Kandia Dulce Romania implemented the SFA – HERMES Merchandising & Marketing system developing an information system of trade marketing and business development decision support in FMCG. By automating the entire mobile team that carries out activity on the ground – Field Force & Key Account Representatives, with HERMES system on Android terminals, the company has transformed the mobile representatives force in the most important source of verified business information, permanently collected from the market. Information collected under an extensive set of trade-marketing questionnaires are centralized and delivered as work reports, reports which are basically a set of extremely valuable tools enabling the tactical decision making, of implementation and deployment of the business development strategy.
“In our industry, using IT modern tools involving input from people in the field is of strategic importance. Critical business information quickly moves in both directions. Top to bottom, shaping the strategic vision in the form of concrete actions, coded in the computer system. But also bottom-up, as feedback loop when specific information collected by our representatives at point of sale allows us to monitor the evolution of the business. HERMES can be viewed as a living system of specific sensors that provide rapid feedback to our management team, after applying a marketing and sales strategy in points of sale.” said Mr. Mihai Georgescu, Managing Director – Kandia Dulce Romania
Covering the full spectrum of promotional activities, on the main sales channels in FMCG, Modern Trading (MT – sales by KA) and Traditional Trade (TT – traditional distribution), the management and business development team of Kandia, benefiting from the new blast brought Mr. Alin MIHESAN, wanted to put into practice a new vision, developing a complex set of requirements that could be shaped and delivered using HERMES system – SFA No. 1 in Romania.
“I chose HERMES after a full screening of available solutions, requesting offers and demos from leading suppliers. The demo provided by Transart, the technical quality of the mobile applications, the extremely good references and then the direct talks held with Transart team, convinced us that in terms of business, Transart has the experience, knows in detail the topic and can configure for in a short time the system desired by us. The attractive financial offer and the flexibility in negotiation allowed us to seal the deal and move quickly to implementation.” said Mr. Alin Mihesan – Business Development Manager, Kandia Dulce Romania.
The implementation went smoothly, with unplanned delays, fitting in less than three months since the start, observing virtually all the deadlines agreed until the Go Live phase.
“Regarding the sales department, the main improvement seen after the implementation of HERMES is in terms of the organization, monitoring and control of the activity performed by the field team. Now I can see the activity performed by each member of the team and can respond quickly with concrete and punctual feedback, as many times as necessary. Moreover, as part of the bonus amount depends on the activity recorded in the system, our people have accepted and quickly adopted HERMES, once they realized how much this application helps them to do the job and achieve their goals. We are really pleased, especially due to the fact that the system imagined by us came to life with the help of HERMES” said Mr. Radu Mazuru, Sales Manager Kandia
While prior to implementation of HERMES a very limited number of information was collected- based on questionnaires on paper, after implementation, the beneficiary obtains a professional system of gathering information for decision support in areas such as: merchandising, distribution, visibility, placement, competition, stocks, storecheck, coaching.
“I am happy that we managed to control the way in which the system was designed (KARM), so it will be extremely useful for the manager. Currently we use it both for analyses and tactical / operational decisions and for the assessment of the people’s activity and for the substantiation of HR decisions (bonuses / penalties). HERMES ensures transparency in the organization, being that neutral third party that registers the way in which the team members perform their duties. On the other hand, the information gathered in the HERMES system helps us understand the differences and make a parallel between our own data and the strategic information delivered by specialized companies – like Nielsen.” says Mr. Alin MIHESAN, project manager implementing HERMES – KARM, Kandia Dulce Romania.
About Kandia
Kandia Dulce S.A. is the biggest Romanian producer of sweets. With a long history in the confectionery market and an expanded brand portfolio, Kandia Dulce is a reference company on many of the segments in which it operates. ROM is the market leader in the bars category with over 30 million bars sold in 2013, one bar for every Romanian worldwide. Magura is the first choice of Romania in the category of mini-cookies with over 34 million sold in 2013. Chocolate Kandia, intense and sophisticated, have delighted the sense of consumers since 1890. Laura, Primola, Sugus and Silvana only come to complete by their offer the tastes of consumers who appreciate and choose increasingly more products manufactured in Romania.