Colliers: optimising business processes through digitisation

Optimising business processes through digitisation

Colliers is a subsidiary of Colliers International, a leading global real estate and investment management services company with a presence in 66 countries employing more than 19,000 professionals worldwide.

In Spain, Colliers offers a wide range of services including investment advisory, corporate services, consultancy, valuation, property rental and sales services, among others. The company has a strong presence in the Spanish market and has worked on some of the most significant real estate projects in the country.

Overcoming business hurdles: Transforming expectations into realities

Colliers was at an operational and strategic turning point. Despite its strong market position, the company saw opportunities to improve its efficiency and productivity. Key strategic objectives for the company included boosting productivity, managing key accounts, developing customer relationships and managing e-campaigns. In addition, they were looking for a solution that would enable them to manage sales activity more seamlessly, automate processes, and improve activity tracking and pipeline capabilities.

Colliers’ business challenges were multifaceted and complex, but also represented opportunities for growth and improvement. First, the company saw an opportunity to centralise information. Teams were working partially within the existing CRM and using multiple applications to manage their day-to-day operations. This fragmented approach represented an opportunity to improve cohesion and efficiency, which in turn could boost overall productivity.

In addition, the company’s business processes were diverse and could be standardised. There was a need to align these processes and leverage automation to achieve standardisation of information and more efficient operational management at the business level. At the technology level, the company also saw opportunities for improvement in terms of usability and reporting, as well as optimising the work required to obtain business-critical information.

Faced with these challenges, Colliers had high expectations for the digital solution they were looking for. The company hoped to improve and optimise its current processes, with the aim of increasing visibility of the state of the business, improving reporting capabilities and maximising usability for employees.

Moving towards data excellence: operational and technology barriers

In addition to operational and strategic challenges, Colliers also identified opportunities for improvement in terms of data quality. The information collected was partial and incomplete, which provided ample room for optimising the automatic collection and processing of information. This represented an opportunity to improve visibility and reduce the manual work required to obtain the desired analytical approach.

Impact on employees and customers

These challenges represented not only opportunities to improve the operational efficiency of the company, but also had a direct impact on employees and customers. Employees, faced with partial use of the CRM platform, often opted to manually manage their work outside of the system. This situation, while not ideal, highlighted the need for a more integrated and efficient solution that could reduce the possibility of errors and increase job satisfaction.

From the customer’s perspective, improved user experience, availability and access to information were essential. Customers expect an efficient and personalised service, and optimising information management can enhance the company’s ability to provide this level of service.

Strategic partnership with redk: digital transformation

To overcome these challenges, Colliers decided to collaborate with redk because of its expertise in implementing digital solutions. The IT department and Beatriz Luján, COO of Colliers in Spain, worked closely with redk, together with representatives from all the departments involved, including corporate, residential and marketing.

    “The redk team, led by Yasmina, facilitated the process for us at all times. They provided significant added value in designing new modules and procedures to manage our business flow. They demonstrated a deep understanding of our needs and managed to translate them perfectly into practical and effective solutions. We are very satisfied with the results and would highly recommend redk’s consulting services” – Beatriz Luján, COO of Colliers in Spain

Salesforce implementation: a revolutionary solution for business efficiency

The decision to migrate to Salesforce came from the head office as a systems centralisation strategy. In collaboration with redk, the Spain team carried out a comprehensive AS-IS/TO-BE analysis phase, establishing a value-added MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the client and providing an evolution roadmap aligned with business objectives. Salesforce Sales Cloud was implemented with improvements in usability, reporting and integration with campaigns.

Operational improvements that make a difference

As a result of this collaboration and the Salesforce implementation, significant operational improvements were delivered:

1. Global centralisation of information: Information is now in one place, making it easier to access and manage data.
2. Establishment of processes and automation of business processes: Processes have been standardised and automated, increasing efficiency and enabling more effective management.
3. Global business and trade cycle tracking and reporting: With improved tracking and more detailed reporting, the company can now make more informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date data.

These improvements have had a direct impact on Colliers’ Commercial area in Spain. Productivity has increased, overall customer management across all phases of the customer lifecycle has improved and the ability to work on a prioritised basis has been strengthened. It is now easier to establish business priorities and management plans or to optimally track accounts to maximise profitability. In addition, customer intelligence has added value in managing campaigns for optimisation and asset-appropriate targeting.

    “It has been a real pleasure to have worked with Colliers on this project, achieving the results and expectations successfully, the result of a joint teamwork, thanks to the strong commitment of Colliers supported by recommendations based on our experience and knowledge of Salesforce” – Yasmina Bououtmane, Project Lead at redk.