Optimizing sales processes: Fueling automotive business revenue and success  

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In the continuously evolving automotive industry, where competition is fiercer than ever and customer expectations are increasing, automotive businesses are constantly seeking new strategies to gain a competitive edge.  

Like any business, one of the most crucial aspects that most successful automotive businesses place emphasis on is their sales. Even though it is one area that draws a lot of focus, some businesses still find it a struggle. 

Most automotive businesses can easily achieve revenue targets with functionalities embedded within their business solutions. However, if a business is able to harness the true power of its sales functionalities, it would be a game-changer for them as it holds a multitude of other benefits- enabling automotive businesses to streamline their processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive revenue growth. 

These functionalities encompass a range of capabilities that equip automotive businesses with the necessary tools to manage their processes effectively. From lead management and customer relationship management to quote generation, order processing, and performance tracking, these functionalities serve as the backbone of seamless and efficient sales operations. 

Some of the benefits of these functionalities in automotive businesses include 

Optimizing sales processes: Fueling automotive business revenue and success Diagram-1  

The Annata-Microsoft winning combination for ultimate success 

Annata is your premier end-to-end IT solution provider, specializing in meeting the unique needs of the automotive industry. With A365, our all-in-one cloud-based software solution running on Microsoft Dynamics 365, you will get a full digital integration that transforms your existing business processes to power your possibilities. 

Our collaboration with Microsoft allows automotive businesses to benefit from a dynamic combination of our industry expertise and Microsoft’s leading technologies, empowering them to drive revenues, enhance customer experiences, and achieve business growth. 

Furthermore, our sales functionalities embedded in A365 seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft Azure for cloud services and Microsoft Power Platform for data analytics and workflow automation. This integration enables customers to leverage the full capabilities of the Microsoft ecosystem, ensuring a comprehensive and cohesive solution for their sales operations. 

A365 utilizes Microsoft Dynamics 365’s embedded AI technologies to provide businesses with valuable insights and personalized customer engagement. By analyzing customer and performance data, it offers tailored product recommendations and accurate lead conversion predictions.  

Optimizing sales processes: Fueling automotive business revenue and success Diagram-3  

AI optimizes the sales process, identifying bottlenecks, suggesting improvements, and streamlining workflows for enhanced performance. Forecasting with AI provides businesses with the ability to confidently plan strategies and utilize virtual sales assistants.  

Proactive retention strategies with sentiment analysis help stay ahead of customer churn, while competitive analysis provides market insights. Annata’s intelligent sales forecasting, based on historical data and customer behavior, establishes a potent platform for businesses to thrive. 

A365 can also be seamlessly integrated with pre-existing or legacy systems which enables businesses to orchestrate a variety of functionalities across their complete infrastructures, gaining all-round control while supporting the effective and efficient operations of the business.  

The strength of our A365 sales functionalities stems from these crucial features. 

Seamless sales operations from beginning to end with A365 

The sales application of A365 supports multiple brands and locations with capabilities tailored to industry-specific business processes, data models, and functionalities for automotive brands.  

It works by providing a suite of capabilities and tools to streamline and optimize various aspects of the selling process including: 

Optimizing sales processes: Fueling automotive business revenue and success Diagram-2

Lead management: Enables automotive businesses to efficiently manage leads throughout the sales pipeline and includes the capturing, tracking, and assigning of leads to representatives, ensuring no opportunity is missed. 

Sales Closing: Estimates opportunity value and closing dates for accurate pipeline forecasts. It enables remote pipeline management and follow-up through web and mobile access. Monitoring key pipeline KPIs helps in minimizing missed opportunities. 

Test drive management: Empowers salespeople with powerful test drive capabilities, ensuring consistent experiences for buyers. It facilitates the organization of bookings, connects leads to test drives, and minimizes cancellations with automated workflows and reminders. 

CRM: Integrates CRM capabilities to provide a holistic view of customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history. This empowers sales representatives to deliver personalized experiences and forge long-lasting customer relationships. 

Quote generation: Simplifies the quote generation process by automating calculations, discounts, and promotions. Sales representatives can create accurate and professional quotes quickly, enhancing efficiency and reducing errors. 

Sales performance tracking: Provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools to track sales performance. Analyze data, monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and gain insights to optimize strategies and drive revenue growth. 

Deal management: Facilitates vehicle sales, add-ons, trade-ins, and financing contracts. It offers a comprehensive view of costs, revenue, and margins. Additionally, it saves time by enabling quote sending for customer negotiations, revisions, and approvals. 

Order processing: Streamlines the order processing workflow, from capturing customer orders to coordinating with production and inventory management. This ensures smooth and timely order fulfilment and improves customer satisfaction. 

Pricing and discount management: Offers advanced pricing and discount management functionalities, enabling automotive businesses to configure pricing rules, manage discounts, and implement pricing strategies tailored to different customer segments or markets. 

