JK Cement replaces 12+ apps with one platform for seamless operations

JK Cement Ltd. is one of India’s top grey cement manufacturers with an installed capacity of 25.26 million tons per annum (MnTPA). The company is also a leading global manufacturer of white cement with a total capacity of 1.12 MnTPA. Its products are sold in 36 countries.

For smoother channel partner experiences and better data visibility, IT silos had to be dismantled

JK Cement relies on thousands of dealers and distributors to sell its products across the country. The company also works closely with influencers such as contractors, architects, and engineers to shape buying decisions.

Earlier, these stakeholders were managed through several different apps deployed over the years. There was one app for dealers, another for sales reps, and multiple apps for contractors. Each of these apps operated in isolation, with no unified brand experience tying them all together. So, if a stakeholder had to use multiple apps – for example, if a contractor also worked as an architect – switching from one app to the other felt disorienting. 

Internally, the lack of integration between apps prevented teams from getting a complete view of the stakeholder ecosystem. Process delays were also common. For example, leads generated through the loyalty app had to be manually relayed to the sales team – which slowed down response time. 

To close these gaps, JK Cement embarked on a large-scale digital transformation. The goal was to implement a single, unifying platform that would streamline interactions across the stakeholder ecosystem, while also consolidating data in a single view.

Multiple platforms were evaluated based on five key criteria: Could the platform support all of JK Cement’s stakeholders? Did it have a modern and customisable user interface? Was it flexible enough to evolve and eventually accommodate AI? Could it be integrated with other enterprise systems? And was the total cost of ownership economical?

Salesforce ticked all these boxes.

Automated sales workflows and unified data reduce sales planning time significantly.

With Salesforce, JK Cement has connected all its sales reps, marketers, dealers, distributors, and influencers on one unified platform, replacing over 12 standalone applications. Everyone now shares a single source of truth that keeps them aligned. 

The field sales team uses Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud to plan and manage their sales activities with precision. 

At the start of each month, reps get a clear roadmap of their targets, achievements, and permanent journey plans (PJPs) through Salesforce. Earlier, putting this data together used to take up to 2-3 days – or 10% of productive time. But now, it’s instantly available – so, sales reps can move straight to selling.

During a field visit, reps can instantly pull up dealer and distributor data – including outstanding payments, recent sales, product opportunities, and cross-selling potential. This makes sales conversations more meaningful and productive. 

Any orders placed through the Salesforce app flow straight to the ERP system for order processing. Earlier, they had to be emailed to the call centre, and manually entered into the ERP system.  

“When we first rolled out Salesforce, we expected only 30% of orders to be routed through the platform, while the remaining 70% would continue being sent to our call centre,” says Mr. Tandon. “But Salesforce makes order creation so easy and quick that today, 90% of all orders come through the platform. That saves us a lot of time, while also minimising call centre costs.” 

Even influencers are managed on Salesforce. All their profile details, engagement history, and campaign activities are unified in a single view. So, JK Cement can easily assess how influencers are impacting sales, and where opportunities exist for deeper collaboration. 

Real-time visibility into dealer transactions reduces financial reconciliation time from months to weeks

With Salesforce, JK Cement has built an intuitive dealer management system (DMS) that streamlines the entire cycle of channel partner onboarding and engagement. 

Dealers and distributors can use the DMS to track all their business dealings with JK Cement – from outstanding payments, to pending orders and credit limits. Orders can also be placed through the system. And upon order fulfilment, dealers can easily raise a digital proof of delivery (POD), instead of sending out an email. 

To reconcile financial statements, field teams had to earlier travel to the distributor’s location, gather printouts of financial statements, and manually cross-check transactions to ensure they matched. The whole process took months. But now, it’s completed in weeks because all ledgers are digitally available on Salesforce – so, transactions can be verified in real time. 

“Already, 10,000 dealers and distributors are using Salesforce to manage their transactions with us,” says Tandon. “Adoption has been swift, and feedback has been superb, thanks to the ease and transparency the platform brings.” 

Influencers are also connected to Salesforce. Over one and half lakh contractors, architects, and engineers actively use the platform to capture and communicate leads, as well as to stay informed about new products and offers at JK Cement.

