Igland Garasjen AS designs, produces, and installs durable, customizable garages for Norwegian homes, offering solutions like single or double garages and integrated storage tailored to withstand tough weather conditions.

From 200 to 300 million with the digitalization of the customer journey

At Igland Garasjen, the entire company collaborates to digitalize the customer journey. The result is faster processes, improved quality, and increased growth and profitability.

Video: CEO Dag Erik Heier discusses the journey from the first garage in 1963 to garage number 100,000. A modern industrial adventure where digitalization and integrated ERP and CRM play key roles.

Igland Garasjen has experienced organic growth of 50% in recent years without increasing administration. The digitalization of processes is a key element, with leadership, sales, marketing, and IT all aligned in a common philosophy. 

Through digitalization, they avoid manually entering the same information into multiple systems. And with CRM integrated with ERP, they have a full overview into the future—what they are set to deliver and can take action on. 

Challenge

Igland Garasjen shares challenges with many Nordic companies. It's about growing without risking proportionate increases in costs. It's about becoming more efficient, working smarter, and increasing profitability. It's about meeting competition and staying relevant. It's about freeing up resources to focus more on core business and high quality. And it's about meeting modern customers’ expectations for quick responses and great customer experiences. 

The answers to these challenges lie in Igland Garasjen's history and how they work purposefully to modernize and digitalize. Sales Manager Mirjam Reiersølmoen, who has been with the company for many years, outlines the big picture: 

- We first ran a furniture factory, but since 1963, we’ve been supplying garages. The first one was called 'The Egg' due to its distinctive shape and was based on the design of the Volkswagen of that time. Since then, we’ve merged with Grimstad Garasjen and experienced significant growth. 

- There is intense competition on price, solutions, and quality. We need to be relevant and visible in the market. We need a good reputation and to deliver excellent customer experiences, says Reiersølmoen.

When the sales manager explains how they worked previously, it’s easy to understand the need for modernization and integrated data flow. 

- Previously, it was all about coupon books, trade shows, newspaper ads, and so on. Everything was sent by mail, and inquiries came in via phone and mail. Before CRM, it was more manual, depending on each salesperson to take responsibility for their customers. There were lots of binders and filing cabinets, Reiersølmoen recalls.

Time-consuming and cumbersome sales processes hindered faster growth. Additionally, today’s customers are more impatient and less loyal, so being quick and offering great customer experiences has become more important. But to achieve good digital data flow, they needed integrated systems that communicated seamlessly. 

System Manager Odd-Erik Dingsøyr is a great example of how IT is a central part of a company’s strategy. He is responsible for integrations, development, updates, maintenance, support, etc. He summarizes the needs this way: 

- In the past, we used the CRM system and ERP system separately. Everything had to be manually entered into the ERP for invoicing. Essentially, a paper folder was handed over to production, logistics, and accounting, and they had to work with it from there. The more customers we had, the more paper folders.

Manually transferring data is not only inefficient, but it also leads to worse quality. Marketing Manager Jan Kristian Benestad calls it "the telephone game".

- You start with one word at one end, and by the time it reaches the other end, it's a completely different word. It's the same when information has to move from department to department, or from system to system. Before, there were multiple potential sources of error, especially when the same information had to be entered several times by different people in different roles.

Solution

The most obvious indication that Igland Garasjen found a good solution with integrated CRM and ERP, is the image of the digitalized customer journey, which is the direct opposite of the "game of telephone." Marketing Manager Benestad illustrates:

- It often starts with customers Googling 'garage.' They land on our website, where they fill out information in web forms. That information follows the garage throughout the process: from the sales team to the calculation program, the offer, the garage drawings, order reception, the warehouse, then production, and finally to the completed building kit or the assembled garage.

- With such solutions, customers can input their own information, and it follows them all the way through all the systems, with CRM and ERP as the 'hubs.' This means the garage we send out is the exact one the customer ordered. It saves us a lot of time and potential mistakes, and it makes the customers happy, summarizes Marketing Manager Benestad.

This data flow also aligns with CEO Heier’s strategy.

- Our philosophy has been to avoid double data entry. This means we should have digital processes from the customer's initial inquiry on the website all the way to the completed garage delivery on the construction site. A seamless customer experience is absolutely necessary, says Heier..

Result

For most at Igland Garasjen, the benefits of CRM in addition to ERP are clear. Marketing Manager Benestad explains:

-  A CRM system gives you a unique way to follow up with customers. You can generate reports and lists, and track customers based on their status—whether it’s a hot lead or a cold one. You can work more systematically and efficiently than without CRM. Plus, CRM helps us comply with GDPR..

- 80-90% of our leads come through our website and are automatically entered into our customer database in SuperOffice. The salespeople pick up the inquiries from segmented lists. Then they work through them according to a specific sales routine, using a calculation system that automatically pulls customer data from CRM and pricing from ERP.

- In this way, CRM and ERP serve as hubs in a smart data flow. It’s good for us and good for the customers. We gain the benefits of faster processes, and they get a faster and better customer experience.

CEO Heier also sees additional benefits from integrated CRM and ERP, highlighting how it provides better control:

- First, the CRM system gives us control over what customers have ordered and what we’ve delivered. Second, it gives us control over communication. This allows us to follow up with all customers in a good way.

- The accounting system is in many ways a record of the past, of what we’ve delivered. The CRM system is about what we are going to deliver. And for us, that's the most important—what we are going to deliver, because that’s what we can do something about. What has happened has already happened, summarizes CEO Dag Erik Heier.

Benefits

• 50% growth without significantly increasing administrative services 
• Digital customer journey and improved customer experience
• 80-90% of leads in automated data flow
• Faster internal processes that save considerable resources
• Better control of future revenues