Hitachi Vantara uses WalkMe to drive digital adoption, boost sales productivity across technology stack
User satisfaction:
- Improved user journey across 7+ applications into one unified selling experience
Engagement:
- 88% increase in adoption rate of digital sales tools
Realization of Value:
- Reduced development costs
Operational Excellence:
- Faster rep onboarding
- Reduced training time by 86%
Executive Summary
Hitachi Vantara is a digital innovation partner, helping its customers derive maximum value from their data. But Hitachi faced technology challenges of its own: many sales reps struggled to use Salesforce and their other digital tools effectively, meaning Hitachi reps struggled to reap the full benefits of their software. Additionally, sales training and processes varied widely under different regional managers, and new feature adoption suffered from a lack of planning and communication.
As an invisible layer on top of existing software, WalkMe allows McKittrick to quickly and simply make workflow adjustments. For example, McKittrick used WalkMe to disable a legacy feature, instead of paying the CPQ vendor thousands of dollars to remove the same button. WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Center empowers Hitachi executives with visibility into employee engagement across the entire tech stack, quickly identifying adoption challenges and underutilized apps. WalkMe’s in-app guidance leads sales reps through the entire sales cycle, across multiple applications, to ensure they complete processes correctly and efficiently, improving data quality. Most recently, their investment in process automation has further improved employee efficiency by eliminating empty clicks and wasted time.
Overall, WalkMe helps Hitachi sales reps be more productive, improving Hitachi’s bottom line.
User satisfaction:
- Improved user journey across 7+ applications into one unified selling experience
Engagement:
- 88% increase in adoption rate of digital sales tools
Realization of Value:
- Reduced development costs
Operational Excellence:
- Faster rep onboarding
- Reduced training time by 86%
Executive Summary
Hitachi Vantara is a digital innovation partner, helping its customers derive maximum value from their data. But Hitachi faced technology challenges of its own: many sales reps struggled to use Salesforce and their other digital tools effectively, meaning Hitachi reps struggled to reap the full benefits of their software. Additionally, sales training and processes varied widely under different regional managers, and new feature adoption suffered from a lack of planning and communication.
As an invisible layer on top of existing software, WalkMe allows McKittrick to quickly and simply make workflow adjustments. For example, McKittrick used WalkMe to disable a legacy feature, instead of paying the CPQ vendor thousands of dollars to remove the same button. WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Center empowers Hitachi executives with visibility into employee engagement across the entire tech stack, quickly identifying adoption challenges and underutilized apps. WalkMe’s in-app guidance leads sales reps through the entire sales cycle, across multiple applications, to ensure they complete processes correctly and efficiently, improving data quality. Most recently, their investment in process automation has further improved employee efficiency by eliminating empty clicks and wasted time.
Overall, WalkMe helps Hitachi sales reps be more productive, improving Hitachi’s bottom line.
Executive Summary
Hitachi Vantara is a digital innovation partner, helping its customers derive maximum value from their data. But Hitachi faced technology challenges of its own: many sales reps struggled to use Salesforce and their other digital tools effectively, meaning Hitachi reps struggled to reap the full benefits of their software. Additionally, sales training and processes varied widely under different regional managers, and new feature adoption suffered from a lack of planning and communication.
As an invisible layer on top of existing software, WalkMe allows McKittrick to quickly and simply make workflow adjustments. For example, McKittrick used WalkMe to disable a legacy feature, instead of paying the CPQ vendor thousands of dollars to remove the same button. WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Center empowers Hitachi executives with visibility into employee engagement across the entire tech stack, quickly identifying adoption challenges and underutilized apps. WalkMe’s in-app guidance leads sales reps through the entire sales cycle, across multiple applications, to ensure they complete processes correctly and efficiently, improving data quality. Most recently, their investment in process automation has further improved employee efficiency by eliminating empty clicks and wasted time.
Overall, WalkMe helps Hitachi sales reps be more productive, improving Hitachi’s bottom line.
THE Challenge
Getting the most out of technology investments
When Jeff McKittrick stepped into the role of Vice President of Sales Business Capabilities at Hitachi Vantara, he noted that sales representatives weren’t reaping the full benefit of Hitachi’s digital investments, and outcomes were suffering because of a lack of consistency.
“I needed better insights and analytics to see where I needed to focus to tackle these challenges,” McKittrick says. “Where were people getting stuck? Where were people not going that we were expecting them to?”
Hitachi sales reps interact daily with, on average, 9+ different digital sales tools. Understanding exactly how reps were interacting with each piece of technology was the first step in designing a better digital adoption strategy. “We wanted to get some consistency in training, and in the actual use of our software tools—and then we wanted to simplify,” he continues. “We wanted to be sure people knew what was expected of them, and then be able to guide them through the sales cycle.”
Sub-optimal use of software tools meant Hitachi was not getting value from its investment in technology—and that’s what McKittrick needed to change. “As a leader who’s trying to figure out what to invest in next, I want to know: are we actually getting what we want out of the tools that we’ve implemented?” he says.
“We have to see the adoption rates go up. We have to see people putting better data in. We have to see that the investments we’re putting into the tools are actually paying off, through sales productivity, improved margin return, or a better customer experience.”
THE Solution
Consistent digital experience across the entire sales cycle
McKittrick had worked with WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform at a previous company and immediately saw the opportunity to broaden its use at Hitachi. “Hitachi was already using WalkMe on our partner portal to guide our partners around in certain parts of the experience,” he says. “I knew immediately I wanted to expand it out to our sales experience.”
McKittrick and his team used WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Center to understand the day-to-day user experience of his sales reps. The DAP Center is a single portal that allows McKittrick to view employee engagement across his tech stack and quickly identify adoption challenges and underutilized apps.
“What would normally take us a bunch of cycles of shadowing salespeople we were now able to do with the DAP Center” he continues. “From there I was able to build solutions to show our executives how we could build WalkMe solutions to get the most value from our investments.” But the true value of WalkMe, McKittrick points out, is its ability to work across applications as an organization-wide change management solution.
McKittrick and his team started to think bigger about WalkMe as being able to guide across the experiences – even starting from a user’s desktop. “Using WalkMe Workstation, we put all the content that a salesperson needs in one place on their desktop,” he says. That included access to not only the 9+ sales tools but also other critical employee support tools like HR platforms and IT support applications. “All sales reps can access any piece of technology they need directly from their Desktop. Whether it’s time to close a deal or prospect a new customer, our salespeople have access from their desktop, and then WalkMe nudges them toward the right tool at the right time.”
McKittrick and his team implemented WalkMe Automation to improve efficiency and reduce errors. “So, when a salesperson goes to a particular stage, like doing a proposal, we automatically open up a window that takes them to the next app and automatically picks up the guidance on the next app for them,” he explains. “We take out a lot of the empty clicks so that they know right where to go, and get there faster.”
THE Results
Realizing value from investments through better insights and productivity
WalkMe’s DAP Center has become a critical tool in McKittrick’s work. “I now have a way to digitally follow what’s going on with our sales teams and then anticipate and even shape what we do in the future to implement new processes, new go-to markets, new quoting options,” he says.
“WalkMe allows us to quickly show value out of what we drive. So rather than saying we need three months to go develop a new feature or to turn something on, we’re often able to use WalkMe to just guide people to new things or make people aware of new features. It helps us scale, and it helps us be innovators and add value to the business.” It also means an estimated 86% reduction in training time.
As an invisible layer on top of existing software, WalkMe allows McKittrick to quickly and simply make workflow adjustments. For example, McKittrick used WalkMe to disable a legacy feature, instead of paying the CPQ vendor thousands of dollars to remove the same button.
Since implementing WalkMe guidance through the entire sales cycle, McKittrick has seen digital adoption increase to over 75% from 40%. WalkMe has been able to force users into the desired workflows, and to actually prevent less-desirable behaviors. “WalkMe really helps us get people more effective and impactful with their customers straight away,” he says. That means sales reps spend less time struggling with technology and more time selling.
By creating a digital hub that sits on every sales rep’s desktop, WalkMe stitches Hitachi’s digital employee experience together from beginning to end. WalkMe Workstation allows Hitachi to be flexible to accommodate for COVID-related disruptions in their training process, such as the end of in-person bootcamps. Importantly, WalkMe has given them the potential to onboard new hires completely remotely, support them in the flow of work, and have visibility into their interactions with the technology.
Importantly, Hitachi has seen an 88% increase in the digital adoption of digital sales tools by their salespeople. “They know that they’ve got the WalkMe tool to guide them through the most complex processes or to show them content that they didn’t know where to find,” McKittrick says. “One salesperson just told me, ‘Where has WalkMe been the rest of my selling life? This is awesome.’”
