Procurement Champions

A holistic communication strategy from day one

For projects to succeed, it is vital that communication begins as early as possible. This is why MHP was tasked with developing a communication strategy for the pilot implementation of the "KION e-buy" digital ordering platform at STILL GmbH in Hamburg, Germany.

This strategy was aimed at the relevant stakeholders and included specific storylines and key messages for communicating across three organizational levels:

1. The added value that the project would bring to KION’s strategy (target group: management)
2. The comprehensive improvements and potential it offered for procurement and business (target groups: procurement, accounting, requesters)
3. Answering the key question for individual users of the platform: “What’s in it for me?"

Focus on people

Ensuring that users were empowered during the rollout was just as important as communication. For this reason, a key component of MHP’s enabling strategy was to implement target-group-specific empowerment measures to make the transition from paper-based ordering processes to a digital solution as easy as possible for all users. Involving all relevant stakeholders from an early stage was MHP’s highest priority from the very start of the initiative.

Just like the communication concept, the enabling concept was designed so that it could also be used for future rollouts of the platform. In order to ensure that the intended enabling measures did in fact empower the users, they were tested out by selected representatives from the relevant target groups. The two-stage development and validation process carried out in close coordination with those involved in the project resulted in a wide-ranging, future-oriented enabling concept. The empowerment measures included training materials with FAQs, a comprehensive handbook and explanatory videos with recorded click sequences where the champions from the change story led viewers through specific use cases. MHP also organized an on-site training week in Hamburg with the users involved in the pilot.

Back in the fast lane – parallel rollouts of "KION e-buy" and "KION e-source"

KION’s trust in MHP and the success of the partnership meant that MHP was also commissioned to lead the international rollout of the new "KION e-source" supplier portal across the KION Group’s brands. This was another core element of KION’s e-Procurement Initiative, intended to improve collaboration between KION and its suppliers in a lasting and future-oriented manner. The new solution centralizes supplier management and allows contracts to be awarded and requests processed in a highly efficient way.

Since "KION e-source" is used by both internal and external stakeholders, the communication and enabling concept had to be adapted from the "KION e-buy" rollout.
As was the case with "KION e-buy", internal users took part in remote training sessions on using "KION e-source". When it came to onboarding external users, all suppliers from the EMEA regions were invited to a supplier information event where they learned all about "KION e-source" and its benefits. MHP also created a dedicated landing page on the KION Group website where further information and training materials were made available, enabling suppliers to prepare for the transition as effectively as possible.