SECO Tools Digital Transformation Success Story
How ACTUM Digital Streamlined Enquiry Management with Microsoft Power Platform
Client
<p data-pasted="true">SECO Tools, headquartered in Sweden, is a global leader in metal cutting solutions and part of the Sandvik Group. With a strong presence across Europe, North America, and Asia, SECO serves manufacturers in industries such as automotive, aerospace, and general engineering. The company is known for its innovation in tooling systems and its commitment to digital transformation in manufacturing and sales operations.</p>
The Challenge
<p data-pasted="true">SECO Tools was relying on a legacy Lotus Notes application to manage custom product enquiries – a process that had become increasingly inefficient and difficult to scale. The system lacked automation, transparency, and integration with modern platforms. Salespeople submitted requests through several local processes, but once submitted, they lost visibility and control over the process. The internal teams – design engineers, purchasing, and the Make-or-Buy (MoB) team – handled these inquiries manually or with locally developed IT solution, often leading to delays, misrouting, and inconsistent tracking.</p>
<p data-pasted="true">Key challenges included:</p><ul><li><strong>No centralized system for tracking enquiry status or history</strong></li><li><strong>Manual routing and assignment of enquiries to internal teams</strong></li><li><strong>Lack of automation in approvals and communication</strong></li><li><strong>Limited reporting and KPI tracking</strong></li><li><strong>Legal compliance requirements for 10-year data retention</strong></li></ul><p>SECO needed a modern, scalable solution that could automate and streamline the entire inquiry lifecycle –<br>from submission to resolution – while integrating with existing systems like ERP and PLM.</p>
The Solution
Power Apps Custom Application
<p>A user-friendly interface for internal teams to manage inquiries, track progress, and access customer and product data. The app includes structured tables for inquiries, accounts, sales units, qualification rules, and more. By guiding users through predefined stages of managing inquiries, Power Apps BPF ensures structured decision-making, reducing errors and increasing productivity.</p>
SharePoint Management
<p>The system has been integrated with SharePoint to automatically store enquiry-related attachments in designated folders. Access to these folders is restricted to assigned users in compliance with data privacy regulation, ensuring secure and efficient document management through background automation processes.</p>
Enquiry Item Queues
<p>Enquiry queuing was designed to enhance workflow management by allowing team managers to oversee and assign tasks efficiently. This process ensures that enquiries are handled by the most suitable team member, optimizing resource allocation and productivity.</p>
Time Log Management
<p>This feature was developed to track the time spent on handling enquiries and identify workload distribution across team members. This functionality enhances transparency, efficiency, and decision-making in resource allocation.</p>
Channeling Automation
<p>A background process triggered upon inquiry submission from the My Pages portal. It evaluates multiple conditions and assigns the enquiry to the appropriate team or rejects it if criteria are not met.</p>
Routing Automation
<p>For enquiries requiring product configuration, this process determines the correct design engineering team (from about seventeen teams) and routes the enquiry accordingly.</p>
Dashboards and Reporting
<p>The system supports KPI tracking and reporting, with options to extend functionality using Power BI for advanced analytics.</p>
Integration Layer
<p>Adapters were developed to integrate the Power App with SECO’s ERP and My Pages portal, ensuring seamless data flow across platforms.</p>
Results:
Streamlined Operations
<p>Automated routing and approvals significantly reduced manual workload and processing time</p>
Improved Visibility
<p>Sales and internal teams now have real-time access to enquiry status and history</p>
Enhanced Collaboration
<p>Integrated Teams communication fosters faster decision-making and better alignment</p>
Compliance and Traceability
<p>All enquiry data is securely stored and retained for 10 years, meeting legal requirements</p>
Scalability
<p>The modular architecture allows for future enhancements, including additional automation, analytics, and global rollout</p>
This project not only replaced a legacy system but also laid the foundation for a smarter, more agile way of handling custom product enquiries – empowering
SECO to deliver faster, more accurate responses to its customers worldwide
Having explored how we streamlined SECO Tools' operations, you can discover how our expertise extends to other complex digital transformations, such as the grohe product finder app and the siko b2b platform. Our approach to building robust customer portal solutions and implementing rigorous quality assurance architecture ensures that your projects are both user-centric and technically sound. To further maximize your operational efficiency, consider leveraging Salesforce Clouds for your success alongside these tailored development strategies.