Lambert has two main activities: one as a large dealer of new and pre-owned Mercedes cars and trucks and second, as the importer and distributor of UniMog military vehicles and SUV’s. Since 1952, Lambert builds, customizes and sells cars and trucks from their primary location in Rhisnes (near Namur).
In 2004, Etienne Pirmez, CEO of the Lambert group set an ambitious goal to increase the number of customer visits to 100 per day (i.e. over 25.000 per year) by 2010. At that time, an average of 35 customers visited the main showroom daily. In order to reach the goal of 100 customer visits per day, a strategy for growth was developed. The IT system which would be used for this purpose included an ERP system (Davis), a financial management system (Navision Financials), a clock system (Dotsys) as well as separate CRM system (ACT). In order to achieve their growth ambitions, two elements were crucial: find more suitable dealer locations to attract more diverse customers and find a better way to manage growth objectives.
Although the existing IT components did provide some good insight into stock, service planning, and financial data, it completely lacked in providing comparisons over time, detailed analysis per department, per activity and per product line. Lambert was looking for a Business Intelligence system that was easy to use, could easily extract data from all back-end systems and would give the management of Lambert the possibility to navigate more from top-level data right into operational detail. In the pre-existing setup it was nearly impossible for a business user to compare data over time, or analyze trends within the different departments and over the different business lines. After witnessing a TARGIT demo, Etienne Pirmez decided that it was the tool for Lambert and its managers: easy to use, easy to interpret, and also: easy for their users to analyze company data. According to Mr. Pirmez,
"Thanks to TARGIT, we are confident that we will be able to meet the ambitious milestones of our 2010 strategic growth plan. TARGIT gives us day-to-day accurate insight in all company parameters, such as logistical, service, resource, sales and financial parameters".
Since then, Lambert has never looked back. They acquired a site in Marcinelles (pre-owned cars and trucks), built a new site in Courcelles (new trucks and tractor trailers), realizing growth according to plan.
In 2009, there are many important changes planned in the back-end systems such as the CRM and ERP systems. The big thanks goes to TARGIT Business Intelligence, as Lambert will be able to continue to monitor all aspects of the business. Mr. Pirmez adds, "TARGIT Business Intelligence has helped me and my directors better manage the health and growth of our company."
