Ryder's Supply Chain Solutions Division Nets Dramatic Improvements with Salesforce

"We have accomplished more in the past 18 months to improve operations with Salesforce than we had done in the prior five years. All the right constituencies are tied into Salesforce, and it has transformed how we run our business."


Challenge
  • Ryder System, Inc., a Fortune 500 provider of transportation, logistics, and supply chain management solutions worldwide, needed new tools to facilitate process innovation and measurement for customer relations in its Supply Chain Solutions division
  • Company pipeline information was trapped inside a standalone Microsoft Access database, while contract information—required for effectively managing renewals—did not exist in a centralized location
  • Ranked among the InformationWeek 500 leading business users of information technology and InternetWeek's top 100 U.S. companies for effectiveness in using the Internet to achieve tangible business benefits, Ryder needed a solution in line with its visionary reputation
  • The company wanted a solution with broad CRM functionality that it could deploy globally across all functional areas, including sales, engineering, pricing, legal, and human resources
  • Ryder needed the solution to be one it could implement incrementally, to help garner quick wins on high-priority needs while building support for broader CRM initiatives
  • The system needed to scale to hundreds of users but require limited IT support

Solution
  • Ryder selected Salesforce CRM after consulting with industry analysts Gartner and Forrester and then evaluating other CRM vendors, including Siebel and SalesLogix
  • Ryder deployed Salesforce across 10 countries, first centralizing global pipeline management and then adding contracts to the implementation
  • The grassroots implementation quickly spread to users in finance, pricing, legal, human resources, and engineering as Salesforce became recognized for comprehensive, accurate customer information
  • Automated workflows route actions to appropriate departments, improving customer responsiveness
  • Ryder actively leverages the AppExchange, downloading several applications, including ClickTools, Strategic Account Management, and Services Manager, and is building its own Opportunity Profile app using Force.com Builder to augment its Salesforce implementation

Results
  • Streamlined contract renewals management supported a significant improvement over the prior year's results
  • Lead flow, opportunity response, and close rates have increased thanks to visibility possible with the Salesforce implementation
  • Detailed metrics enabled via Salesforce allow Ryder to make better business decisions and implement new strategies with confidence
  • Increased insight into customer history better positions reps during the sales cycle
  • Using Salesforce has transformed formerly manual processes into streamlined, consistent operations
  • Dashboards for specific groups, including salespeople, sales leadership, and marketing, help them track activities and results
 
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