Managing hundreds of work orders a week is complicated, time-consuming and downright frustrating for busy service companies. Especially when you consider that field technicians often spend only about 32% of their time with customers, due to the significant amount of time taken up with administrative tasks and inefficient work order processes.
That’s why more and more companies are switching to field service management software to save time, money, and improve coordination between field and office staff. We interviewed Geert-Jan Snoeijer to see how Campenaer Koffie is doing exactly this.
Manually managing jobs and schedules was creating endless admin
Source: Campenaer Koffie
Since 2014, Campenaer Koffie has been fueling businesses, schools, and sports clubs across the Netherlands with great coffee through its top-of-the-range machines and premium coffee beans. And aside from tasty coffee, what makes it stand out from other coffee companies is its commitment to providing excellent customer service.
But as the business grew, making schedules and keeping in contact with its technicians, fitters, and drivers was becoming impossible to manage with WhatsApp, phone calls, and paperwork orders alone.
Managing a large fleet of coffee machines across so many customer sites was also becoming increasingly difficult using only Excel sheets or manual processes. All of this meant that Campenaer Koffie needed to find a better way to manage its field service operations for both office and field staff.
Digitising field service operations with Simple-Simon
One of Campenaer Koffie’s field technicians set about researching field service software that could meet their needs. Thanks to its ease of use, advanced features, and seamless integration with their existing ERP system, Exact, Simple-Simon quickly emerged as the best fit.
Within a few weeks, Campenaer Koffie could create and execute digital work orders, optimise its field service operations, and manage its assets—all in one software (and mobile app) that is connected with Exact for faster and more accurate invoicing.
Real-time plan board
With the real-time plan board, Campenaer Koffie can plan appointments and create optimal schedules for its field technicians based on their home location, distances between sites, and other factors. And if there is any unexpected issue, such as a cancelled appointment, the office team can revise the schedule, and the technician’s schedule in the app will be automatically updated too.
Combine that with automated time tracking and in-app communication, and you’ll quickly understand how using Simple-Simon can eliminate messy, frantic communications between office and field staff when things change (and things will inevitably change from time to time!).
Digital work orders
By integrating digital work orders with its wider field operations and accounting systems, there is now way less chasing down work orders, fewer errors and no missing or incomplete work orders as the mobile app won’t let jobs be marked as complete until the work order is correctly submitted.
As Geert-Jan Snoeijer explains: “It’s clear, comprehensive, and understandable for our technicians even in the field. So it removes a lot of questions and noise from our communication, and we are very pleased with that.”
Asset management
Keeping track of customer locations and the machines that they have is now so much easier with Simple-Simon’s asset management feature. Campenaer Koffie’s team now have full visibility of their machines, maintenance logs, and other essential information.
Reducing daily admin from 3.5 hours to just 30 minutes
With this field service software in place, there is less administrative work for both office and field staff. Geert-Jan shares the business impact of this: “Thanks to Simple-Simon, Campenaer Koffie has reduced the time we spend on administrative processes from 3.5 hours a day to just half an hour.”
This productivity gain applies to office teams who can process work orders much faster, but also to field staff who no longer have to spend ages manually completing every item in a work order, calculating their time, etc.
Delivering better service to a growing customer base
Less time spent on admin means more time to focus on delivering excellent service to every customer, whether that’s during appointments or the pre- or after-sales support. And that’s hugely important to companies like Campenaer Koffie, which has spent years building a loyal nationwide customer base.
Plus, unlike some field service software, Simple-Simon keeps customers up-to-date on their appointment with automated alerts via SMS or email. Happier customers, happier technicians, and happier field staff—a win-win scenario.
Avoiding invoicing delays and errors with accounting software integration
If work orders are submitted late, incomplete, or inaccurate, it delays the whole invoicing process. Now, with the integration between their field service software and ERP system, Campenaer Koffie can quickly turn work orders into invoices and issue them to the clients.
Faster invoicing means the payment term period kicks in sooner, leading to faster payment, fewer chasing invoices, and, of course happier accounting and finance teams.
Integrating Simple-Simon with ERP and accounting systems
Don’t use Exact as your ERP system? No problem! Simple-Simon connects with over 80 ERP, accounting, and calendar solutions so that you no longer have to match up work orders and invoices in separate systems again.
Check out the readily available integrations for Simple-Simon, and if we don’t have one for your tech stack yet, we can quickly develop one.
How field service management software can help you save time and money
When you’re managing dozens (or even hundreds) of jobs each week, the right tool can make a huge difference. Field service management software like Simple-Simon helps you make your field operations more efficient, but without adding complexity or high costs. That means you can:
- Reduce hours of daily admin
- Plan and adjust schedules in real-time
- Reduce errors and incomplete work orders
- Improve communication between field and office staff
- Keep track of assets and job history effortlessly
- Speed up invoicing with ERP integrations
Simple-Simon is already trusted by thousands of field service professionals across Europe and the US who use it every day to make the lives of their office staff and field technicians easier, and create happy customers. Want to see how it can help your business? Get a 14-day free trial today.