About STIHL
STIHL is an internationally leading group that develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor power equipment for professionals and discerning consumers, in addition to offering digital solutions and services. The top-selling chainsaw brand since 1971, STIHL was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Waiblingen near Stuttgart, Germany.
Having revolutionized work in the forestry sector with their chainsaws, STIHL has upheld its pioneering spirit and continued creating and implementing future-oriented innovations, such as battery technology, digital solutions, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
STIHL products are sold to end users through STIHL authorized servicing dealers and STIHL’s own online stores, which will be expanded internationally over the next few years. In addition to its headquarters, STIHL's operations are also bolstered by its extensive sales and distribution network, which includes 6 manufacturing companies, 42 STIHL-owned sales & marketing companies worldwide, approximately 120 importers, and more than 55 thousand authorized service dealers. STIHL is deeply rooted in the tradition of high-quality hardware, and they are also excellent at innovating with data.
Project overview
OMMAX successfully supported STIHL in the development and expansion of its data analytics and AI applications, providing the company with long-term benefits across three central business functions: product portfolio management, sales, and service. Project achievements include:
- What: Implementation of 10+ business-oriented data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) use cases
- How: Cross-functional implementation team with dedicated STIHL and OMMAX experts jointly developing the data solutions with Agile Scrum and Kanban methodology
- Why: Realization of substantial efficiency increase from each of the defined data-driven use cases across product portfolio management, sales, and service
The solution
The project team identified and executed business-oriented use cases aiming at higher levels of data transparency, increasing automation, and maximizing efficiency.
OMMAX implemented several data analytics projects along the value chain, utilizing advanced data science algorithms and AI techniques, such as natural language processing and predictive analytics. The project was highly successful, enhancing efficiency by leveraging data and AI and driving data-informed decision-making.
The use cases delivered as part of this approach include:
AI-based image recognition
Deployed an AI-based image recognition system that enables sales representatives to capture and analyze product information efficiently, providing actionable insights to enhance sales performance.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithm for global support ticket prioritization and categorization
Implemented an advanced NLP-driven machine learning algorithm to automate the categorization and prioritization of service tickets, substantially reducing manual effort and improving scalability.
Process mining for support tickets
Created an automated dashboard for quality management that displays open support tickets and uses process mining to analyze ticket workflows and improve process efficiency.
Advanced Product Analytics and Management Dashboards
Created a comprehensive suite of interactive management dashboards that integrate various data sources to provide valuable live insights and enable data-driven decision-making across business areas. We implemented design and security standards for all dashboards, ensuring they are user-friendly, visually consistent, and secure. The main dashboards and reporting cockpits we created together with the STIHL team include:
Global support reports provide comprehensive insights into customer support metrics, including ticket volume, response times, and product-specific inquiries. It helps identify trends, optimize customer support processes, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.
Product portfolio management dashboards integrate internal and external data to present key financial and market metrics, empowering the prioritization and management of product development.
- Diagnostic system usage dashboards aggregate data about the usage of the system used by dealers to diagnose machines. The dashboards provide transparency on the user frequency of the diagnostic system per dealer, country, and product to enhance product development and resource allocation.
- Support content creation dashboards track and analyze the usage of online user manuals for different products in multiple languages. This powerful tool enables STIHL to streamline content creation and minimize effort for the creation of user manuals.
- Price volume mix analysis for parts and accessories provides comprehensive insights into revenue fluctuations by analyzing the interplay between different markets and product families.
- Serialized product tracking lets users check the status of specific products or groups of products by their serial numbers. It shows where each product is in the production, shipping, and sales process, enabling strategic decisions in logistics.
Together, we achieved:
Uplift the client's data analyses from opportunistic reporting to game-changing data-based optimization
Enhancing data-driven strategic decision-making
Substantial recurring efficiency gains and savings
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