Soprofen's testimony: online encryption in e.SoPro

Interview with Laurent DAROUS, Commercial Director, Subsidiary Director - SOPROFEN

Two years ago, you chose to integrate the ELCIA Sales Configurator into your e.SoPro professional space. How did this online encryption project come about?

The observation of the time is still valid today: we have an increasingly wide and technical range of products. To make relations with our customers more reliable, it seemed important to us to offer them a configurator that allows them to encrypt our products directly and obtain a price instantly. Before setting up this project, we carried out surveys, we went to meet our customers to collect their needs. We were also inspired by the market. We tried to collect all the positive points that our customers found elsewhere in order to have the most exhaustive and interesting specifications possible.

What were your goals then? What issues did you want to answer?

First, we wanted to make our customers' work easier. Offer them a simple and quick costing tool to save them time. Internally, our wish was to no longer have to re-enter orders. This saved us from making re-entry errors and freeing up extra time for our teams to redirect them to value-added tasks. The saving of time was important for us, to be able to better support our customers commercially, help them in their choice of products and options, respond quickly to their questions.

How was the implementation of the project? What was your role?

As part of the Management Committee, I participated in the validation of the project. We had a real desire to invest to set up this tool. We have created a Projects team made up of IT specialists, sales representatives and a Marketing section who worked in conjunction with the ELCIA teams. Its role was to give priorities, because for this type of project, it is necessary to go in stages. We need to prioritize to be able to absorb a project of this scale. For my part, my role was to verify that the needs of our professional customers, our future users, were in line with what we wanted to set up. On the handling side, we already knew the ELCIA solutions since we were working with ProDevis.

Today, we can say that the implementation of e.SoPro is a success, what do you think of the first years of use?

The bet is successful yes! We see that the solution pleases. Our customers have gained in reliability, simplicity and above all in autonomy. They no longer have to wait to get their quotes, so they are more reactive. I would also add that customers like to work with a tool which saves them time, so it is a way for us to make reliable and retain customer relationships.

What are the next steps in the Web Configurator in e.SoPro?

We are constantly developing the e.SoPro portal with the ELCIA Web Configurator to encourage as many customers as possible to encrypt and place their orders via our portal. For this, we have added new features around the Configurator, to give even more appeal to our portal. For example, we have opened the follow-up of deliveries as soon as the order confirmation, spare parts, libraries with databases, photo library, videos, etc.

All the services of our company, such as the Hotline, also appear in our portal. The Web Configurator being the most important part of e.SoPro, we indirectly invite our customers to orient themselves towards this portal and therefore to test the configurator. We have also set up a commercial offer for customers who go through the configurator, an additional discount granted for the start-up.

Should we summarize the ELCIA Sales Configurator in a few words?

A quick and reliable quote, especially on ranges as complex and technical as ours, requires a configurator that is too. And the ELCIA Configurator is. Above all, he is a real facilitator in the commercial relationship.

Do you have other future projects?

Today, we are addressing different types of customers: resellers, material traders or even manufacturers of joinery. Each client has their own way of working. Our reseller and installer customers use ProDevis to encrypt their windows, gates, roller shutters, etc. They therefore need a single tool for encryption and placing orders. So we have set up the ProDevis IDE. Other reseller and installer customers use e.SoPro directly for quotes and orders. We are therefore able to meet these different needs by offering these two solutions. Finally, our manufacturing customers already have a window manufacturing ERP. In this case, the configurator of e.SoPro does not necessarily meet their expectations because they are forced to re-enter their information. For them, we are therefore working on the development of specific EDIs.

• Learn more about the ELCIA Sales Configurator: www.elcia.com/configurator
• Learn more about SOPROFEN: www.soprofen.fr

Key figures

• Number of products encrypted with e.SoPro over a year: 71
• Number of products ordered with e.SoPro over a year: 62
• 30% of customer orders received are transmitted via e.SoPro IDE and ProDevis IDE