Unilever Goes Live with mySAP Customer Relationship Management; Implementation to Enhance Customer Service Center and Consumer Advisory Service Productivity

Business Wire, April 1, 2002

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

MANILA, Philippines & WALLDORF, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) and Unilever Philippines, a leading manufacturer of home and personal care products, have successfully implemented a standalone customer relationship management solution from SAP. mySAP(TM) Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) will help improve Unilever's call center capability and boost the productivity of its customer service and consumer advisory representatives.

Unilever went live with mySAP CRM on January 2, 2002, following a three-month implementation period. It is the first Unilever office in Asia to implement mySAP CRM, according to Unilever Philippines commercial director Efren Samonte. Samonte said the company evaluated several CRM solutions and ultimately decided on mySAP CRM because its functionality and flexibility meet the needs of the business.

The implementation, dubbed "Project Polaris," automates the help desk processes of Unilever's two call centers: customer service and consumer advisory. Samonte, who served as the project sponsor for the implementation, said, "mySAP CRM enabled faster response time to queries and needs raised by consumers, provided for effective maintenance of our customer database, and gave the company easy access to customer information for analysis and strategy development."

Samonte said that, "Prior to the implementation, our customer and consumer care officers browsed through thick books, brochures, various on-line databases, and reports to answer customer inquiries. Now, they can click on any Unilever product on their computer screen, and data about the particular item automatically comes up. This significantly enhances our agents' ability to respond to customer inquiries fast, accurately, and completely."

Easy data access resulted in substantial productivity gains, according to Samonte. "Previously, monthly calls peaked at 3,000," he said. "mySAP CRM increased the company's call center capability immediately to 5,000 calls per month."

"The ability to access product information quickly and efficiently is the foundation for providing effective customer relationship management," said Carol Burch, senior vice president, Global CRM, SAP AG. "Unilever Philippines is now in the position to provide their customers with superior service than in the past, and will be able to handle more customer inquiries than ever before."

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySAP.com(R) e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. Today, more than 17,000 companies in over 120 countries run more than 44,500 installations of SAP(R) software. With subsidiaries in over 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com)

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