Platform on civil engineering, underground infrastructure, energy, construction equipment & construction machinery
The innovative EBC Group has been working with Cleverdesk since 2019 to better organize projects in underground infrastructure. We speak to Frank Pijper, Technical Director and co-owner of EBC Group about Idea101's software solution. Have EBC's operations become more organized? Has time savings been achieved? And what is EBC Group's vision?
EBC Group specializes in the efficient and safe construction and maintenance of fiber optic networks. EBC's strength lies in unburdening the customer. By using unique techniques, they offer total solutions in the field of fiber optic networks. As a result, they have become an international player in the industry over the past twenty years. They now work with about 120 people (own and cooperation partners) on challenging projects.
"In recent years the focus has mainly been on the German market," says Pijper. "By starting mainly in the outlying areas of Germany, where we cause as little nuisance as possible, we have grown rapidly." The market in Germany is quite behind the Dutch market, so there are plenty of opportunities here. EBC also has a unique take on working with subcontractors, whom they call partners. Taking good care of these partners has created a lot of goodwill, which in turn allows EBC to guarantee quality work that is finished on time.
EBC chose Cleverdesk in 2019 because they wanted to optimize their processes and that the intended growth was supported. "We have saved 2-3 FTE so far," says Pijper. "This has come about in part because of Cleverdesk. A lot of administration is required for drilling in the ground, often people are holding the same data. A system like Cleverdesk provides a single point of truth. We want to expand this further in the coming year."
User-friendly ERP software for companies working with people and equipment. Cleverdesk is a product of Idee101 BV in Assen, the Netherlands, where 17 people work enthusiastically on digitization every day.
Cleveresk combines online planning, projects, production progress, equipment, timekeeping, invoicing all in one place, whether via CleverApp (Ios/Android) or tablet or desktop. With CleverApi you can use the standard financial links, or develop your own link with your package.
The calculation from Bakker & Spees is read into Cleverdesk in CUF format. Once the project has started, all hours, work, materials, deliveries, etc. are tracked in Cleverdesk. Invoicing is also linked to the financial package of EBC Group. This allows for faster invoicing and real-time financial insight into the projects.
During implementation, it turned out that some customization was needed. Cleverdesk is, of course, a standard system and EBC Group's business requires specific options. Cleverdesk is now almost completely tailored to their business process. "80% is exactly how we wanted it," says Pijper. "We started with recording purchases and raising suppliers by listing purchase order numbers on invoices, then timekeeping for all employees and equipment, work orders and projects, booking purchase invoices and creating sales invoices. We now use about 80% of the options and functionalities we want to deploy."
"We are not yet using planning as we would like," Pijper believes. "We want to work with the product & innovation team at Idea101 to achieve deeper project planning. Another wish is big data. We have come a long way with this, using PowerBI to extract information from Cleverdesk (and all kinds of other software), so that we have the right dashboards to be able to intervene even earlier on our projects, where necessary."
"Three years ago, there was only Excel. Purchasing was done on paper in a notebook," Pijper outlines. "Then we started creating projects in Cleverdesk. Then we moved on to hours and materials in Cleverdesk. Then purchase invoices. Each time we noticed that investing and setting up the software cost us time and money in the short term, but in the long term it makes for a well-organized company."
