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iWay Software Helps Moët Hennessy Deploy Its SFA Solution

The dynamic nature of Moët Hennessy's 1,000-strong sales force is a key factor in its success. The wine and spirits subsidiary of the LVMH Corporation, a world leader in luxury products, posted 2003 sales of $2.69 billion and operating profits of $1 billion, on sales of over 50 million bottles of champagne.

Moët Hennessy's sales operations target two types of clients: hotel, bar, nightclub and restaurant owners who generally place their orders directly with visiting sales staff; and supermarket distributors, who contact Moët Hennessy themselves to place targeted, online orders. To enhance the efficiency of its sales force, Moët Hennessy enlisted iWay Software, an Information Builders company, to provide them with a sales force automation (SFA) solution using iWay Connectors for SAP. Sales staff provided with laptop computers can enter data during evenings at home while connected to a central base. The system could evolve rapidly toward a more interactive and real-time mode.

Francis Baritaux, Information Systems director at Moët Hennessy, discussed the SFA solution in a recent interview.

IB MAGAZINE: In concrete terms, what new tools will your salespeople be using?

BARITAUX: Salespeople will remain in their usual environment but they will be able to access a module used to record the data required for order acquisition in transactional mode. They can display the different products, thus facilitating the placing of an order. At the end of the transaction, they can write a short report.

IB MAGAZINE: Who will be using your SFA solution?

BARITAUX: Our entire sales force throughout the world – about 1,000 people. The solution also allows us to better evaluate our salespeople's performance, goals and methods. We expect to see increased productivity because the solution helps the sales staff design their client visits schedule. They can more appropriately choose the clients to be called on when product promotions are being planned. This may cover operational marketing campaigns with client-targeting. It is important to note that we have two types of wholesaler clients: those who buy directly from us and those who are visited by the sales staff. Depending on the country, our sales force works more with indirect clients.

IB MAGAZINE: How long will you need to bring this sales-force solution into operation?

BARITAUX: Only two or three weeks for a transactional solution in order-taking. Since the BEA and iWay Software solutions are entirely adaptable and extendable, we can always add other criteria in the future.

IB MAGAZINE: Why did you choose solutions from BEA and iWay Software?

BARITAUX: We wanted to deploy a sales force automation solution from the BEA portal using iWay connectors. The aim of this application was to allow people in the field to record their orders online.

Originally, the application used BEA and SAP technologies. But, since we wanted to move to a user-friendly application for taking orders online, we added the BEA portal to extend the application to salespeople in the field. The iWay Connectors for SAP help us avoid redeveloping our ordering procedures; they also capitalize on the existing system and interface directly with the BEA portal solution.

IB MAGAZINE: Can you describe the process used to make this application operational?

BARITAUX: The first step is to harmonize the back-office applications. We use SAP and other back-office tools, and the iWay connectors allow us to link all these applications. The pilot countries are France, the United Kingdom and Japan; the first two use "core model" SAP.

In Europe we tend to harmonize the back office before bringing the SFA application into operation. In Asia, and notably in Japan, SAP is used but it does not have the same flavor as in Europe. In Japan, our distribution company is a joint venture with our partner Diageo; we therefore use its back-office solution.

IB MAGAZINE: What drew you to BEA Systems and iWay Software for the deployment of your SFA solution?

BARITAUX: We looked among the tools already available but were unable to find anything suitable. As a general rule, conventional tools are rather laborious or are difficult to sell to salespeople. So we had this application developed specifically for us. As the user population is nomadic, we needed an Internet application, and that led us to BEA, with whom we already had a working relationship. We are not really Microsoft users and the most recent version of the BEA portal includes a development workshop that makes things that much simpler. You have to understand that dealing with pure Java is complicated. But the BEA workshop allowed us to be really productive. Also, the iWay Software connectors allow rapid integration without any rewriting constraints. No specific coding is needed and this makes things cheaper.

IB MAGAZINE: Are you planning for any other developments from the BEA portal?

BARITAUX: First, our processes could be improved by target marketing and segmentation. We could also connect our portal to an expense-account management solution. For now, we are focusing exclusively on the sales force. Sales-force content management could also help facilitate their marketing approach. That is probably the way we will be going in the future.