Unilever Hungary: A Leading FMCG Player

Unilever, a global leader in the FMCG sector, manufactures daily consumer products that are sold in over 190 countries, including Hungary. The company has three factories and more than 30 local and international brands in Hungary alone. The significance of these brands and Unilever’s role in the local market is reflected in the fact that they are among the largest advertisers in the country. Nearly three years ago, Unilever switched to Salesforce, becoming the first of its European subsidiaries to do so. Since then, all European countries have followed suit. The decision was made after a thorough selection process involving seven companies, with Attention CRM Consulting chosen for its expertise.

Early Stages: Challenges with Legacy Systems

Unilever initially used a Hungarian customer management system, which, according to Róbert Garay, the Unilever Field Sales Manager, now seems outdated, akin to using a chalkboard solution. The system was designed for the field representatives’ visit process, following a strict sequence that couldn’t be changed. Additionally, the system was offline, leading to frequent data loss. Garay explains that the sales representatives didn’t even realize their daily recorded data would disappear due to server failures during evening synchronization. Meanwhile, management sought a more efficient, flexible system with no data or sales losses.

Initially, they turned to SAP CRM, which offered more flexibility but didn’t work well in the Hungarian market. Garay recalls that the problem stemmed from SAP’s approach: they first assessed the working methods of the largest European markets and developed a centralized IT solution based on their needs. The result was a system that was tailored to how Western colleagues worked, without considering the unique needs of smaller markets like Hungary. By 2016, Unilever in Hungary was the first to break away from this group of countries, seeking a more suitable solution.

Key Requirements for the New System

Unilever needed a system that could:

• Function online, ensuring no data loss, even with good coverage. If the internet connection was unstable, the field representatives would immediately know because they couldn’t log in.
• Focus primarily on customer records, whether it was a hypermarket or a Hungarian purchasing company.
• Provide flexibility in the visiting process, allowing sales representatives to start their visits wherever they needed to.
• Allow field representatives to place orders while visiting stores, streamlining the order management process.

Choosing Salesforce

Salesforce was selected because it not only met these requirements but also offered stability, supported by a high user count. Garay mentions that they weren’t looking for a creative startup with only 100 users but a robust system used by hundreds of thousands of users globally, capable of quickly deploying solution teams in case of issues. Furthermore, Salesforce’s flexibility allowed Unilever to customize the system to fit their local needs, with the possibility for their own IT developers to contribute to the design.

Another critical expectation was strong communication capabilities. Unilever wanted the system to facilitate task assignments from the office to the field team (e.g., campaigns, in-store promotions), with feedback via surveys and photos from the sales representatives. The CRM also needed to manage orders, including sending them to either the partner’s logistics center or Unilever’s distribution hub. Reporting was another essential requirement, as the system had to allow field representatives, managers, and administrators to create reports based on the data collected during the day, which was impossible with the previous system.

Implementation Process: Working with Attention CRM Consulting

Unilever chose Attention CRM Consulting from a shortlist of seven vendors because they were the only ones who responded positively to all of their requirements. Attention didn’t attempt to push a ready-made solution but instead, using Salesforce’s flexibility, developed a tailored system for Unilever. Garay compares the process to building with Lego blocks – a structured framework with limitless creative potential.

The team at Attention CRM Consulting invested time in understanding Unilever’s business and workflow. They worked closely with field representatives to see firsthand how they operated and asked numerous questions to ensure they were aligned with the company’s needs. After numerous interviews and brainstorming sessions, Attention presented a beta version of the system, which they fine-tuned collaboratively, from database organization to user interface design. A custom order module was developed specifically for the Hungarian market, as in Western Europe, stores order products automatically based on consumption data, whereas, in Hungary, some outdated solutions still required wholesalers to send orders via fax.

Future Prospects: Scaling Salesforce Across the Organization

Garay believes that Unilever has fully maximized Salesforce’s potential within the current organizational structure. However, he also sees great potential for future scalability. He points out that if the company needs any changes in the future, Salesforce’s platform is adaptable enough to integrate new modules with the help of Attention’s expertise. One notable change was the introduction of Chatter, which replaced the previous photo management application. Now, field representatives share photos via Chatter, which works like an internal company social network, allowing colleagues to tag photos for easier searching. Garay notes that the time saved by using this new solution has paid for the cost of implementing Salesforce’s mobile app, SF1. Furthermore, in terms of administrative efficiency, Unilever has reduced the time spent on related tasks from six hours daily by a dedicated CRM assistant to just eight hours per month.

Key Lessons Learned

Garay summarizes the key lessons learned from the implementation process in three main points:

1. Dedicate sufficient time to interviews before system implementation.
2. Be aware of the limitations of online systems, particularly in rural areas with poor mobile internet coverage.
3. Involve end-users in the planning process from the beginning. However, Garay notes that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when this involvement is most valuable. He believes that the more creative and innovative a system is, the later the involvement of end-users should happen, as, at certain strategic points, the company may still be trying to improve the current system before moving to the next level.

As Garay quotes Karl Benz, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have just asked for a faster horse.”