Bechtle supports E/D/E in its digital transformation to the cloud.

Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler – Bechtle supports E/D/E in its digital transformation to the cloud.

When tradespeople, industry or local authorities buy tools, machinery, industrial supplies or building services from specialised wholesalers, the goods usually come from the Purchasing Office of German Ironmongers (E/D/E). Around 1,2000 members are affiliated to the Wuppertal-based family business, which is active in 30 European countries.

Project details.

Services

Modern Workplace
Cloud

Industry

Manufacturing

Manufacturer

Microsoft

Company size

250 – 1,500 employees

Challenge.

The Purchasing Office of German Ironmongers (Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler (E/D/E)) is a European provider of services and systems for industrial B2B trade. Its some 1,000 affiliated SME wholesalers and close to 200 other retailers trade in tools and machines, industrial supplies, fittings and building components, plumbing and heating, steel and fastening technology, welding, safety and industrial technology as well as occupational safety products. The majority of these members predominately supply commercial customers from trade, industry and local authorities. As a high-performance system centre, E/D/E supports its members with services ranging from central purchasing, logistics, marketing, digital services, e-commerce and banking services, leveraging innovative technologies to do so.

The company’s services previously running in on-premise data centres needed to be modernised and migrated to the cloud, but E/D/E no longer wanted to manage the services and applications itself, preferring to leverage Software as a Service (SaaS)—an efficient and secure solution for service providers with no hidden costs. This migration would see changes to the way employees worked, which is why E/D/E chose Bechtle as its IT service provider and consultant and tasked it with implementing the new solution with Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM and cloud-based Microsoft and Azure services.

A cloud-first approach was an integral part of our IT strategy. We wanted—where possible—to make the move into the cloud to benefit from modern and secure services with no hidden costs. Bechtle’s outstanding expertise was a huge support as they showed us all the potential solutions and we were really impressed by its extensive portfolio of services. Bechtle held workshops and training courses to get us up to speed with the tools and how to use them, enabling us to focus on our IT and developing our services with all resources we need readily available in the cloud.

Björn Stenmanns, Head of Team IT Services, Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler GmbH

Solution.

Bechtle not only handled the technical side of the cloud migration, but also offered its support in all related processes. The first step was to carry out an analysis of the status quo to determine the situation at E/D/E and the company’s specific requirements. Working closely together in workshops, E/D/E and Bechtle defined the work packages needed before kicking off the transformation process. The challenge was to adapt the company’s plethora of services and processes before migrating them into the cloud, including switching from the previous mail system to a customised mail flow in Exchange and implementing Dynamics 365 CRM to give a comprehensive overview of all members and their suppliers. Activity management allows E/D/E to optimally support its members and complaints are now handled in Dynamics 365 CRM. The multitude of uniform processes and the high degree of automation when it comes to handling complaints has boosted efficiency that is greatly appreciated by E/D/E’s members. What’s more, E/D/E now makes use of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to support digital collaboration.

To test the system’s performance and adaptability, Bechtle initially carried out a Proof of Concept (PoC) of Dynamics 365 CRM Online and supported E/D/E when it came to migrating the document management system over to Dynamics 365 CRM. Bechtle then set up an in-house newsroom to optimise in-house communications while the introduction of Microsoft Power Platform in Azure improved employee workflows and allow them to create individual, web-based apps and workflows themselves using Power Apps. At the same time, Bechtle developed a custom Dynamics Power App that allows intuitive and efficient access to relevant data and information all while supporting the preparation, coordination and implementation of the new service centre to ensure more efficient and optimised operation. When it came to data security, Bechtle set up a virtual machine (VM) in Azure and migrated the tenants to ensure seamless data sharing. Furthermore, the IT service provider set up a Wasabi recovery solution for Azure workloads so that data can be recovered quickly at any time. In a final step, Bechtle held workshops to train some 400 staff from marketing and IT on the new system to ensure the processes would enjoy greater levels of acceptance within the company. Bechtle’s Advanced Modernisation Approach (AMA) and Leading Advanced Service (LAS) have meant that customer service and partner management can be continually developed.

Business benefits.

Bechtle’s successful roll out of Dynamics 365 CRM and related cloud services has considerably modernised E/D/E’s IT services and process and made its IT more secure, efficient and ensured transparent pricing. As a proactive partner, Bechtle supported E/D/E when it came to implementing and successfully using its new future-proof technology. This cloud-based IT landscape has ensured that E/D/E will be able to offer its members a flexible portfolio of e-business services well into the future.