Industry overview
What is shaping industrial robots & automation
Industrial automation and robotics are moving from large plants to mid-sized manufacturers. Adoption depends on clear payback, integrator support and confidence in the technology.
- Plant heads need a clear business case before investing
- System integrators are central to successful adoption
- Skills gaps slow down deployment
Client background
An automation solutions company, working in India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- An automation solutions company
- Sector
- Industrial robots & automation
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- CRM development, Marketing automation, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
Automation projects took months from first contact to order, involving site visits, proposals and trials. Opportunities were tracked in spreadsheets and often lost when staff changed. Forecasts were based on salespeople’s optimism rather than evidence, making it hard to plan engineering capacity for upcoming projects.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: a CRM for long industrial automation sales cycles.
- Design around the real needs of sales.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
The work focused on 40 sales.
- sales40
Audiences we typically reach in industrial robots & automation
Plant heads and ownersProduction engineersSystem integratorsAutomation distributorsMaintenance teams
Geographic coverage
Coverage: India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Sales process mapping
- 3CRM implementation
- 4Insight
We mapped the sales process with sales and application engineers, implemented a CRM with stages for site surveys, proposals and trials, and connected website enquiries and email nurturing. Application engineers were involved closely, because their site-visit notes and trial results were essential for accurate proposals and forecasting.
CRM developmentMarketing automationData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- sales
- 40
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Management gained a clear pipeline view, follow-ups became consistent and opportunities were no longer lost during staff changes.
Long sales cycles need systems, not memory.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: long sales cycles need systems, not memory.
- Track adoption and support tickets, and plan the next release from real usage.
Business impact
- Management also began reviewing win and loss reasons each quarter, which helped the team focus on applications where it was most competitive.
Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Interactive dashboard
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do integrators need from robot makers?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.