Marketing automation helps generate 6x the volume of communication in half the time

JK Cement’s relationships extend far beyond the transactional. Through Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the company is forging personal connections with dealers, distributors, influencers, and even end customers such as individual home buyers.  

All channel partner and customer data is captured in one place – so, marketing journeys can be customised for each audience segment. For example, website visitors can be targeted with awareness campaigns, influencers with loyalty campaigns, and dealers with new scheme announcements. Each message is communicated seamlessly across WhatsApp, SMS, email, and in-app notifications through Salesforce’s omnichannel capabilities.

For consumers exploring JK Cement’s products online, Marketing Cloud acts as the bridge between interest and purchase. It helps segment and qualify leads from the website and social media, while also capturing queries such as ‘which cement product is right for my house’ and ‘where can I buy it?’ Based on these inputs, campaigns are automatically generated with targeted product recommendations, directions to the nearest dealer, and ongoing discounts.

For dealers and distributors, JK Cement uses Marketing Cloud Personalisation to hyper-personalise engagement. Product offers are tailored to each dealer type and location. Birthdays and anniversaries are acknowledged with customised greetings. Every campaign is designed to make channel partners feel valued.

“By personalising how we communicate, we’ve been able to build deeper and more human-centred relationships with our dealers,” says Mr. Tandon. “And since Marketing Cloud automates much of that engagement, we’re able to generate up to six times the volume of communication in half the time.”

Loyalty programs are also created and managed on Salesforce. Dealers, distributors, and influencers can instantly check which loyalty tier they belong to, and how to move up to the next tier. They can even track loyalty points, and redeem rewards directly on Salesforce. 

Consolidating up to 20 reports into one view helps leaders make faster, data-driven business decisions

Through Tableau and CRM Analytics, JK Cement is transforming data from across sales, marketing, channel partners, and influencers into actionable insights. No more do teams have to struggle with multiple different dashboards across different geographies and stakeholders. All reporting has been standardised and centralised.

Leaders now have a real-time view of business operations, performance, market opportunities, and trends. At the click of a button, they can drill down into the data to identify why prices are changing in one region, or why profits aren’t increasing in another. 

Conversions can also be analysed to determine which sales strategies are working and which aren’t. If one region is under-performing, it’s easy to pinpoint the issue – be it a lack of channel partners, or an overlap in sales territories. 

Tableau also provides insights to improve sales productivity. For example, it might show that a sales rep covers four districts, but most of their sales activity is concentrated in only two – which means the rep can be reassigned to focus on those two districts alone. Meanwhile, another salesperson with lighter coverage can take on additional regions. By rebalancing sales coverage this way, output can be maximised. 

“Before Salesforce, we had to wade through about 20 different reports and dashboards – sometimes with 15 different versions,” recounts Mr. Tandon. “It used to take us half a day just to consolidate numbers, and agree on what needed to be reported. Now, a single, unified dashboard is available first thing in the morning to help everyone plan their day, make decisions quickly, and drive the business forward."

Next: Agentic AI will help teams and channel partners work smarter

JK Cement’s Salesforce journey is far from complete. The company is now implementing Salesforce Service Cloud in its call centre to capture, qualify, and manage leads – be it from the website or social media. Queries from channel partners will also be managed and resolved on the platform. 

AI will soon follow. The foundation is already in place: data has been harmonised, and systems have been connected. The next step is to deploy tools like Agentforce to deliver AI-powered intelligence and assistance. This way, every stakeholder – from sales reps to dealers – can achieve their objectives faster.

With Salesforce, JK Cement hasn’t just digitised its operations – it has redefined the way business gets done. No longer do channel partners have to struggle with multiple, disparate engagement channels. Nor do internal teams have to manually pull together data from various sources for decision-making.

Today, everything and everyone is connected on one, unified platform. Dealers can raise orders, influencers can redeem loyalty points, and marketers can generate personalised campaigns – all through Salesforce. Similarly, sales reps can plan their activities, while leadership can monitor business performance in real time on the same platform. 

 “Our business runs like a well-oiled machine on Salesforce,” says Tandon. “We’re able to track data, make decisions, and collaborate in ways that simply weren’t possible before.”