Plantura: sow structure, reap greater success

FIGHTING GROWING PAINS

Dries and his wife Liesbeth started their plant nursery in 2015 and expanded it to wholesale 4 years later. All the while, they surrounded themselves with the best employees. "Over the years, we put together a top team at Plantura. Meanwhile, we are already about 20 employees," Dries explains. "But when you're suddenly no longer a small player, you also have to deal with growing pains. One of the symptoms is that the knowledge you passed on with so much passion disappears along with people who one day leave. Because the know-how is in their heads, and not in a system. Our processes were not written out in detail. To further professionalize and gain a foothold outside the Benelux, we needed to embed them digitally while simplifying them."

The forest through the trees

"Did you know that we distribute more than 300,000 products to landscapers, garden architects, cities and municipalities and large green space contractors? In order to see the forest for the trees, you have to evolve towards maximum efficiency in all your flows: from sales to accounting and the entire operational part of purchasing, logistics and delivery in between. I had encountered Robbie before, but now the time was ripe to really partner with Rezolv. It felt like a tipping point."

Cracking the code

"However, previous consulting assignments did not always go smoothly. You know how it goes with IT experts. They often talk in ones and zeros," says Dries. "We don't understand any of that and speak a completely different language. What triggered me from the start at Rezolv is that they have experience in wholesale. From the very first conversation, I felt a kind of empathy for an SME like ours. Unlike others, Rezolv did not immediately come up with expensive customized solutions, but first wanted to discover what we were up against and why. In order to build only what is really needed."

STUDY FIRST, THEN INSPIRE

Soon both parties agreed that Odoo should replace the existing ERP package. "We all had different systems and hired a freelancer to get them to communicate with each other as well as possible anyway. We wanted to get rid of that. But instead of blindly implementing Odoo, the 2 Rezolv consultants first conducted a thorough Review. I must say: rarely have I seen someone so bold. The consultants held long internal discussions, studied all the processes regarding quotations, purchasing and sales, and even went down to the warehouse to see how we work there. Afterwards, they shared all their findings in a well-organized presentation. Including detailed costing."

Step by step

"To be clear, Rezolv didn't just come and sell us an all-in ERP package. Based on the Rezolv Review, they argued that it was the best choice for us to bet on our CRM first and professionalize our quotations with Odoo. From the order section we then fell back on the existing system. All the more so because that still contains a lot of important data, such as all plant species and plant sizes. So a phased approach, tailored to our organizational and budgetary possibilities. And always with that one powerful sentence: 'This is how we would do it'. With the same empathy, their experts then conducted a technical analysis. To find out how we could maximally synchronize the old and the new package. What was absolutely necessary and what things were a nice extra to integrate?"

Challengers

"Such an analysis is actually a kind of blueprint of your future CRM system. Compare it to building a house. You first need a floor plan before you lay the first brick. That way, everyone knows what the system should be able to do and what the underlying reasons are. In drawing that out, Rezolv was very critical. If we asked, so to speak, for a blue button at the top right of a worksheet, they questioned that to see if it wouldn't be better to put a green button at the bottom left. That's one step beyond thinking along lol. They challenged us to look at things differently."

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

And so, with the Odoo implementation for making offers and following up on potential customers and tenders, the first CRM step has been taken. Although this does not yet translate into time savings. "We didn't expect that yet either. The previous system was so ingrained that it took some time to find it. But that is temporary and the latest tests confirm that Odoo will soon yield considerable time and efficiency gains. The sales force will be much more streamlined and focused. When someone approves a quotation, one push of a button is enough to turn it into an order. Searching for products to fill in quotations is already easier than ever before. This is no easy task, because with so many different parameters such as types, sizes, prices and suppliers, it is quite complex. They have done that cleverly at Rezolv."

Determined

"Phase one is almost over, then it's the turn of the accounting part. That should be fully in Odoo within nine months. Just in time for the mandatory e-invoicing and connection to the European PEPPOL network, in other words. Purchase and sales will follow. Each time something is covered, we start with the next. That's what I like about Rezolv's approach. Nice and down-to-earth and crystal clear. They don't jump beyond what we as customers can or want. And they say it right away when our expectations are unrealistic. Of course, as a customer, you are not satisfied all the time. But then it comes down to how you react: do you push the negative feedback aside or do you deal with it with determination to find a solution. We at Plantura always do the latter, Rezolv clearly does as well. In doing so, they live up to their name."