Knorr-Bremse is a global leader in designing and manufacturing braking systems and mobility solutions for rail and commercial vehicles. The company’s mission is to make mobility on roads and railways safe, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. Knorr-Bremse recognized that digital transformation was critical to meeting evolving customer expectations and staying competitive in the automotive industry. To this end, Knorr-Bremse embarked on a digital journey in 2018 that involved implementing a robust, scalable customer platform to support its global expansion.
Armed with Birlasoft’s digital transformation expertise, strong manufacturing domain knowledge, and adaptive mindset, Knorr-Bremse has successfully implemented an SAP-based customer experience solution that spans 50+ countries worldwide. This solution enables 24/7 customer access and strong growth in digital orders.
This initiative is a credible example of how a strong ‘glocal’ vision for platform implementation can help effectively balance efficiency benefits via standardization/harmonization with contextual customer engagement via regional/local customization.
Facing mounting challenges with an aging, inflexible e-commerce system laden with technical debt, Knorr-Bremse needed an overhaul that would meet current demands and allow for easy expansion into new markets. Knorr-Bremse’s vision was to implement a centralized, future-proof customer platform with the flexibility to cater to regional needs. Here’s how they approached it:
We created the platform in the future in an extensible way, allowing us to roll out new countries with minimal effort. This extensibility, supported by the SAP product and Birlasoft’s services, has been our key value driver.
— Jitesh Mehta, Ecommerce Analyst, Knorr-Bremse
Knorr-Bremse roped in Birlasoft as the implementation partner for this strategic initiative, considering the service provider’s relevant domain expertise and flexible approach. Birlasoft’s delivery strategy was anchored to a multi-phase, agile approach:
The e-commerce platform upgrade, executed in partnership with Birlasoft, has helped Knorr-Bremse realize the business value trifecta of operations efficiency, customer experience, and agility:
Since the rollout, we have seen exponential sales growth and a 42% reduction in customer service calls. This proves the value of our digital transformation and allows our teams to focus on higher-value projects rather than routine order-taking.
— Jitesh Mehta, Ecommerce Analyst, Knorr-Bremse
Every digital transformation initiative is unique and fraught with technical, process, and cultural debts. Choosing a relevant partner with the right domain expertise, problem-solving mindset, and adaptiveness to the enterprise’s specific environment and context is key to the initiative’s success.
As Jitesh from Knorr-Bremse puts it: “The main differentiator for us has been Birlasoft’s flexibility. Rather than coming with a fixed mindset, they adapted their solution approach based on what our leadership—both on the business and IT—needed.”
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