
Elgeka-Ferfelis chooses HERMES SFA
"The time it takes for the agent...
One of the longest-lived and experienced FMCG distribution companies in Romania, Elgeka-Ferfelis carries out traditional distribution activity at national level in over 8000 locations. With the help of over 140 sales agents, 215 cars and 12 subsidiaries, the company distributes both non-food products – cosmetics, detergents, home care (3M), lubricants (Shell) and food – sweets (Fineti), coffee, cheeses, preserves, food flavors, nuts and other commodities.
The management team is looking for a modern SFA system capable of meeting complex trade policy requirements. Learning from a few previous experiences, the team that was given the task of choosing the new SFA knew much better what the hotspots were and what details were relevant when checking out a future partner – a business software provider. In short, this time the team was looking for an experienced partner who could prove that he was able to deliver a robust and functional system, of a similar complexity to the desired one, a system that could work integrated with the existing ERP.
Although implementation has partially overlapped with the quarantine period since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, delays due to traffic restrictions and the adaptation of teams to work from home have not significantly affected the implementation duration.
The interface with the existing ERP system (Atlantis ERP), in addition to synchronizing products, prices, stocks and mapping (association) a large number of complex promotions, from the structure of ERP to the logic of HERMES BackOffice. The complexity of this mapping was not given by the large number of active promotions (over 2500 at a time), but by the large number of combinations of 3 or 4 of the 12 distinct types of promotions and discounts used.
After completing the modeling and interfacing aspects, the “pilot” followed, a live simulation in real conditions, in the field, made with a small group of users (key users) – more experienced agents. Following the feedback provided by them, the final adjustments and configurations were made and the procedures to be followed by the agent teams were defined.
Moreover, the agent now has detailed information about uncollected invoices, can operate receipts for the first time – with receipt of receipts on mobile printers and can make returns directly in the HERMES application. These automations significantly reduce operating time, minimize the risk of human error with a positive impact on cash flow and inventory optimization, respectively.
Manage complex commercial policies directly in SFA, synchronized with the ERP system
Reduce time by 10% (5-7 minutes/visit) and errors in field order taking
Automatic application of discounts and promotions
Increased customer satisfaction: the customer now has full information on the final value of their order and can adjust their order quantities to take advantage of all available promotions.
Using the time saved by the agent to diversify and streamline his work, with a positive impact on sales and the quality of the relationship with each individual customer
Streamline time spent on direct-to-customer collections with fast, on-the-spot issuing of printed receipts using mobile printers
More transparent monitoring of targets defined per agent
More efficient monitoring of agent routing
HERMES is the mobile sales and merchandising solution developed specifically to increase the productivity of field agents.
"The time it takes for the agent...
The main reason I chose the HERMES...