Case Study: Leveraging Strategic Relationships to Access a $100M+ Enterprise Transformation
TRATON Group: Multi-Brand Siemens Displacement (Ongoing)
This case demonstrates strategic account thinking at the highest level: recognizing a massive opportunity before competitors, leveraging relationship capital built over 18 months, and proactively orchestrating partnerships to position for an enterprise-scale transformation. The resurrection of a dormant account became the foundation for accessing a deal that would have otherwise been invisible to us.
The Opportunity
TRATON Group, a Volkswagen subsidiary, owns four commercial truck brands: Scania (Sweden), MAN Truck & Bus (Germany), Volkswagen Truck & Bus (Brazil), and Navistar/International (USA). Each brand had operated independently with different engineering tools and processes.
The transformation catalyst: TRATON was pursuing a multi-year platform standardization initiative to develop shared chassis and reusable components across all four brands.
The competitive landscape:
- Navistar had standardized on Siemens PLM tools nearly a decade earlier
- Scania (TRATON's "gold standard" brand with highest margins and innovation) was predominantly Dassault
- MAN was using mixed tools including Dassault's Simpack for multi-body dynamics
- TRATON appointed former Scania CEO as CEO of Navistar to drive transformation
The strategic insight: Reading TRATON investor materials, I recognized that platform standardization would require PLM/simulation tool standardization. Scania's dominance within TRATON meant they would set the standard. If I didn't influence this decision proactively, we would lose Navistar's business and be shut out of growth.
Why This Was My Story to Tell
The relationship foundation (see Case Study #1): When I inherited the Navistar account in May 2022, it had been dormant for a decade at $250K annual revenue. Over 18 months, I transformed it to $600K with $500K-$1M additional growth in pipeline through systematic relationship building and value delivery.
The critical reality: I was the only person at Dassault Systèmes with any meaningful relationships at Navistar. The account had been neglected for over a decade. No one else had engineering contacts. No one else had management relationships. No one else understood their technical workflows or business priorities. Without the relationships I built over 18 months, we would have had zero visibility into TRATON's transformation plans.
The strategic leverage:
- Without my Navistar resurrection, we wouldn't have been monitoring TRATON investor materials
- Without those relationships, we wouldn't have learned Accenture was advising TRATON's C-suite on the transformation
- Without someone actively engaged at Navistar, this opportunity would have been completely invisible to Dassault
- Without proactive engagement, we would have been an afterthought in Accenture's timeline
Critical decision point: The client executive and I recognized that waiting to be engaged would mean entering negotiations late with limited influence. We proactively reached out to our partner team to coordinate with Accenture and position ourselves as strategic co-sellers rather than vendors brought in after key decisions were made.
The Complexity
Multi-Brand Coordination:
- Scania (Sweden): Worked by European Dassault teams, predominantly using Abaqus (FEA) and PowerFLOW (CFD)
- MAN Truck & Bus (Germany): Worked by European teams, using Simpack (multi-body dynamics)
- Navistar/International (USA): My territory, using Abaqus but standardized on Siemens for most tools
- VW Truck & Bus (Brazil): Smaller presence in the deal
Technical Scope:
I developed the simulation displacement roadmap for all TRATON brands (Scania, MAN, Navistar, VW Truck & Bus), covering:
- FEA (Finite Element Analysis): Structural simulation and non-linear analysis
- CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics): Aerodynamics and thermal management
- Multi-body dynamics: Vehicle motion and suspension systems
- Vibro-acoustics: NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) analysis
- Process management: Workflow automation and data management
Strategic positioning: I had already converted Navistar to universal Simulia tokens (enabling use of all simulation tools), but their token pool would need significant expansion. The broader transformation also required:
- Displacing NX CAD with CATIA across all brands for file compatibility
- Implementing shared PLM infrastructure across four brands
- Cloud infrastructure and automation tools
Partnership Dynamics:
Accenture's role: Trusted advisor to TRATON C-suite with significantly larger scope ($160B market cap vs. Dassault's $35B). They were leading the transformation strategy and would rebuild systems and "glue" to automate everything as software transitioned.
