From Siebel to SAP CRM: How Dow Corning Switched in 10 Months

Take a look at the process Dow Corning used to migrate from its Siebel CRM system to SAP CRM 2005. Learn what you need to be aware of during the process, particularly during data migration, and see how Dow Corning used online training to handle change management issues.

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Key Concept

Replacing an existing CRM system with software from a different vendor is a significant task. By carefully planning your migration project, you can make the switch with minimal disruption to your business. The key is to map your business processes to the new solution, configure the system to meet your users’ requirements, and plan a strategy for migrating your existing data to the new system. System testing and user training are also important tasks in a CRM migration project.

Dow Corning Corporation is a leader in silicon-based technology and innovation. With annual sales exceeding $4 billion, the company offers more than 7,000 products and services to meet the needs of more than 25,000 customers globally.

In 2005, we standardized on SAP NetWeaver as our CRM technology platform. As part of this approach, we switched from using Siebel 7.5.3 to SAP CRM 2005 to support our global CRM processes — in 10 months. Our experienced Basis team built the hardware infrastructure and installed the CRM software. The implementation team included five Dow Corning resources, including business process experts, a project leader, and additional personnel who performed configuration and testing. We also used an outside integrator, who provided on-site expertise in SAP CRM configuration, ABAP program development, People-Centric User Interface (PCUI) configuration, and SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (XI). Additional contracted resources supplemented the on-site team throughout the project.

Let me share with you some tips and tricks we learned during our SAP CRM 2005 implementation. I’ll provide a brief history of CRM processes at Dow Corning to give you a better understanding of how we use our CRM system. Then I’ll explain how we approached the SAP CRM implementation.