Aral
As a leading service station operator in Germany, Aral enjoys brand recognition of more than 95% in the country. In addition, it is also present in Eastern Europe. BP has a majority stake in Aral.
- Industry
- Energy, Utilities and Chemicals
- Region
- Germany
- Alliance partner
- Siebel
- Solution
- Application Development & Integration
- IT Transformation - Strategy and Architecture
- MSS Transformation
- Siebel
Aral supplies and manages more than 2,500 service stations frequented by more than 8 million customers. Service station partners, the majority operating as independent entrepreneurs, stay in close contact with Aral headquarters.
The Challenge
The days of simple petrol stations are long gone. Sales at service stations have become far more complex, way beyond drivers just wanting to ‘top up their fuel tank.’ A remarkable and diverse range of goods and services are now available when compared to a few years ago.
Some examples of challenges, and opportunities, faced by Aral partners included:
- growth in sales volumes
- more selling space
- wider range of products
- a variety of marketing and promotional activities
- increased customer expectations in terms of quality of service and opening times.
The administrative and communication needs for Aral and its partners had also become more complex. In order to fulfil simple administrative tasks, partners needed to stay in constant touch via a vast and growing network of contacts.
As an integral part of corporate strategy, Aral decided to reorganize its partner management processes. The company wanted a comprehensive e-business solution that facilitated:
- a reduction in the number of contacts that partners had to make
- quick and efficient replies to enquiries
- rapid solutions delivery
- improved service centre availability.
It was imperative that any system should allow partners to reduce administrative costs via improved levels of quality customer service. This was a critical success factor in an extraordinarily tough, competitive environment for Aral and its partners.
Capgemini Approach
Aral management enlisted the help of Capgemini to help understand requirements and how they could be turned into solutions. A collaborative team was founded, and the “Service Centre Petrol Stations” project was launched.
The team developed a strategic concept for a solution based on Siebel 2000. The target was to derive an integral Partner Relationship Management system.
Aral wanted to integrate all channels for communication, i.e. phone, fax, e-mail, mail and Extranet, into the solution. All these channels had to be directed to a multi-channel e-Business Interaction Centre to provide Aral employees with a complete history of all previous communications with a given partner.
Capgemini focused on the following implementation tasks:
- business strategy alignment and completion
- redesign processes for partner management, mapped to the front-office system on Siebel
- develop back-office interfaces to Oracle, SAP and Access databases
seamless integration of Siebel 2000 with the existing IT architecture
create a data pool of partner businesses
training for Aral employees.
A structured approach was applied through all the phases, with the emphasis on quick-wins throughout. From concept to go-live, the project spanned some 18 months, with the critical roll-out phase accomplished in a 2-week period.
Value Delivered
Aral now operates a state-of-the-art e-Business Interaction Centre that integrates all modern communication channels. The principle “one face to the customer and the partner” proved be a success not only in theory, but also in reality. Some examples of benefits received by Aral, its employees and its partners include:
- partners receive competent and comprehensive solutions to business challenges within a very short time
- marketing, sales and branding campaigns are run in a highly coordinated and integrated way
- every service centre agent is responsible for a clearly defined area
- all partner management processes have become leaner, faster and more transparent
- both sides benefit from a significant reduction of time-consuming administrative work.
On this last point, Aral expects to achieve savings of 600,000 euros in future years.
