Central command
Remi Gruszka, national sales manager for Smart Vision Systems, explains how Business Pilot became central to their operations.
We are a nationwide commercial fabricator and installer of aluminium windows and doors. We started small but grew very quickly as our reputation spread.
As we grew, took on more people, and carried out more jobs, the original systems we had in place quickly became obsolete. At one point, we sat down and realised that we didn’t have proper oversight of the business.
Someone would ask us, ‘when’s the glass coming?’ and we would have to call the supplier. Someone else would ask ‘when is this invoice being paid?’ and another phone call would have to be made. It was a constant battle of information where nobody knew anything, things weren’t being chased, and sometimes we weren’t even sure if some things had been ordered.
We started looking at different systems, such as CRMs and Excel spreadsheets, but everything was just so convoluted and segregated. We had things in Excel, Xero, Logical, and it was a mess. Nobody in the business could really tell you anything. We didn’t even know where we were going on some days.
Then, at the FIT Show in 2021, we looked at all the serious CRM options on the market, and decided to go with Business Pilot.
Because of our previous experience, I’ve got to be honest and say that we weren’t very hopeful at the start, because it was another system to learn, and another set of things to do.
But, we jumped in with both feet and moved everything over to Business Pilot. We went from 0 to 60 in a matter of days, and before we knew where we were, we discovered we knew things! For example, not only did we know when the glass was arriving, we could also track it. Then we discovered that we were overspending on glass. It was actually an admin error on the glass company’s side, but no one had been able to track it before.
So, all of a sudden, everyone in the business knew things. Anyone could type in a purchase order number and see it. We got in the habit of calling our suppliers, and confirming orders. Before, we would be on site, waiting for an order to come and it would never come, because nobody’s confirmed it.
We quickly found that Business Pilot worked around our needs, rather than the other way round, and we could add in the fields we required to make our business run more efficiently.
There are two specific elements that I personally really like about Business Pilot. The first is a process that we never had before, and that’s a ‘lead to contract conversion’, where different processes are automatically activated as a lead progresses to a full contract. The right people are informed at the right time, certain emails get sent, certain tasks are automated, and nothing is left unattended.
The second is the Schedule Board. Very recently we put a massive TV up on the wall in the office where people can see the live updates in real time. Everyone can see at a glance if leads are converted, and how contracts are progressing on site.
And let’s not forget the FENSA integration, which, with Business Pilot, you can easily do! Before, we had to pull in all the details, put it into the system, go into Fensa’s website, and register the installation. Now, it literally takes five seconds – click and confirm.
Before, we had to go back into the portal after Fensa had issued a registration number to take a physical note of it. Business Pilot does that for you – it’s already there.
Business Pilot is that critical central command that was missing from our operations.
If you look at any other industry around us, you’ll see that they are 100% automated. In this industry you’ve got software to do your quotes, you’ve got software to manage production, you’ve got software to co-ordinate transport. And so on. We simply needed something to pull all those things together.
Business Pilot isn’t trying to be everything, but it is trying to be the central hub of everything. And that was a key reason why we chose Business Pilot at the FIT Show in 2021, and its completely changed the way we work.