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EZS Parkeersystemen centralizes its service process with FieldBuddy and AFAS
full implementation
invoicing fully automated
for personal customer contact
- Preventive Maintenance
- Inventory Management
- Service Contracts
- Asset management
- Checklist
- Digital Work Orders
- Maintenance
- Installation
- AFAS
Challenges
- Work orders on paper and scattered Excel sheets
- No single source of truth
- Growth made the paper-based process unmanageable
Solutions
- FieldBuddy and AFAS implemented simultaneously
- Digital work orders on tablets, signed on location
- Work orders automatically forwarded to administration
Benefits
- All information centralized and reliable
- Faster and more accurate invoicing
- More time for personal customer contact
One source, one solution
EZS Parkeersystemen B.V. was looking in 2014 for a solution that could manage the entire service process from a single source of information. Because EZS wants to stand out through service, the company from Beverwijk chose the combination of AFAS and FieldBuddy.
EZS Parkeersystemen in Beverwijk was founded in 2005 by three partners who already had extensive experience in the parking industry. The company focuses on four disciplines, explains Siegfried Zeggen, the “Z” of EZS: pre-payment, post-payment, access control and service. “With pre-payment, think of the parking machines you see in municipalities across the country. All of the Netherlands is our work area, from Delfzijl to Sluis. Post-payment usually happens in a parking garage or on a parking lot: we have solutions for that too. We also handle access control at office complexes, for companies that want a physically secured parking area for their staff and visitors.”
Reliable and structured information, centrally stored, that was what it was all about for us.
In one go
That’s why the company started looking in 2014 for a solution that could safeguard EZS’s future as a service organization. Zeggen: “We conducted a review to assess where we were as a service organization at the time and what we needed to keep delivering that service as a growing company.” EZS studied various options but ultimately chose the combination of AFAS and FieldBuddy. “We decided on both in one go, because they connect seamlessly: AFAS for administration, FieldBuddy for service.”
Zeggen knows exactly why he chose both providers at the time. “We chose AFAS mainly because it allowed us to work in the cloud, without a physical server. On top of that, little customization is needed: you can already configure a great deal in the financial and project administration out of the box. With FieldBuddy, what stood out most was that we could make our three product groups physically recognizable in the system. Take a parking machine: it doesn’t have an address. Imagine it’s on Dorpsstraat, but there are three other machines on that same street. Or the street is three kilometres long. Even those kinds of assets can be entered in FieldBuddy. You can also add characteristics to each device, such as its maintenance history. The combination with planning also appealed to us greatly.”
There is now more time for personal contact with the customer, because our technicians spend less time on administration while on the road.
Central and reliable information
EZS took a year to set up and fine-tune both systems. “Of course, it took some getting used to at first. We paid daily attention to FieldBuddy in particular, because we customized that system more to our process than AFAS,” says Zeggen. “Until then, we worked with paper work orders and Excel sheets. Working with an order booklet worked just fine, that wasn’t the issue. On paper, you can sometimes do a little more: you can deviate slightly from the standard path. Sometimes a customer needs that, and for a service-oriented organization that matters. But order booklets and Excel sheets also have disadvantages: you work in a decentralized way with different lists. We wanted to eliminate that fragmentation. It was never about making huge cost savings. Reliable and structured information, centrally stored, that was what it was all about for us.”
Instead of using an order booklet, technicians now take a tablet with them. Every day they visit the many machines that receive service under maintenance contracts, both preventive and corrective. Zeggen: “Our maintenance is coordinated with the customer and built into the planning. For fault reports, we always ask for as much information as possible in advance, so the technician can resolve the issue quickly and efficiently. It also helps our service manager decide which technician to deploy. Technicians receive a digital work order for each job, which the customer signs on location. Once the work order is submitted to our administration, it’s checked to determine which work falls within the contract. Anything outside the contract goes straight to AFAS to be invoiced. It’s one continuous process.”
Trust
With AFAS and FieldBuddy, EZS can deliver on its commitment to making a difference as a service organization every day. Zeggen: “Our technicians always stop by the customer. That way, they can build a relationship with them, and we know how important it is that customers trust us. There’s now more time for that personal contact, because our technicians spend less time on administration while on the road. That’s also a major benefit of this solution.”
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