I’ll give an example from the Covid era to give you a better idea. We all remember how we couldn’t work from one day to the next.
How long has your digitalization been going on?
Digitalization is a continuous and long-term process. You have to constantly analyze what worked, what didn’t, what to watch out for next time. Moreover, digital transformation in manufacturing is different from digitalization in the financial sector. You face different challenges.
What do you see as the biggest differences?
>>>In our company, it is essential to connect all departments, each thailand data</a> of which operates a little differently and has specific data requirements . We have to deal with each team individually, whether it is the assembly team, salespeople or members of the marketing department.
In 2017, we started describing and documenting our processes. The Salesforce CRM tool we implemented helped us a lot in this. Thanks to it, we were able to completely transform the way we manage our business process . That was our beginning. Currently, we use Salesforce much more.
Since you mentioned mistakes, I can’t help but ask, what went wrong for you?
Of course, we thought we would be much further along in the process today. But that is still ahead of us.