Saint-Gobain Success Story

The Challenge

Saint-Gobain, a multinational manufacturing corporation, aimed to become the leading provider of sustainable interior and exterior building solutions globally. It had acquired multiple brands specializing in different areas of building manufacture, and its product catalog stretched to thousands of items. It was difficult to gain control and visibility over this catalog, as well as the rest of its data and business processes. The acquisitions meant the client faced disparate data sources and systems across brands. Furthermore, their diversity in sales and service processes, along with varied back-end order management systems, meant significant integration challenges, preventing a seamless infrastructure.

The Need

Saint-Gobain wanted expert assistance to unify all its brands, and their data and processes, in one Salesforce instance. This “single source of truth” would provide benefits such as enabling fast, intuitive access to its vast product catalog. It would allow them to eliminate a wide range of legacy systems, not only simplifying their IT infrastructure but enabling considerable savings. There would also be a need to create and enforce a data security strategy and model to ensure data governance and privacy across all its brands.

The Solution

VRP Consulting was engaged at an executive level by Saint-Gobain, for more than two years, to understand the group’s strategy and to architect and implement a unified Salesforce Customer 360 solution for their business. VRP led the shaping of the digital transformation strategy and approach for delivery of the multi-cloud Salesforce solution, which consolidated data (Accounts, Contacts, Orders, Cases, etc.) from seven different brands into a single system, addressing each brand's unique sales and service process needs. This programme was all managed using Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe 6), with a “4D” model: discover, design, develop and deploy. VRP also defined the technical architecture and strategy for complex integration and data migration, and provided the blueprint for a B2B Commerce Cloud (B2B CC) rollout, using the industry standard of 80% core functionality and 20% localisation. Governance was led by a VRP Engagement Director, underpinning the critical nature of delivery at this scale

The Stages

The work began with dedicated discovery workshops for each Saint-Gobain brand - some conducted remotely and others on-site, according to their needs. VRP’s team investigated how Saint-Gobain’s brands were using their current tools, their processes (both “as-is” and “to-be”), business requirements to be resolved and technology integration points. With these learnings, VRP created lists of user stories, which they and Saint-Gobain’s product management team used to define the scope of work and approach.

The agile build phase for each project included bi-weekly demo sessions where Saint-Gobain could give feedback on the solution being created, and release a workable product to production for User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and business-side use. Meanwhile, VRP was also engaged in change management initiatives, including providing training materials and on-site training, as well as supporting Saint-Gobain in increasing adoption of their new tools across the organization.

The Result

With VRP’s leadership, Saint-Gobain established a cohesive, integrated Salesforce platform that aligns with their vision of industry leadership in sustainable building solutions. They have enhanced operational efficiency and data consistency across all brands by standardizing processes and systems. Customer service and engagement are improved via the use of innovative Salesforce features like chatbots and inquiry forms. VRP facilitated flexible, scalable integration capabilities, ensuring the system can adapt to future acquisitions or changes in business strategy. Saint-Gobain has now laid solid foundations for a future rollout of these capabilities to further brands, including a B2B CC rollout with global standardization and local flexibility, and is positioned for sustained growth and competitive advantage.

Company Profile

Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions for the construction, mobility and industrial markets. Their integrated solutions provide sustainability and performance in daily life, addressing the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry.