Supply Chain Digital Magazine May 2023 | Page 49

HENKEL
Management ). Kirchner says : “ Flo Group ’ s expertise in implementation is crucial to our undertakings ”.
Then there is Salesforce . Kirchner expresses that they are currently implementing Salesforce ’ s main application – the service cloud – in their customer service and technical teams . “ We have been impressed with how professionally Salesforce has been running the program and are happy to learn from them . I believe it was a wise decision to work with a best-in-class company like Salesforce , and to listen carefully to their advice .”
Last , but not least , in Henkel ’ s pantheon of key partners is Fourkites . Henkel sees T & T capability as a basic customer requirement to shape customer experience . Fourkites is Henkel ’ s strategic partner to deliver visibility and transparency in logistics services . In the past few years , Henkel managed to cover a significant part of the deliveries with Fourkites ’ T & T platform , and there is an ambitious plan to continue the roll out of T & T in the coming year .
The greatest challenges and lessons Kirchner describes the biggest challenge in their current role as balancing the urgent needs of their supply chain team with the important task of transforming and maturing their capabilities in terms of systems , processes , mindset and people . Henkel needs to make sure that the performance and transformation sides of their teams work in-sync , and don ’ t develop things independently .
On a slightly philosophical conclusion – but one that has obviously served him well , as can be seen in his overseeing Henkel ’ s customer-centric Supply Chain ( SC ) transformation programme – Kirchner tells me that the best advice he has ever received is “ to figure out how fast you can be in implementing change – and then go a bit slower – to make sure that people have enough time to absorb and digest it all ”. And that ’ s how you turn visions into realities .
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