Pre-delivery and trade-in inspections: Provides built-in support for digital inspections and reviews in the process, including pre-delivery and trade-in inspections to minimize paper-based inspection processes. 

Integration with back-end systems: Integrates seamlessly with back-end systems such as inventory management, finance, and production. This enables real-time data synchronization and enhances visibility and accuracy across the entire business. 

Mobility and remote access: Offers mobile application capabilities that allow sales representatives to access critical information, generate quotes, and update customer data on the go. This flexibility improves productivity and enables effective customer engagement whenever and wherever. 

Collaboration and workflow management: Facilitates collaboration amongst teams, enabling efficient communication, document sharing, and task management. This promotes teamwork, improves productivity, and enhances overall sales effectiveness. 

Learn more about how A365 can optimize your sales processes in this Fact Sheet. Alternatively, reach out to us to know more. 

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Hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle purveyors selects Annata to fulfill global scale ambitions

North America
Manufacturer

In 2020, Annata was chosen by a heavy truck manufacturer to assist in developing their business processes and the systems required to support them. The company has more than 400 employees to support its rapid growth as a leading automotive innovator in zero-emission vehicles and trucks.

After a rapid and intensive validation cycle, Annata was chosen because of Annata’s 20-year automotive industry experience and extensions to the Microsoft Dynamics platform that formed the basis of the manufacturer’s finance and manufacturing systems.

Designed with cloud scalability and agility built in, the solution covered all critical processes. To ensure a complete and compelling customer experience, Annata’s solution will ensure the organization is well connected to customer behaviors, both pre-and post-sale for years to come.

The company decided to engage in a multi-year partnership with Annata after the success of the solution implementation. Annata provided the manufacturer with industry insights and experience to drive more value in all its business processes.

Annata picked for superior material handling performance by Leading North American equipment dealer

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The decision to upgrade to Dynamics 365 stemmed from challenges such as instability, poor performance, and growth limitations experienced in their previous solution installation. 

The overarching objective was to address these issues and enhance the overall efficiency and stability of their operational environment. Annata’s offering stood out with its comprehensive equipment lifecycle functionality, addressing the customer’s specific needs in a tailored manner. System performance and adherence to Independent Software Vendor (ISV) compliance were pivotal aspects that contributed to the decision, assuring the customer of a robust and reliable solution.

Annata’s commitment to ongoing development, reflected in their ecosystem investment and roadmap, aligned well with the customer’s long-term goals. Microsoft’s Proof of Concept (POC) support played a crucial role in demonstrating the capabilities of the proposed Dynamics 365 solution.

The success of the partnership was further cemented by the strong collaboration and partnership ethos shared between Annata and Microsoft, ensuring a holistic and effective approach to meeting the customer’s requirement.

Automotive powerhouse selects A365 for next-level business optimization

North America
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Previously relying on an outdated “Green Screen” system and managing a complex network of around 200 applications, the company recognized the need for a transformative change. The existing system, developed over 25 years, had become inadequate for evolving dealer needs, leading to technical debt rather than delivering value. To address this, the enterprise sought a modern solution to meet the dynamic requirements of the automotive industry and enhance overall operational efficiency. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 and A365 combination were selected to improve forecasting, streamline vehicle ordering processes, and reduce lead times from inspection to final delivery.

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The decision to choose Microsoft Dynamics and A365 exemplified a strategic approach, wherein technology was prioritized first, aligning subsequently with the market for a systems integrator. This decision underscored the strategic fit of the chosen technology to the specific needs of the enterprise, setting the stage for a successful implementation and business transformation.

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Latin America
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Founded in 1963 in Latin America, this key player in the local automotive industry has solidified its standing among the top groups in the sector. Over six decades, the company has maintained consistent growth, establishing a robust financial foundation.

Central to their success is a commitment to transparent management, enabling them to overcome challenges. The company prioritizes key strategic pillars, including business sustainability, delivering exceptional customer experiences, nurturing a skilled workforce, embracing technology, and forming strategic alliances. These pillars reflect the company’s comprehensive approach to ensuring long-term success and resilience in the dynamic automotive industry.

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Additionally, the choice of Annata was motivated by their extensive expertise in the automotive sector, a strong market presence, a robust research and development (R&D) plan, and certification capabilities with a cost-effective Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

This combination of solutions was deemed the optimal choice, aligning with the organization’s strategic goals and ensuring a comprehensive and effective solution for their business needs.

European vehicle manufacturer unlocks competitive edge with Annata

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Annata was chosen as a solutions provider to replace a 20-year-old heavily customized legacy system for an RV manufacturer. The systems in use were not supplying prompt information to the management team and model changes for production were painful to implement. 

The implementation was vital to simplify access to data and increase service levels to its different dealers. The manufacturer selected Annata due to Annata’s global ISV status and strong solution functionalities to manage their critical workload, particularly those that require interaction with their dealer channel.   

Annata’s robust dealer portal solution has improved dealer relationships with a quicker turnaround on warranty claim decisions and processing.

