Dimix is active as a wholesaler in the graphics sector and known as an experienced total supplier and involved discussion partner for whom the challenge of the customer is central. Dimix supplies specialized printing solutions, related consumables and services to sign makers, professional advertising production companies, visual communication specialists, laminating companies, photo labs, repro & copy shops and many others.
Industrial customers who need professional printing solutions for large format printing or for printing objects are also increasingly finding their way to Dimix.
Next to installing and demonstrating products, Dimix also takes care of the maintenance of their customers’ devices.
I have to say, a third of our company is service-related. Maintaining our customers’ devices is a very important part of our business. This is where we have grown significantly.
Lars Vreeke
ceo and founder
Around the year 2015-2016, Dimix started to grow strongly. Although initially new customers didn’t consider them as a service company, one third of their turn-over was now field service driven. “I have to say, a third of our company is service-related. Maintaining our customers’ devices is a very important part of our business. This is where we have grown significantly,” says Lars Vreeke, CEO and Founder of Dimix. Good service was equally important to customers. It was time to redefine the company also as a field service organization. And part of that exercise was to select a field service management software.
Needs
Now that field service had become an important part of the turnover, the Dimix team had a few points they wanted to improve. The first step was to get rid of the paperwork. The second point was to plan and service more accurately, and the third was to be integrated with their ERP Exact Oline.
“It is of course a huge step when you transition from work orders to an automated system such as Odyssee. “
Lars Vreeke
ceo and founder
Benefits
In step one, maybe the most transformational one, Dimix transitioned from paper to full digital work order management. From an excel planning to an automated planning board. In a few weeks, this transition was operational and technicians could not see themselves going back to paper anymore. The Odyssee Field Service app now provided technicians with a detailed overview of every equipment. Remarks done by technicians in past work orders, became available. With this extra information, technicians started slowly but surely to give a better service to customers and increased the number of repairs after the first visit. Customer satisfaction increased, resulting in more service contracts sold.
“We started in the “paper work order era”, and now find ourselves in a fully automated environment”
Lars Vreeke
ceo and founder
With the automated planning board, planners could plan accurately but more important, customers were timely and automatically informed about the status of their call requests. This alone resulted in a reduced number of calls from customers just to know when a technician would come to resolve the problem.
Dimix also required to be integrated with their ERP Exact Online, a well-known ERP in the Benelux. Customers, people and parts were now automatically synchronized to Odyssee Field Service, and invoicables were synchronized to Exact Online as soon as the workorder was completed in Odyssee. The administrative burden of typing everything from the paper into Exact, was completely removed. Time can now be dedicated to the relationship with customers and the follow-up of invoices, instead of re-typing invoices from paper.
A couple of years later…
Dimix field service activities continued to evolve strongly throughout the years. So Dimix started to use more options from Odyssee. Today, Dimix has integrated stock management into the Odyssee solution, increasing even further the first-time-fix rate. Technicians can see what parts are missing for a specific planned work order. They can as well access the stock situation of colleagues and decentralized warehouses. Whenever a colleague or warehouse is close, they can pick-up that missing parts easily. All used quantities are also given back in realtime to Exact Online, allowing for just-in-time re-ordering of parts, which in turn reduces the mean time to repair.
Dimix also has some complex maintenance and repair processes. These service processes take a lot of time.
“It is true that we have very complex – and also very simple – maintenance tasks, which sometimes may take a long time and that cannot disappear from our radar.”
Lars Vreeke
ceo and founder
It was easy to forget something. So Dimix started to use the Odyssee Helpdesk module. Call requests now start from this module. Tickets can be assigned to different people and, have planned activities. So if a call request involves a new quote, a customer approval or is waiting for new ordered parts, it helps a lot to be reminded of it. Some of them can be resolved easily, but other tickets require an on site intervention and are escalated to a work order.
It also adds an extra channel: the customer portal. Customers can initiate tickets themselves through the customer portal, already linked to the right equipment, if they want.
“Because of the efficiency and profit we achieve by collaborating with Odyssee, we can do more work with the same amount of people, so that we remain competitive in the market. “
Lars Vreeke
ceo and founder
The future?
The general trend in the market is that margins are going down. People no longer want to pay for the service they receive. There are providers who think they can do it all for a very low price, and Dimix has to compete with them as an expensive organization. So Dimix has to distinguish itself but also stress how efficient they are. “We have big accounts, professional players who manufacture their products in the Netherlands or Belgium, and who really expect us to be available 24/24,” says Lars Vreeke. “Because of the efficiency and profit we achieve by collaborating with Odyssee, we can do more work with the same amount of people, so that we remain competitive in the market.“