CASE STUDY - BearingPoint Uses D&B as Cornerstone of Its Global Siebel Implementation
Commentary by Matt Oleksiak, Director of Global Sales Operations, BearingPoint
Challenge
In March 2002, BearingPoint—a respected business advisor and systems integrator—faced mounting pressure from investors and expanding business conditions to grow its global footprint and, at the same time, develop a global customer information system to compete more effectively. BearingPoint’s customer information files contained different business indicators based on regional applications. Compounding the data discrepancies, each group of users tackled data problems and business issues differently, depending on which application and view was used. In addition, data challenges existed as a result of multiple customer environments, which did not allow a true 360-degree view of individual customers.
Solution
Within 15 months of recognizing the mountain under their data issues, the company evaluated, purchased, and implemented a Siebel CRM application, including the Siebel D&B Integration Solution. BearingPoint recognized the value of global coverage and identification of company details attached to D&B’s standardized business identification key—the D-U-N-S Number®—and chose to integrate this information within its Siebel 7.5 deployment. BearingPoint formed a data management group whose main purpose was to ensure consistency and cleanliness of customer master data. This group’s first task was to consolidate account data from the seven customer databases into one front-end customer management system database that would drive all back-office and interfaced customer databases. This initial activity encompassed interactive D&B updates regarding the customer database and reconciliation of multiple address details, on a global basis, and the rounding out of D-U-N-S Number details within the Siebel master database that was deployed. The D&B D-U-N-S Number was then leveraged to link between Siebel and multiple back-office systems for data consistency.
Within 10 months of project inception, a global deployment using batch processes for initial cleansing and standardization has produced the first truly global database within BearingPoint.
To keep the customer information fresh and valuable, the ongoing role of the data management group is to ensure a scheduled data maintenance strategy that includes interacting directly with D&B on individual and monthly batch updates and then facilitating the loading of up-to-date details within the global Siebel customer database.
Success
Within four months of the first phase of implementation, manual interactions between D&B and BearingPoint’s data management group provided clear and concise identification of data across two global regions as stored within the Siebel application. Within 10 months of project inception, a global deployment using batch processes for initial cleansing and standardization has produced the first truly global database within BearingPoint. Monthly updates continue to cleanse the data. Control via the data management group ensures ongoing consistency of data and flexibility for end users to concentrate on expanding market share, while having a control organization responsible for customer data cleanliness and accuracy as supplied by D&B.
Matt Oleksiak, BearingPoint’s director of global sales operations, states:
As we expanded to a global company, tracking accounts and opportunities across the entire organization took on added importance. We turned to D&B to provide the foundation of our global account identification within our Siebel CRM solution. This has turned into a powerful yet simple solution which we use constantly to manage our sales pipeline and related account information.
The successes of the implementation have allowed BearingPoint to maximize customer relationships by globally identifying 360-degree views of customers, as well as to achieve more effective account management and prospect identification, improved marketing campaigns, and expanded analytical capability to drive corporate strategies.
In addition, BearingPoint now has a complete view of its Global 2000 customer base, which is a key business tracking tool to understand the impact of such views in a global marketplace.