San Mateo, CA — May 28, 2003 — Aviall Services has implemented a set of solutions from software company Siebel Systems as the cornerstone of its corporate growth strategy, helping the company become the world's largest independent provider of new aviation parts and related aftermarket services in commercial, military and general aviation sectors.
Paul Fulchino, Aviall's CEO, president and chairman, launched the company's business transformation strategy in 2000 in response to increasing competition in the aerospace after-market component parts industry.
At that time, Aviall was focused solely on parts distribution and faced shrinking market share and declining sales. Fulchino had a vision of Aviall becoming a value-added partner to its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) suppliers, such as Rolls-Royce, and of operating a customer-centric, service-excellence environment by putting in place a world-class team, world-class infrastructure and processes and world-class technology.
"One of our primary success attributes is technology," said Fulchino. "We have taken technology and literally leapfrogged it in two years from being comparable and sustainable in the industry to being one that both OEMs and customers say is far superior — all to make our customers' lives easier and better and for more efficiency in doing business."
Because the transformation required a major shift in corporate culture across a diverse sales force and more than 40 different call center locations globally, Aviall chose to take a phased implementation approach. In the initial phase, which took approximately four months, Aviall deployed Siebel Sales to its field sales representatives, then Siebel Call Center to representatives in the company's 40 worldwide customer service centers.
Siebel said the CRM solution has helped Aviall improve sales and service effectiveness through better management of sales territories, accounts and call schedules, and automated sales proposals and presentations. It has enabled Aviall to measure productivity and gain valuable product-based sales, service and marketing intelligence.
The next phase consisted of a project that involved deploying Siebel Sales and Siebel Call Center customer order management capabilities to drive increased efficiency. Through the streamlined process and easier navigation, the Siebel solution has given the sales force and customer service representatives an easier, faster means of entering orders than was previously available, on the scale of 80 percent fewer steps in the process, according to the solution provider.
According to Siebel, Aviall's deployment of the providers e-business applications, including Siebel Sales and Siebel Call Center, in conjunction with other applications, has resulted in a revenue run rate increase of nearly 100 percent (from $460 million to $900 million in annual sales), a sales productivity increase of 200 percent with sales calls and processed orders, and a 20 to 30 percent overall improvement in customer satisfaction.
In addition, the company has reported a 50 percent reduction in aircraft on ground (AOG) response cycle time, and an accuracy rate of better than 99 percent for orders going out of the warehouse.
"The fruits of our labor are paying off," said Joe Lacik, vice president for information services at Aviall. "Our revenue run rate has doubled in the past three years, and the profits have more than tripled. The Siebel CRM solution was a key piece in this success because it enabled us to integrate our field sales force and call centers and give them the tools they need to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently."
To complete its customer service transformation, Aviall sought to provide its sales and service representatives with a single dashboard of customer, product, and pricing information. The company achieved this final phase by tightly integrating Siebel e-business applications with a solution from Xelus for forecasting, planning, and inventory management; software from Catalyst for warehouse management and inventory control; and a solution from Lawson for enterprise resource management.
"Our ability to provide these services has been an important factor in obtaining several important OEM supplier contracts," Lacik said. "For example, we demonstrated our systems, including the Siebel e-business applications, in our initial sales call at Rolls-Royce. Their reaction was that they could take advantage of our technology investment and our channel. No other company in the general aviation after-market parts and services space can come close to providing this kind of service capability."
