Piscine Hippocampe's journey to efficiency

Summary

With Zoho Creator, Piscine Hippocampe was able to overcome challenges that included complex manufacturing processes and software inefficiencies. The user-friendly ERP solutions helped streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and save more than five to ten hours per week. Zoho Creator's simplicity and customization empowered them to provide exceptional service efficiently.

The company

Founded in 1977, Piscine Hippocampe, a Canadian family business, focuses on manufacturing, installing, and selling in-ground pools, above-ground pools, hot tubs, and outdoor furniture. Their comprehensive approach encompasses manufacturing, retailing, installing, and servicing customers.

The challenges

Piscine Hippocampe faced challenges due to the complexity of their manufacturing processes, where everything from sourcing parts to transportation and installation needed to be perfectly coordinated. Their old software system, Acomba, was outdated and lacked integration capabilities. This led to inefficiencies, time-consuming manual tasks, and frequent errors.

Their processes were further complicated by using a mix of Excel, Acomba, and Servex. This system was disjointed, relying on multiple add-ons to stitch together functions. Slow manual operations, especially for invoicing, became a major issue.

There was also no integration between Servex and their inventory or accounting systems, which made managing inventory even more difficult after integrating their online shop. This often led to stock mismatches and delays. The disconnected systems also created gaps in communication, resulting in frequent errors and slowdowns that hurt overall business efficiency. Along with this, customer payments were complicated, often leading to delays and the need to manually adjust sales data.

The solution

To address these challenges, Piscine Hippocampe sought an ERP solution capable of integrating all their current processes and software. After exploring various options, they found Zoho to be the simplest yet most comprehensive solution. Despite user-friendly interfaces, Zoho products offered deep customization to suit complex processes. Recognizing the need for a knowledgeable partner, they turned to the Zoho Partner Program and found BSP (a Zoho Premium Partner).

With Zoho Creator, Piscine Hippocampe automated and centralized their operations. The ERP unified sales, service tracking, and inventory management, reducing manual input. Zoho Creator became the cornerstone of their operations, funnelling every aspect of the business through its centralized system. This integration simplified the business process by connecting Zoho Creator to other Zoho apps and external tools. For example, Zoho Flow gathered all online orders received through Shopify and sent them directly to Zoho Creator, ensuring real-time stock updates and minimizing discrepancies. Zoho Forms helped them collect and organize customer information.

Before Zoho Creator, service call scheduling was a manual process that involved reading a lot of emails and creating schedules in Excel. With Zoho Forms and Zoho Flow, this entire process was automated, saving considerable time by automatically triggering service calls and updates.

Everything that needed to be handled on the accounting side was seamlessly sent to Zoho Books via API, and the customer and vendor databases were stored in Zoho CRM. The flexibility of Zoho Creator empowered them to continuously adapt and customize workflows according to their evolving business needs.

In addition to this, Zoho Books complemented Zoho Creator by ensuring smooth financial operations, improving accuracy, and reducing errors in billing and transactions. Zoho Sheets was also integrated for effective data management, further enhancing the overall system’s efficiency. Automating invoices and customer payments through the point-of-sale system sped up payment processing and reduced errors, while service tracking enabled their field service team to efficiently manage appointments and customer requests, keeping all teams aligned.

Benefits and ROI

Piscine Hippocampe utilizes Zoho Creator as their point-of-sale system, with specific models tailored for customer orders of hot tubs, in-ground pools, or above-ground pools. This customization was part of a broader ERP solution that integrated the inventory and management systems of their business. Additionally, they developed a comprehensive service model to efficiently address post-purchase needs.

A significant improvement came with their ability to swiftly access customer information during checkout. Before Zoho Creator, searching through the customer database was time-consuming; after integration, it took just three seconds. This allowed customers to make their purchases quickly, simplifying their experience.

Zoho Creator’s automation capabilities reduced manual effort and errors, especially for scheduling service calls and managing post-sale processes. The seamless integration of Zoho Flow with Shopify and Zoho Books optimized financial transactions, invoicing, and real-time inventory management and saves the company five to ten hours each week. Additionally, the integration of Zoho Forms streamlined the collection of customer information, while Zoho Sheets further ensured that data management was efficient and accessible.

Together, these tools optimized the company’s workflows, improving customer satisfaction and overall business operations.

Looking forward

As Piscine Hippocampe continues to evolve, they are well-positioned to leverage Zoho’s suite of products for even greater operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Piscine Hippocampe is looking to expand their use of Zoho Creator by adding new workflows and integrating additional tools. They are exploring advanced automation features for customer communication, stock replenishment, and reporting, which will help streamline operations even further. Additionally, they plan to refine their service call management system, enhancing how they handle appointments and customer requests.

The company also aims to further integrate Zoho Creator with other platforms, ensuring that their entire business remains centralized and efficient as they grow. With their foundation set by Zoho, the company looks forward to exploring more automation, data insights, and innovations that will support their growth and meet the changing needs and expectations of their customers.