How Cabinetworks Group Streamlined Processes With IT Edge CRM

Following a merger of two well-known cabinetry companies, Cabinetworks Group has become one of the largest manufacturers in the space. In fact, they are the second-largest company of their kind in America, with offices and manufacturing facilities across the country. Their brands are favored by builders, dealers, distributors and home centers throughout North America. 

The entire team at Cabinetworks Group prides themselves on guiding their customers through the process of selection, ordering, delivery, installation assistance, billing, and field support. However, the company was facing challenges that hindered the effectiveness of field service operations. 

They knew that having the right technology could play a key role in helping them resolve these issues. However, they weren’t sure how to find a solution that could meet all of their needs. 

Challenges 

There were two major challenges that impacted the organization. Here’s a closer look at these what these issues were. 

Too much time spent on administrative tasks

Dispatchers and field service techs were spending too much time on administrative work. Meetings, in particular, were taking a lot of time that could be spent on more important tasks.

Information silos

The employees at Cabinetworks Group were struggling to find information across different devices and platforms. These silos were making it difficult for all employees to access the data they need. As a result, Cabinetworks Group employees were spending hours each week searching for critical information. This was impacting their efficiency and making it difficult to get work done. 

Cabinetworks Group needed a custom Salesforce solution to solve these problems but finding the right solution for their organization wasn’t easy. That’s when they turned to IT Edge CRM.

Solution: Streamlining field service projects with IT Edge CRM

IT Edge was able to provide the custom Salesforce solution to solve these problems and help Cabinetworks Group improve their processes. This is how the company benefits from the implementation. 

This custom Salesforce solution allows project coordinators, field supervisors, and managers to collaborate and run multi-family field service projects on a single, cloud-based platform. It can help every member of the team, in any location get the information they need. The project coordinators access the application via the desktop, and the field supervisors use iPads in the field. All users have access to important data, which speeds up internal processes and saves the company both money and time.

How it works 

The functionality of this application starts as soon as a contract closes. When this happens, a field service project is automatically created in the app. Then, the project coordinators can assign the project to the appropriate field supervisor. There are also mechanisms that allow employees to share projects with field service users who need access or who are assigned to a project. Additionally, managers can see the projects of their field services technicians. Any project can be flagged as escalated, which signals management to dive into the issues to get the project back on track.

Beyond that, truck deliveries are also aggregated and reported to management. This shows how many deliveries are happening weekly, and allows managers to track when scheduled dates or statuses change. The app also has a custom calendar that allows users to click and drag to reschedule projects and releases as needed. 

The IT Edge advantage 

IT Edge worked with Cabinetworks Group to ensure that their field supervisors could easily access the information they needed. Now, field supervisors can manage contacts, notes, schedules, open orders, and cases in the app.  Each release is manually connected to an order record and these records are synced daily from their ERP.

The biggest advantage for field supervisors is that they can always stay up to date because they access this program on a tablet while in the field at the project. In addition, information is available in real-time, so there is no risk of workers seeing something that is out of date.

The total annual savings that Cabinetworks Group reports show ROI on the project. After quantifying the time saved by employees, the team at Cabinetworks Group calculated that investing in this application saved them five times the initial development investment cost

Results

The reduced effort of field supervisors and project coordinators 

Since this solution gives field supervisors and project coordinators increased visibility, it’s much easier for them to manage day-to-day operations and reduce time spent in meetings. For example, Cabinetworks Group’s Friday “Florida Round-up meeting” used to take 1 hour per week. Now, this meeting only takes 15 minutes each week. In addition, Monday meetings used to run over time. Thanks to this solution from IT Edge, these meetings can be cut in half.

Sales managers are also spending less time gathering data. One regional sales manager was spending 6 days gathering SIOP data. Since implementing the IT Edge solution, they have been able to cut this time drastically, down to 3.5 to 4 days each week.

It’s also easier for field service managers to track deliveries because they can access master schedules and see all of their upcoming deliveries from a monthly, weekly, or daily standpoint. These are color-coded to represent confirmed and tentative deliveries. 

Better control of information

Now that all information is in a single location, Cabinetworks Group has been able to eliminate information silos and ensure that their team always has access to what they need. This benefits the entire company in several ways. First, they have been able to improve forecasting and reduce the effort to create forecasting reports. Increased accuracy is frequently reported during Monday meetings. 

ROI and reduced costs

The total annual savings that Cabinetworks Group reports show ROI on the project. After quantifying the time saved by employees, the team at Cabinetworks Group calculated that investing in this application saved them five times the initial development investment cost. This solution also gives the team the ability to manage escalated projects at a more detailed level, which helps mitigate changes and reduce back charges.

Additionally, the field service technicians are now using cost-effective platform licenses, which grant access to the Salesforce platform and custom-built functionality at a lower subscription cost.

Result: Success

Since partnering with IT Edge, Cabinetworks Group has been able to streamline administrative processes and make it easier for all employees to get the information they need, whether they are in the office or on-site. As a result, they’ve been able to save time, money, and provide high levels of service with ease.