Grünenthal had historically been a product-focused company that provided customers with scientific data about its pain management products but did relatively little to gather their questions and feedback.
Although salespeople met regularly with doctors and other healthcare providers (HCPs), over time these interactions became less valuable, since many of the company’s drugs were well understood by customers and the pipeline of new products was limited.
Too often, the quality of each customer’s interaction depended mainly on the initiative of individual sales representatives rather than being directed by a clearly defined and consistently applied customer-focused strategy.
And although information from these meetings was recorded in offline journals, this data was inconsistently uploaded into company databases and seldom shared among departments or functions.
As a result, even after Grünenthal decided to put the customer at the heart of its organization, its existing structure, culture, and technology meant the company was poorly positioned to adapt quickly to changing customer needs.
A product-centric strategy delivers random CX
Before
After
Future
Replace aging applications that differed across divisions and subsidiaries
Reduce manual, disparate processes freeing up more resources for advanced analytics
Enable enhanced reporting and make it more widely available across the enterprise
Act with greater speed and agility to capture value in acquisitions
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Company-wide
opportunities
Process hundreds of thousands of transactions per month with greater efficiency
Reduce 10,000+ manual journal entries per period
Decrease >3-week close
Shorten the >3-month annual budgeting cycle
Provide better support for a growing e-commerce business
Control rising finance function costs and derive greater value
Finance
opportunities
Reduce 10,000+ manual journal entries per period
Decrease >3-week close
Shorten the >3-month annual budgeting cycle
Provide better support for a growing e-commerce busines
Control rising finance function costs and derive greater value
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Improve technical capabilities to keep pace with increased hiring needs
Reduce dependence on IT and tech resources for supporting and enabling continuous compliance with more than 800 collective bargaining agreements
Unify and automate workforce administration processes across the enterprise
Eliminate the need for employees to learn new systems and interfaces as they move from recruitment to training to managing benefit
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HR
opportunities
Before
Next
After
Working from the playbook developed by KPMG and the Grünenthal CX team, the company has conducted pilot programs implementing its new customer-centric model in Germany and the UK. Data gathered from these pilots shows higher customer satisfaction with in-person sales interactions, as well as greater interest in online marketing campaigns that use more targeted content. Even more importantly, they have also led to increased customer referrals and sales. Finally, the pilot programs have also made it easier to adapt the CX playbook into a realistic implementation program.
Instead of the random, individually driven messaging and sales interactions of the past, Grünenthal now has a better understanding of customer needs and is positioned to deliver an intentional CX across all markets—one driven by research, data, and standardized processes for analysis and application.
A data-driven plan enables intentional CX and more focused messaging
Developed all the necessary processes to support a single, modernized digital platform serving the entire enterprise
Migrated 290,000 employees from legacy systems to Oracle Cloud
Increased insight-driven decision making across functions, driving performance and growth gains
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Company-wide
success
Decreased balance sheet reconciliations
by 85%
Achieved a consolidated retail and
corporate close within a shortened period
Reduced the types of P&L statements from 100+ to 4
Reduced operations costs across the board
Enhanced availability of data-driven insights that help to capture maximum value during acquisitions
Achieved a consolidated retail and corporate close within a shortened period
Reduced the types of P&L statements from 100+ to 4
Reduced operations costs
across the board
Enhanced availability of data-driven insights that help to capture maximum value during acquisitions
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Finance
successes
HR
successes
Deployed a custom application for union-rule processing enabling a single HCM platform to administer benefits to all employee populations under 800+ complex union agreements
Created a digital-first, digital anywhere experience resulting in higher employee engagement
Reduced new-hire onboarding time
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Reduced new hire onboarding time
Streamlined and improved the process integration of new employees post-acquisition
Integrate processes and technology across the employee lifecycle from recruiting through compensation and performance
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The next step for Grünenthal will be to adapt and apply the CX playbook to other regions. In the United States, for example, marketing and messaging may be adjusted to focus on HCPs seeking newer drugs rather than established ones.
Lessons learned in Europe and the US will help Grünenthal follow a disciplined approach to the science of CX as it rolls out the new methodology worldwide.
The company will also follow through on plans for embedding its new customer-centric approach into its overall operating model by using organizational blueprints and governance guidelines on specific roles and responsibilities.
To support these changes, Grünenthal and KPMG are developing a customized economic value model to quantify the value of CX and related front-office transformation initiatives.
And for Grünenthal’s customers, the longer-term goal will be to provide differentiated, personalized interactions driven by a consistent feedback loop of insights leading to action.
Continue to enhance analytics-driven planning and forecasting
Optimize the supply chain
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•
Company-wide
vision
Achieve a continuous, virtual accounting close
Achieved a consolidated retail and corporate close within a shortened period
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Finance
vision
HR
vision
Establish a continual feedback-and-improvement loop based on quarterly HR reports from the field and deployment of new capabilities
Migrate payroll, benefits, and absence management to Oracle cloud for 2023
Insource benefits administration
A differentiated experience for new regions and products
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After
After
Future
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