7.Case Study-Salesforce CRM -Canon Japan

Salesforce CRM Helps Canon Marketing Japan Integrate Data and Better Manage Opportunities Full Case Study Canon Marketing Japan Incorporated (Canon MJ), a core business of the Global Canon Group, provides customer solutions in three areas—business solutions, consumer equipment, and industrial equipment. In recent years, the company has focused on transforming itself into a provider of information services. As part of this transformation, Canon MJ implemented Salesforce CRM as its front-office system. The company integrated key data from 36 million customers with Salesforce CRM, and built a shared group database. Using this system, the company has mobilized sales to focus on key customers and manage opportunities with laser-like precision.

Salesforce CRM is Key to Responding Rapidly to Changing Business Models In 2005, Canon MJ launched a company-wide project to reorganize its customer response processes. One of the most important themes for this project was building a customer database leveraging CRM and SFA. “At our company, we keep enormous amounts of data on our multi-function machine customers,” says Hiroaki Sasaki, business solutions administration director, and project manager for Canon MJ’s business solutions company. “However, that data was used for billing and maintenance, and did not satisfy the demands of a shared group CRM/SFA system.” In a market where competitive dynamics and business models are constantly changing, information that helps solidify customer relationships is the foundation of a business. If companies do not share information among different teams, customer service suffers. Inefficient servicing is also problematic from a resource distribution standpoint. For these reasons, managing customer data was a top priority for the Canon MJ. To create a customer database, the company had three choices--develop its own application, purchase packaged software, or use a hosted, cloud-computing solution. Developing its own application was not an option due to time constraints. The company estimated it would take two to three years, starting from gathering information on specific requirements to completing development. Furthermore, it would be difficult to satisfy all the diverse needs of multiple divisions within the company. Packaged software was also problematic because the company would have to depend on numerous systems engineers for customizations and ongoing fine tuning. The system would not be able to keep up with business requirements. Canon MJ determined that the cloud-

computing model would best suit its needs; the company chose Salesforce CRM, the cloud-computing pioneer. Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition was the only solution that had a flexible enough architecture to make changes for specific users or company divisions. “We chose Salesforce CRM for three reasons,” says Sasaki. “The first was to satisfy many different business process needs. Although not immediate, we expected the need for upgrades. Secondly, we wanted a system that would run reliably. Lastly, we had an overwhelming number of users already, and wanted a system which translated their knowledge and wisdom into new functions. For these reasons, we decided implementing Salesforce CRM would be the smartest move.” “Each group company had created its front office system separately because each had different business processes," recalls Kimihisa Kotegawa, director, IT Systems, for Canon MJ. "In 2003, we integrated Oracle’s E-Business Suite (Oracle EBS) and unified areas such as orders and accounting, and the customer master database." It was Salesforce CRM's ease of customization that accommodated those different business processes. This was key for Kotegawa. Once he saw for himself how easy it was to customize the application, he became a strong advocate of Salesforce CRM. Says Kotegawa, “With Salesforce CRM, we can share one database, and at the same time satisfy each user’s needs by slightly adjusting the interface and logic.” The adjustments in interface and logic are a standard customization function available to users, so the IT systems division does not need to intervene. Your job is to recommend the components of the Sales Force CRM solution for Canon.