Paint and coating specialist AkzoNobel is transforming. Joris Vollebergh and his team are tasked with digitizing the internal processes as much as possible. With nine business units in no fewer than 135 different countries and a wide variety of customers (from small distributors to AirBus and IKEA), this is quite a challenge, says Vollebergh at Emerce TV.
The change has largely come about because of COVID. ‘Demographically speaking, you actually see an aging population. A large proportion of our business customers will retire within five years, around thirty percent. And what is being added was all born after 2000,’ says Vollebergh. ‘Well then you know one thing, they are digitally literate and you will have to meet them in a different way. While in the past it was the case that account managers came to visit.’
AkzoNobel only supplies the end consumer to a limited extent. The business customer base is much larger. This includes painters, but also very large customers, such as IKEA or Boeing.
And like many companies, Akzo Nobel also wants to offer an experience that customers have come to expect from B2C. Customers want to be able to order themselves. They should be able to find information without having to call an expert. And it has to be done at any time, even when the customer is on the road.
AkzoNobel mainly wants to inspire the end consumer. For example, they can upload a photo of their room if they want to paint it. He or she will then be shown a number of color suggestions. In the future, both augmented reality and AI will be used.
For major customers such as Boeing, AkzoNobel goes so far as to view the aircraft with drones to determine which parts need to be painted. This should lead to more sustainable applications.
AkzoNobel does these kinds of things in small steps. ‘We are currently throwing pebbles into the pond instead of one very large stone, to start a wave movement.’
In the same series Innovations in B2B commerce, Reinier Molenaar talks about the B2B marketplace Hectool. The brand new B2B e-commerce platform was officially launched in March during the TechniShow in Utrecht. The platform provides an integrated marketplace for both buyers and sellers of machine parts and factory equipment.
“Our market lacks a platform like Hectool,” says founder Molenaar. “We are connecting supply and demand in a way that was previously impossible, making buying and selling industrial parts as easy as the click of a button.”
video Digitally winning the hearts of customers in 135 countries is how AkzoNobel does it can be viewed here. The video B2B marketplace Hectool is AI-native: ‘With every feature we ask ourselves, is this possible with AI? can be seen here.
Source: www.emerce.nl
