Customer Success | Kozijnbouw

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Arjan Paalman

Financial Director

Even the most successful companies need to review their back office systems periodically if they want to keep growing. When this Dutch manufacturing firm did just that, they decided it was time to switch to Act! CRM.

For the last 17 years, Kozijnbouw in Enschede has manufactured and fitted window frames, doors and dormers for houses, apartments, garages and houseboats across the Netherlands.

Helped by a strong economy and increasing demand for more energy-efficient products, the company’s gone from strength to strength – it’s often described as ‘the country’s largest renovation manufacturer’. While such success has obviously been welcome, it’s also served to highlight inefficiencies with the company’s processes, as Financial Director, Arjan Paalman, explains.

“With our old systems, each department was using Excel spreadsheets to manage its own customer database, but as we’ve grown, inputting data like this is getting more and more time-consuming. Keeping that going would have been unsustainable and led to more and more errors creeping in.”

Because everyone can access the information that’s relevant to them, we’ve been able to cut potential errors substantially, as well as saving a great deal of time.

New system needed

“Given this, we decided we needed something that would give us more of a customised experience and better connect our processes and data, much like an ERP solution.”

So, back in 2011, Arjan and his team started looking at various CRM software and after comparing the options on the market decided that Act! CRM offered them the best solution. Decision made, they turned to an Act! Certified Consultants (ACC) to help them set up the system.

“They seemed a good fit for us,” says Arjan, “so we hired them and we’re glad we did because they listened and quickly understood what we needed. That meant, after just a couple brainstorming sessions with us, they came up with a proposal for customising Act! CRM by using various add-ons. We then gave them feedback on their ideas and from that, they were able to create a final, definitive version.”

Now we’re better able to manage and organise not just the production side of things, but also schedule the work of our ten fitting teams much more efficiently. For us, Act! CRM has truly added value to the business.

Errors cut and time saved

“We knew that any new system was unlikely to give us exactly what we wanted straight off the bat,” says Arjan, “so, as a safeguard and to give us time to get used to a different way of working, we decided to run Excel and Act! CRM in parallel for a time.”

But Arjan didn’t have to worry. Act! CRM quickly proved itself capable of handling all that was required. In fact, so pleased is Arjan with the software that he’s been recommending it to other companies who are also using it happily.

At Kozijnbouw in Enschede, all customer data, management reports and projected sales figures now are stored centrally on Act! CRM. This means every department has the up-to-date information they need at a glance.

“Because everyone can access the information that’s relevant to them”, says Arjan “we’ve been able to cut potential errors substantially, as well as saving a great deal of time.

Act! CRM has also given the business additional tools with which it can better plan manufacturing. “So, now we’re better able to manage and organise not just the production side of things, but also schedule the work of our ten fitting teams much more efficiently,” says Arjan. “For us, Act! CRM has truly added value to the business.

Key Takeaways

The company was looking for technology that would manage some of its back-office functions much like an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
To ensure Act! CRM best met their business needs, Kozijnbouw in Enschede brought in a Act! Certified Consultant (ACC) to customise the software for them.
In all, the ACC identified ten specific addons that would give the company the tailored solution it was looking for.
One add-on was a telephone preference module that ensures Kozijnbouw doesn’t make sales calls to people who have said they don’t want to be rung by businesses.
With Act! CRM in place, different departments in the company can now work much more effectively together in ways that weren’t possible with the old systems.
Arjan thinks Act! CRM may have had a positive impact on revenue and profits, but as they haven’t been measuring specifically for this it’s rather difficult to judge.

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