Zandi, the CRM system from First Degree Systems, is said to be so central to HWL Windows’ operations that the company has built its whole order processing function on it.

According to HWL, the system has helped it to save time and money, go paperless, and reduce errors.

“Zandi allows us to stay on top of our customer relationships,” said HWL director, Graham Howatson. “You can follow an order from a pre-quote stage all the way through to delivery without re-entering details. That way you are keeping on top of your customers’ requirements right from day one.

“Using Zandi has also meant we’ve been able to go paper free in our office. All documents we receive are digital, and these are attached to the related job file in Zandi.

“We’ve saved a small fortune on paper and ink, but it also means that people don’t have trays on their desks. We have boxes on Zandi that people are then assigned to.”

Zandi’s pre-quote/pre-order system allows users to capture customer details and any planned requirements. This content can then be converted to Window Designer quotes/orders by the click of a button. Zandi then interacts with Window Designer to populate it with all the relevant data.

On the customer service side, Zandi can log complaints and manage customer returns. Dashboards can give a snapshot of any outstanding issues, returns and replacements along with a workflow for items that need to be dealt with. Zandi also includes a suite of metrics so fabricators can assess where the fault areas are so they can be as proactive as possible.

“If you were to say to me that you are taking Zandi away from me, that would be extremely disruptive because it has become just an everyday part of our process, and it is really key,” Graham said.

“We’re also encouraging our customers to use the Zandi Portal. It makes life so much easier. For example, there is a digital sign off, so there’s no sending us an e-mail to say ‘can I proceed?’, and any relevant dialogue sits alongside the status updates within the job.

“So, there are no emails going backwards and forwards, which can be lost, and if there is a fault, then there’s a complete audit trail. One of our targets is to get the whole of our customer base using it, and I think that’s probably one of the best functions within that software.”