In parallel, the manufacturer can now leverage warranty rules and validations. The dealer portal is a win for the manufacturer in reducing warranty costs while improving dealer and customer relationships.

The manufacturer expects overall improved management reporting for executives and operations. Operational improvements include rationalized bills of materials, costing, and managing production change orders effectively. The manufacturer expects its dealers to have a more efficient process for warranty claims that will result in a reduced payment time, while still preventing fraudulent or duplicate claims.

Swiss agricultural equipment and machinery supplier accelerates cloud migration with Annata

Central Europe
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As an existing customer of AX and Annata IDMS on-premise, the Swiss company decided to start its journey to the cloud in early 2020. Annata’s finance and operations solution was the core of the solution proposed to the company.  

Annata’s full suite of capabilities was implemented and included extensive device management functionalities that support the entire lifecycle of a machine encompassing imports, sales, and lifecycle management with service/work order management, warranty handling, parts management, and rental. 

In addition to a proven solution, Annata was the primary choice due to the strongly committed executive management team which is very much supportive of the strategic project goals.

The project enjoys a high focus at the executive management level and is supported by a strong change management approach aiming to avoid unnecessary customizations. 

The industry competence of the Annata implementation team was well equipped to mitigate challenges typically encountered when setting up new customer solutions in replace of their heavy customized “homegrown” solution.

Annata selected to digitally transform distribution channel of agricultural equipment manufacturer

Central Europe
Manufacturer

With a primary focus on excellent product quality and outstanding customer service, the equipment manufacturer made a company-wide decision to shift their business process to the cloud using Dynamics 365 and Annata’s Finance & Operations solution. 

The solution was rolled out to several major markets within Europe and the Americas in a span of 3-4 years, before offering the industry template to their independent dealer network. Annata was selected as the preferred industry solution partner to move their on-premise solution within their headquarters to the cloud within three months, utilizing its extensive industry and digital competencies in the Annata team. 

As soon as Annata engaged with the equipment manufacturer, it was clear to them that the industry IP was key to their goal to digitally transform their distribution channel.

Coupled with finance and operations implementation expertise, the equipment manufacturer was confident that D365 with Annata was the best to provide industry knowledge to help them make the right process choices and a full set of industry functionalities around the full lifecycle of their equipment.

Mexican subsidiary of an international motor company implements Annata solutions to modernize business processes

Southern North America
Manufacturer

A Mexican subsidiary of an international motor company was utilizing multiple and heavily customized legacy systems which were around 20 years old and did not improve the business. The financial reports generated caused many discrepancies in the business which dampened business decisions. 

The management was looking for an Integrated system that was consistent and easily manageable, in which all users from different departments could manage business processes in a co-dependent and competent manner.  

Annata’s extensive solution provided the Mexican subsidiary with a technology transformation through its transition to digitized workflows.

The new system enabled the company’s dealerships to seamlessly communicate and collaborate with suppliers and service partners, while the company focused on creating an integrated supply chain. 

With Annata’s unified solution, the company benefited from providing accurate, analytical data through the implementation of key functions in cost management, inventory management, warranty management, sales, and service departments. It also provided the company with a range of business data (in real-time) for analysis at a reduced time rate and this provided the organization with major improvements in its management reporting. 

Hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle purveyors selects Annata to fulfill global scale ambitions

North America
Manufacturer

In 2020, Annata was chosen by a heavy truck manufacturer to assist in developing their business processes and the systems required to support them. The company has more than 400 employees to support its rapid growth as a leading automotive innovator in zero-emission vehicles and trucks.

After a rapid and intensive validation cycle, Annata was chosen because of Annata’s 20-year automotive industry experience and extensions to the Microsoft Dynamics platform that formed the basis of the manufacturer’s finance and manufacturing systems.

Designed with cloud scalability and agility built in, the solution covered all critical processes. To ensure a complete and compelling customer experience, Annata’s solution will ensure the organization is well connected to customer behaviors, both pre-and post-sale for years to come.

The company decided to engage in a multi-year partnership with Annata after the success of the solution implementation. Annata provided the manufacturer with industry insights and experience to drive more value in all its business processes.

Forestry equipment global manufacturer selects Annata for company-wide digitization

Europe
Manufacturer

Operating in forestry markets of more than 40 different countries, the manufacturer had an IT landscape that was complex, fragmented, and varied greatly between countries. As part of their future-proofing efforts, they needed a platform to bolster them as they navigated into the future, providing them with the flexibility required to digitize their entire business. 

Annata’s complete set of industry functionalities around the lifecycle of heavy equipment, the strength of the application and platform, as well as in-depth knowledge and vast experience within the industry were reasons why Annata was selected to support them along their transformation journey. 

Annata also displayed strong awareness of future capabilities specific to the manufacturer’s needs aside from proving a strong partnership with Microsoft. 

Annata’s flexibility, scalability, and capabilities to take on the ever-changing environment in the forestry manufacturing industry have since enabled the manufacturer to maintain a competitive edge digitally.