Customer needs in focus
The inquiry for this project was brought to us by HOYER Handel GmbH. The goal was to create a clear and structured CRM system for the customer HOYER to automate and digitalize complaint management processes. The system enables all incoming and outgoing customer requests to be managed, while centrally consolidating communication and documentation. In addition, it was intended to integrate all customer inquiries as well as partners and service providers. However, existing standalone solutions that were not connected could not meet these requirements satisfactorily. In collaboration with hmmh’s e-commerce and CRM experts, an innovative solution was designed and implemented from scratch for HOYER.
HOYER Handel GmbH is an importer of electrical goods in international trade and offers complete solutions for retailers — from the initial product idea and supply chain management to after-sales service. HOYER Handel is a reliable full-service partner, operating in 23 languages across 30 European countries. Providing efficient customer service in this environment is a challenging task, especially when processes must run cooperatively across borders and require fast handling.
Fulfillment partners and contact centers involved in repairs and service requests often use their own systems. Within a Europe-wide network, this can lead to a complex and non-transparent IT infrastructure, where communication with end customers is separated from repair documentation. Logistics and returns management are additional key components in this often fragmented system landscape.
As a result, companies face the challenge of maintaining a clear overview of all important KPIs at all times — such as the number of requests, returns, or active repairs, as well as average processing and service times. Only with this transparency can service providers and internal service teams be effectively monitored and managed based on defined metrics, ensuring control over the quality and efficiency of service processes and overall customer satisfaction.
Key questions and requirements
During the conceptual design and implementation planning, fundamental questions emerged that were often difficult or even impossible to answer using existing systems: How frequently do recurring requests occur that could potentially be handled more efficiently through automation? Is there a technical issue with a product that becomes apparent due to an increased number of complaints?
To address the identified challenges, a highly adaptable system was needed—one that allows for rapid changes and custom functionality. It had to be scalable while also enabling fast implementation. Additionally, the ability to support multilingual communication and process design was identified as essential, along with simple and quick reporting, direct integration with a wide variety of third-party systems, and the efficient handling of complaints, refunds, and repair orders.
Moreover, comprehensive transparency over KPIs such as ongoing activities and processing times was required. By covering all these factors, the CRM solution designed and implemented as described below clearly aims to significantly improve service times and quality—supported by the digitalization and automation of repetitive processes.
A highly customized solution
All project stakeholders quickly realized that a standard solution was not an option, as it would have been too inflexible and too expensive due to high licensing costs. HOYER therefore needed a flexible and extendable solution from an agile partner. HOYER found this partner in hmmh and entered into an extensive collaboration with our experts, covering requirements gathering, concept development, implementation, and the ongoing support of daily operations and continuous enhancement.
Together, they chose a tailored solution based on the open-source ERP and CRM system Apache OFBiz. This resulted in a software platform that consistently kept the key objectives in focus: integrating all required functions into a single system and connecting it with service providers operating across Europe. The system delivers hourly and daily up-to-date reporting on complaints, inquiries, and other customer matters, helping to improve and streamline service provider management in an efficient way.
Rapid implementation and continuous development
The implementation was achieved extremely quickly through a collaborative and agile working approach. Just three months after the project started, the new system was already operational with its initial functions, allowing service providers to map and manage parts of their previous processes within the new platform at that early stage. This was followed by agile and continuous development until all necessary processes and workflows were fully integrated, along with interfaces to repair workshops, fulfillment partners, and lettershop providers.
In the further — now long-standing — collaboration, many additional features have been implemented across numerous sprints and releases. These include, among other things, the automated capture of customer requests from various systems, as well as the management of tasks, cases, inventory, and product data.
Additional modules were added for correspondence, logistics, and refunds. The system provides centralized reporting, enabling an almost real-time overview of all processes and key performance indicators. The user interface is available in three languages — English, German, and French. This allows customer care agents to handle requests in 23 different end-customer languages. Communication is streamlined through text templates, automated messages in unlimited languages, and an integration for automated translations.
As a cloud-based solution, the system requires no installation and even allows for the easy setup of new clients or entities. Costs for third-party licenses typically associated with standard software solutions are eliminated.
The results speak for themselves
The CRM system developed through this collaboration enables significant improvements by increasing efficiency and transparency across all available information. Call center agents working with the system were able to triple their processing speed. In addition, the tailored solution leads to substantial cost savings благодаря more comprehensive data and improved customer service workflows. Targeted reporting allows HOYER to analyze complaint reasons by product and country as well as associated costs based on real-time data, and to take precise corrective action. By connecting external partners and service providers to the system, data can be exchanged at any time in an automated manner, enabling case-specific communication focused directly on customers or individual issues.
And the numbers speak for themselves too!
The positive impact of the system for HOYER is also reflected in the key figures achieved since its launch in 2019, based on more than 2 million customer interactions. Before the system went live in February 2019, a customer care agent could successfully handle around 30 customer requests in an 8-hour shift — with the CRM and the latest releases, that number has now increased to approximately 80. The number of required contacts per customer request decreased from an average of 6 to about 2.6. Thanks to process automation and a recently introduced self-care portal that enables even faster request handling, this figure is steadily moving closer to 1.
The system has been continuously developed and optimized since 2019 and today represents a highly flexible solution that is being used successfully.
About the future of the HOYER CRM solution
After the very successful first automation steps, achieving contact rates of 0, we are planning to integrate further automations in the future. The use of artificial intelligence is a key building block for efficient service, especially in light of our customers’ multilingual needs and the growing complexity of our products. To support our customers 24/7, we will increasingly focus on our self-service solutions, ensuring that we can provide competent assistance at any time.
