CONTACT US
LC Icon

Automotive Retailer

– Allocation Engine & Quote Tool

Founded in 1847 the client company is a British multinational automotive distribution, retail and services company operating in 40 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America.

The client employs over 14,500 people worldwide and operate or manage through a third party network of retailers over 1,000 points of sale, as well as a digital sales and marketing network that extends to cover most of it operations.

Client Objectives

The client’s business was and is experiencing unprecedented change. This change represents an imperative in its existing markets, but also a once-in-a-generation opportunity for them to grow. This growth comes from three opportunities:

  • Generating more value from existing markets (i.e. countries) through route to market transformation
  • Expanding into new and adjacent areas, capturing more value from its own vehicles as well as others
  • Using its core capabilities and market presence to expand and grow in new markets and with new partners.

The client’s evolution and growth was to be underpinned by three enabling actions:

  1. Develop the People, Culture and Capabilities needed to realise its ambitions;
  2. Use Digital, Data and Analytics to drive the transformation; and
  3. Develop Efficient Scale Operations.

The new Chief Digital Information Officer formulated a vision for effective provision of Centralised Digital, Data & Analytics Services through the formation and development of a new Group Company and Digital Delivery Centres.

The new strategy involved central provision of; Global Platform, Core IT Infrastructure & Business Application Services to regional markets and regional offices, where services would be provided and paid for via new Request For Service (RFS) Quoting, Billing & Invoicing Processes.

A joint client/consultancy team was created to deliver the RFS Process Workflow and a vision for how Billing/Invoicing would work.

Skills & Capabilities Provided

As part of the external consultancy team, Lifecycle associates carried out key roles to define the Request For Service Workflow (RFS), prototype a RFS Quotation System and provide a Financial perspective on how the Billing / Invoicing system should work.
This involved providing consultants experienced with Digital Services & Tools, Process Engineering as well as Finance & Tax Accounting.
In this role, we:
• Worked with the client’s IT Leadership, Finance & Tax Experts to design and agree how the RFS Workflow would work
• Engaged with IT SME’s to understand and agree what tooling and tooling changes would be required to support the RFS Workflow
• Specifically with internal & external Jira and SAP experts to ascertain what configuration changes would be required to support the Workflow
• Tested the Workflow with the incumbent IT Service Leaders & SME’s to ensure it was Fit for Purpose
• Developed a prototype RFS Quoting Tool in MS Excel & MS Access such that the Client could envisage and develop a productionised version
• Presented & Tested the Quote Tool with the IT Leadership and handed it over to the Clients development team
• Developed and presented a vision in MS Power point and MS Excel for how the IT Service Billing & Invoicing would work using the existing SAP system

Client Benefits Realised & Project Outcome

Fast tracking the development & agreement of the RFS Process Workflow, Quote Tool and visualising how the Billing and Invoicing would work catalysed the organization and enabled it to accelerate the build out and provision of its new scalable Digital Services to its regional markets / offices.