With a global pandemic, Grundfos had to look for new ways to connect with customers. We sat down with Marielle Ekström and Nicolai Kallestrup from Grundfos to talk about how they found a new and easy way to meet customers. 

Before the pandemic, Grundfos was already looking into using virtual reality (VR) as a way to meet customers.

However, when the world was put on lockdown and in-person meetings were no longer an option, instead of panicking, Grundfos chose to make the best out of a bad situation. They intensified their focus on innovation and worked to find a new way to connect a dispersed workforce, meet customers and manage projects across the globe. 

We spoke with Marielle Ekström, Senior Marketing Project Manager and Nikolai Kallestrup, Designer & Concept Developer from Grundfos about why they chose to work with SynergyXR and how the platform helped them through one of the biggest global challenges in recent memory.

Why did you start using SynergyXR?

Marielle Ekström: With COVID-19 on the rise, traveling wasn’t an option, so we had to come up with alternative ways of meeting with our customers.

Nikolai Kallestrup: With SynergyXR, we can show our products at scale in 3D right in front of our customers, something that PowerPoint simply can’t do. When our customers can stand next to a 1:1 3D model, we can be more specific about important parts of the products. This helps us deliver a richer, more complete customer experience.

How did SynergyXR help?

Marielle Ekström: Meeting customers in virtual reality with SynergyXR turned out to be a huge success! Not only were we able to meet and greet customers, but we were also able to explore the virtual pump room we designed for them at the same time.

Nikolai Kallestrup: As it turned out, our customers were more comfortable and relaxed when using SynergyXR than on Zoom and Teams. And they were clearly amazed by being invited into virtual reality and expressed joy and excitement at a level we’d never experienced in our usual video calls!

Is this something you’ll continue to use?

Marielle Ekström: Hosting customer meetings in virtual reality allows us to present complex solutions and detailed 3D models in new ways, so this is definitely something we’ll continue to do together with our customers. It’s also a very cost and time-efficient way to meet and a good complement to traditional face-to-face meetings. And of course, traveling less for meetings helps us save money and fight climate change.

Nikolai Kallestrup: SynergyXR gives us a competitive edge as it requires less internal resources and helps us stay close to our customers. We’ll never completely replace our face-to-face connections, but with virtual reality, we have a valuable and environmentally friendly complement, which is important to us as a sustainable company.