CASE STUDY

Establishing a global pricing engine to amplify e-commerce

1

Price engine

Establishing a digital price engine to drive future sales success.

7

Countries

Streamlining global pricing practices and implementing a solution designed for global scale.

5

Design principles

Guiding fit for purpose solution development from day one.

“ NORTH has been key in helping us bridge the gap between our strategic intents and operational performance.”

— Brian Lauridsen, Head of Pricing, GN Hearing

GN’s situation & challenges

Throughout its 150-year journey, GN has evolved from telegraph cables and radio waves to intelligent audio and video engineering. Today, they have established a strong global presence in the hearing, audio, video, and gaming industries. At its core, the company is dedicated to “bringing people closer” by leveraging the power of technology.

In recent years, GN Hearing has experienced organic growth by selling high-quality products in over 100 markets. However, changing dynamics have prompted them to rethink how products and services are sold. Implementing e-commerce and enabling online self-service were identified as key factors for effectively responding to client needs.

Three challenges on the path to delivering a coherent customer journey:

Siloed initiatives hinder collaboration between IT, Commercial, and Operations
Initiatives are often heavily interlinked across IT and business. On top of C-level buy-in, they require a combined team effort with designated project management and shared priorities. Implementing an e-commerce solution involves equal parts IT enablement and operational change.
Locally varying practices prevent a cohesive customer experience
Global process ownership and an aligned operating model are imperative for translating global ambitions into local market practices. Fragmented pricing processes prevent adaptation to market conditions and customer needs that call for globally coordinated responses.
IT infrastructure is not fit for global scale and customer needs
Legacy systems and specialised solutions were built to meet business requirements as they were at that time. These are no longer fit for purpose, as they do not allow flexibility to adapt to changing business processes. Having a sustainable and scalable IT infrastructure is crucial for connecting departments and effectively responding to evolving customer needs.

GN collaborated with NORTH to establish a central price engine that leverages best practice technology standards. The initiative simplified and streamlined existing pricing practices, aligning with the strategic intent of enhancing organisational flexibility while mitigating risks tied to global commercial transformation.

“ Customers expect efficiency, seamless communication, and transparency at every step of the customer journey. Delivering to high expectations requires setting the right limitations and success criteria to avoid the trap of eternity projects. NORTH’s focus on sound design principles and coherent integration makes exactly this possible.”

— Brian Lauridsen, Head of Pricing, GN Hearing

Solution

Phase 1: Identifying disconnects

GN Hearing’s ambition to implement a global e-commerce solution with accurate customer pricing necessitates a single source of truth in the form of a global pricing repository. NORTH assisted in analysing the tools and practices used during pricing processes to understand the business requirements and challenges of the current setup. The analysis revealed high variance in pricing practices due to evolving process maturity and governance structures, with existing methods heavily reliant on tacit knowledge.

Phase 2: Designing global processes adaptable to customer needs supported with one scalable technology

The identified disconnects highlighted the need for GN to shift decisively from locally defined practices toward one global and customer-centric design. This involves implementing tools that support business requirements and digital ambitions across markets and local organisations. Selected stakeholders from key markets were mobilised to validate the process design, assess the feasibility of required changes, and advocate the transformation. The guiding design principle was “Globally aligned, locally managed”.

Phase 3: Guiding the digital transformation journey and process ownership anchoring

NORTH guided GN Hearing in establishing a digital transformation program that consolidated and prioritised key organisational initiatives. This included defining a process model and assigning global process owners with a decision mandate to develop and mature respective business processes. This was required for effective decision-making and the implementation of cross-functional, global solutions, enabling GN to establish new sales channels and local sales teams to leverage improved pricing capabilities to meet growth targets.