How Bosch Provides the Right Tool for the Right Person at the Right Time

If you are searching for that perfect gift for that handy person in your life, it’s likely that Bosch power tools are high on your list. But how does Bosch make sure it you find the perfect tool?

Simply put, Bosch is re-imagining its business processes to enable a “User-first innovation” approach. Here’s how it works.

The Power Tools Division of Bosch is a world market leader for power tools and accessories and launches hundreds of new products each year across various brands. Until recently, the company relied on a traditional manufacturing process. Product teams worked with end users to identify needs and then build features around these needs to roll out around the world.

This straight-line approach is no longer the preferred manufacturing approach. Bosch Power Tools group teams now handle end-to-end responsibility from product, marketing, sales, logistics, and engineering functions. These groups place the user at the center of everything and focus on developing what the user’s needs are. This also means the product team does not hand duties off to marketing teams when they are done and instead become part of the full life cycle process of new tools.

This organizational shift went hand in hand with Bosch Power Tools’ digital transformation which was led by marketing. Marketing was already collecting data from various touch points such as social, mobile, in-store, and were iterating on that data to create better content.

“What we didn’t have was a means to leverage that insight across all channels let alone back into the rest of the business,” said Sunny Mallavarapu, Digital Transformational Project Manager, Group North America for Bosch. “This meant that it was logical for marketing to undertake its digital transformation first since they were the first touch.”

And since retail has fundamentally changed, so too has customer behavior. Bosch’s marketing department used to focus on “broadcast” marketing like ads and point-of-sales (POS) displays in stores. As a result, Bosch had great relationships with channel partners but not with users. This worked then, but not now.

Relationship building in a digital world now means Bosch fulfills a more customer-centric approach across a multitude of touch points.

“To do it right, to build that trust, our goal is to create a meaningful and fulfilling experiences where our customers are and where they seek help and guidance,” said Mallavarapu.

In response, Bosch is leveraging the full SAP Customer Experience suite.

So how does this impact finding that perfect gift? However customers want engage with Bosch power tools, on the phone, on an eCommerce site, in a physical store, they’ll be provided with the information they need, wherever and however they need it.