My role: Not the overall deal lead (that was Accenture), but the lead for simulation strategy. I scoped the simulation landscape, explained how models flow from CAD to simulation, identified what data needed to be saved/documented/stored, and coordinated between:
- Dassault technical teams (who had the product knowledge)
- Accenture (who had the implementation and automation expertise)
- TRATON brands (who had the engineering requirements)
The Pricing Puzzle
One of the most complex aspects was navigating layered pricing agreements:
- TRATON Group: Subsidiary of Volkswagen AG
- Volkswagen AG: Had its own corporate pricing agreement with Dassault
- Each TRATON brand: Scania, MAN, and Navistar each had existing individual pricing agreements and legal terms
The challenge: How do you structure pricing for a shared platform when each subsidiary has different existing terms? Do you create a new TRATON-level agreement? Modify individual brand agreements? Leverage VW's corporate terms?
Resolving this required coordination between multiple legal teams, pricing specialists, and finance departments across Dassault, TRATON, and the individual brands. Additionally, incentives among different sales reps at Dassault were misaligned. If an agreement offered increased discount levels representative of the larger combined volume, individual account reps would take a negative hit against their quota. Structuring a deal that made business sense while navigating internal compensation politics added another layer of complexity.
Deal Magnitude & Timeline
Opportunity size: While not precisely calculated, this was clearly an 8-9 figure transformation:
- Navistar alone (my scope): $1-2M in Simulia, likely $2-6M in CATIA (hundreds of licenses), plus PLM infrastructure
- Multiply across 4 TRATON brands with Scania and MAN being larger operations
- Shared PLM system across all brands
- Cloud infrastructure and automation tools
- Multi-year phased implementation
Timeline: This deal was (and is) a multi-year transformation that was actively progressing when I departed in July 2024. These enterprise standardizations don't happen in quarters. They happen in years with phased rollouts.
Orchestration Required
Internal coordination (Dassault side):
- Client executive (strategic coordination, Accenture partnership)
- Partner team (Accenture relationship management)
- European account teams (Scania and MAN coordination)
- Technical engineers across simulation, CAD, and PLM
- Legal team (multi-layered contract negotiations)
- Pricing specialists (navigating VW corporate, TRATON, and brand-level agreements)
- Services team (implementation planning with Accenture)
- Deal Value Engineering (ROI modeling and business case development)
- IOC (Investment Oversight Committee) team for approvals
- Executive Committee (required reporting due to deal size and business impact)
- Senior Directors of Dassault Brand Sales teams (SIMULIA, CATIA, ENOVIA, etc.) since their revenues would be impacted by changes in licensing structure, revenue recognition, and volume discount allocation
Total: 30+ people coordinated
External stakeholders:
- Accenture transformation team (C-suite advisors)
- TRATON corporate leadership
- Engineering leadership across all 4 TRATON brands
- Navistar engineering directors and managers (my direct relationships)
- Scania and MAN engineering teams (through European colleagues)
- Legal and procurement across TRATON, VW, and individual brands
Total: 30-40+ people influenced
Status at My Departure
Strategic positioning achieved:
- TRATON was leaning toward Dassault standardization (Scania's influence as the gold standard brand)
- Successfully positioned as Accenture co-seller rather than afterthought vendor
- Simulation displacement roadmap developed and validated
- Navistar relationships and token infrastructure positioned for expansion
Deal structure scoped:
- Technical requirements mapped across all simulation domains
- Data flow and automation requirements identified with Accenture
- Pricing complexity identified (though not yet fully resolved)
- Multi-year phased approach outlined
Ongoing reality:
- Multi-year transformation still progressing after my departure
- Enterprise deals of this scale move in years, not quarters
- Phased implementation across brands will span multiple fiscal years
What This Demonstrates
Strategic thinking: Recognized a transformational opportunity by connecting dots others missed: reading investor materials, understanding corporate dynamics, recognizing that platform standardization requires tool standardization.
Relationship capital: 18 months of account resurrection work at Navistar created the foundation for accessing an opportunity that would have otherwise been invisible. Dormant accounts don't provide strategic intelligence.
Proactive positioning: Didn't wait to be invited to the conversation. Identified that Accenture was the key, engaged our partner team, and positioned ourselves as co-sellers before the opportunity was defined.
Complex orchestration: Navigated multiple brands, geographies, partner relationships, technical domains, and pricing structures simultaneously while maintaining strategic coherence.
Long-term value creation: This wasn't a quarterly transaction. This was multi-year positioning and relationship building that created an 8-9 figure opportunity pipeline.
Key Takeaway
The biggest deals don't come from leads. They come from recognizing patterns before they're obvious, building relationships before they're needed, and positioning proactively before opportunities are defined.