Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

"The customer is the biggest asset on a company's balance sheet," he said. "We hadn't focused enough on optimizing the customer."

Siemens AG has about 430,000 employees across multiple business areas, including automation and controls, transportation, medical equipment, lighting, power, and information and communication systems. According Macaulay, the ability to bundle its diverse offerings can give the company a competitive advantage.

Consider an airport that might be a Siemens' customer. It may use products from several Siemens divisions, like lighting, communication systems, and controls. In the past those divisions would sell to the airport separately; in some cases they might even compete. Consequently, the company launched Customer Focus, an initiative designed to bring "convergence" to the organization, Macaulay said.

"Our customers want suppliers that understand their business processes and take a solutions approach using a single, cross-functional team that has accountability and provides transparency," he said. "They also want a lower-risk, proven partner who offers true global capability and a greater ROI."

Delivering on customers' expectations meant significant internal changes for Siemens, including changes to high-level metrics, new business plans, and process reengineering. "Process will have the biggest long-term effect, because it will impact small and medium-size customers, as well as key accounts," Macaulay says.

The organizational transformation also includes moving from more than 500 instances of various CRM software to one worldwide instance of SAP CRM that will be integrated with the Siemens' other systems, like supply chain and ERP. "We're trying to get everyone working the together the same way for the customer," Macaulay said, adding that Siemens communicates to the approximately 35,000 salespeople who will be using SAP the benefits of integrated information, and how it will enable them to boost their sales results. "The more efficiency and transparency you can bring to the sales process, the more profitable you'll be."

As part of the Customer Focus transformation, Siemens also refocused its strategic account management (SAM) efforts using its new converged approach. During a pilot the company was able to double the business and profitability of the top three strategic accounts included in the test. As a result the company now has nearly 200 companies in its SAM program.

Macaulay estimates that Siemens is about one third of the way through what is like to be a 12-year project, initially. "Customer focus is not a destination; it's a journey," he says. "It's never over."