Customer Success Story
OSRAM has been using the contract management software Shareflex Contract from Portal Systems since 2011. Read this case study to find out how the decision to use SharePoint-based contract management came about and how the company OSRAM uses Shareflex Contract.
Frank Merbecks, Contract Manager at OSRAM, on the requirements for the new contract management system: “As an international company, many of our customers also operate internationally. We support them through IKAMs (International Key Account Managers). Since there are not only global but also local contracts, we were looking for a way to make these contracts available to the IKAMs at any time. Without having to ask locally for the existence and content of the contracts.”
The people in charge at OSRAM were looking for a way to manage these contracts in a single system and to make them available worldwide. A prerequisite for this was that the contract management system had to become part of the OSRAM Contract Management (= OCM) process, according to whose rules contracts are developed at OSRAM. In a second step, a system-supported contract development (e.g. an ‘e-workflow’) via the OCM was planned.
Contracts are filed regionally at OSRAM. In the past, however, this often led to very long response times. For example, when enquiries were made about the existence or content of such contracts. Especially when the contact persons were not clearly defined, on holiday or ill. Or when the sales department needed information outside normal working hours.
Through a classic internet search, OSRAM’s IT department also came across Portal Systems and the contract management software Shareflex Contract. Of the three other providers considered, “Portal Systems with Shareflex Contract was the only provider that had a kind of ‘out of the box’ solution,” says Frank Merbecks, Contract Manager at OSRAM.
The fact that Portal Systems was able to demonstrate OSRAM’s requirements directly ‘live’ was convincing. An advantage that the other selected suppliers were unable to provide. They mainly offered individual developments.
A rough concept was then used as the basis for the tenders submitted by the four manufacturing companies. Based on the requirements, an implementation concept was developed. Finally, the practical implementation options had to be demonstrated in the concluding workshops.
As Portal Systems was the only supplier who could immediately demonstrate the theory in practice, the favourite was quickly found: “Our questions were answered on the live system. And we were shown specific examples of how to map certain requirements. That convinced us.”
Due to the short ramp-up time, there was no test run. The system went live in January 2011. Frank Merbecks: “Our test system, in which we can now develop and test new functionalities and change requests, is also available to affiliated OSRAM companies for viewing and testing during the rollout.”
The introduction and subsequent support has been well received by OSRAM. Any technical or conceptual errors that occur can usually be rectified at short notice. Due to the high demands on data security and volume, several website collections are used to manage the data. Shareflex Contract is used as a global contract archive for customer contracts and internal contracts. The main users are contract management, sales and sales controlling. The Finance and Accounting / Tax department, which is responsible for internal contracts, also uses the system. Furthermore, Quality Management uses the system to archive quality agreements with customers.
Shareflex Contract is in use at OSRAM, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors and Traxon (Germany, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary). After the rollout in other European countries, the Asian countries followed in spring 2013. And after clarifying some legal issues, the system is now also being used in the NAFTA countries.
During the rollout, users are given access to the test system and user documentation prepared by OSRAM in advance. This is followed by a workshop (½ day per country/region) for clarifying questions and requirements. The live implementation will then take place via a training course, at the end of which the users will load the first real contracts into the system. OSRAM plans four weeks per country/region for the initial support.
In the initial phase of the project, about 1200 contract folders and about 5000 documents were managed in the system of the more than 100-year-old company. Shareflex Contract was used by some 300 users at the start. After the global rollout, there are now around 1000 users. Frank Merbecks: “We already had a SharePoint farm for other applications in-house. So the effort to integrate it into the existing IT was manageable.”
The contract management expert sees the advantages of Shareflex Contract in the worldwide availability, the short search time and the simple search. An improvement in customer satisfaction is noticeable when the system also supports contract development, for example via an e-workflow. Frank Merbecks: “We were able to optimise the processes as we had planned. Now, together with the Portal Systems team, we are devoting ourselves to system-supported contract development and audit-proof archiving.”
Frank Merbecks: “For the contract managers at OSRAM in particular, the deployment has been absolutely worthwhile. Analyses of the contract situation are much faster than before. The implementation of a template library has also led to fewer queries, as sales users can download the latest templates from the system at any time without having to ask.”
Update Feb 2017: The solution requested by the customer for a complex, system-internal contract development has now also been successfully implemented. In addition to Germany, OSRAM now relies on Portal Systems’ contract management solution in all major European, Asian and American countries. OCM currently manages around 11,000 contracts for OSRAM customers in around 37 countries.
OSRAM, headquartered in Munich, Germany, is one of the world’s two leading suppliers of lighting technology. The company’s portfolio covers the entire value chain of components. This includes lamps and optical semiconductors such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). From ballasts to complete luminaires, lighting management systems and lighting solutions. OSRAM generates more than 70 percent of its sales with energy-efficient products. For more than 100 years, light and the quality of life have been at the centre of its business activities.
Patrick Carl
Chief Sales Officer
Email: info[at]portalsystems.de
