Digital transition: AKENA relies on Kizeo Forms to digitalise its business!
In this case study, Julien Micheneau, Communications Manager at AKENA, explains why the AKENA group chose Kizeo Forms in order to transform and convert its numerous paper forms into digital format.
Find out more about this service management software through this customer testimonial.
AKENA, the Queen of conservatories!
Founded in 1981, the AKENA group manufactures and markets its own range of conservatories. The company has a network of 70 branches in France, as well as a production site where 5,000 conservatories are made every year. The company is constantly working to improve and develop its products. AKENA currently employs 400 people and has a turnover of over €65 million.
To increase its market presence, AKENA has just acquired AZENCO, the No. 2 company in the pool enclosure market. The two brands and their combined turnover (over 100 million euros) have created the largest French manufacturer of verandas, pergolas and swimming pool covers. The AKENA Group is aiming for a 15% increase in turnover.
Digital forms: the key to success
To achieve this ambitious target, AKENA first wants to increase its production capacity, then open 20 additional branches and recruit 60 to 80 people.
What's more, projects have to be completed to ever-shorter deadlines, and the creation of bespoke outdoor landscaping requires extreme vigilance when it comes to the quality and sharing of all the information gathered.
Until now, AKENA employees (sales staff, quantity surveyors, fitters, after-sales service, etc.) used to fill in countless time-consuming paper forms, which sometimes came back incomplete or illegible. The data was generally re-entered on the computer, wasting time and leading to errors or omissions that sometimes led to misunderstandings on the part of customers.
In 2018, the company therefore decided to modernise by making a digital transition to gain in productivity and improve the working comfort of its teams.
Kizeo Forms, a tool equal to the challenge
Kizeo Forms was the obvious choice. The performance of this solution combined with its ease of use quickly convinced management.
For example, the ability to operate in disconnected mode (without the Internet), to send documents by email automatically after they have been entered on the tablet, to collect signatures from customers and to integrate and edit photos were all key features.
A two-person project team was set up and then trained in the use of Kizeo Forms by an external partner. Well supported, this team then set about creating multiple digital forms and deploying the solution internally.
Today, less than 10 months after the start of the project, the results are more than satisfactory.
The technicians enter all the field data on their tablets, incorporate photos and technical diagrams and have customers sign directly from their tablets.
We started by equipping the technicians who were likely to be the most adept at handling digital tablets. They were given a 2-hour training course, and then everyone practised. Now they have adopted the application, appreciate the ease of use and no longer use paper forms at all.
Today, reports following quantity surveys, installation reports, amendments, tooling requests and acceptance reports are filled in perfectly: any incomplete form cannot be recorded, because there are compulsory fields.
They are also enhanced with photos and automatically e-mailed to the right people in all the company's departments.
Information digitised in this way circulates quickly and certainly better than in the paper age.
The results obtained with Kizeo Forms
A project of this type requires progressive implementation. Within the next 3 months, we're going to accelerate the deployment of the Kizeo Forms solution and go from 25 to over 100 employees equipped.
Secondly, we want to interconnect Kizeo Forms with our ERP. By avoiding the need to re-enter files and photocopy documents, we're saving valuable working time (already several dozen hours a week).
We believe we have significantly reduced the number of errors on our sites.
Our technicians and account managers have now fully adopted the tool and find it more convenient to be equipped with digital tablets than to carry around kilos of paper files.
Kizeo Forms allows us to improve quality and communicate much more effectively internally, as all the documents created by the application are sent to the right people immediately after being entered on the tablet.
Testimonial from Christian SAUVETRE, Installation Manager at AKENA:
"I've been waiting for a tool like this for years, and with this first digital project we've taken a giant step forward!
I now supervise around fifty teams of 2 fitters. They have started using Kizeo Forms for site acceptance and installation reports. When the form is validated on the tablet, the customer automatically receives the document in his mailbox. Everything is also fed back into our ERP, which everyone has access to for tracking each job.
We have recently created material request forms, which are sent directly to our supplier shop, so that the teams can be restocked. In terms of time, we estimate that we've saved a week. We are also saving a lot of paper on order forms, which used to be 8 pages long.
In addition to Kizeo Forms, we have created videos to help with installation, which everyone can watch on their tablet. Very soon we'll be making the entire site file available. And we've got lots more ideas!
Thanks to Kizeo Forms, AKENA has considerably streamlined its internal processes, saving everyone time at every stage.
All in all, AKENA is improving customer satisfaction and positioning itself even further as the "Queen of verandas, pergolas and soon pool enclosures"!
Article translated from French