SunGroup: communication between customers and the factory is now fully automated

Introduction

Who is SunGroup?

SunGroup is a Danish B2B company located just outside Aarhus. They make curtains for sewing shops based on the specific measurements, colours and materials that the sewing shops’ B2C customers want.

So if you walk into a sewing shop in Denmark and order a curtain for your home, there is a good chance that SunGroup produces it.

SunGroup A/S is run by the same people behind Botex.

Delivers made-to-measure curtains to 50 sewing shops

When private customers ordered a curtain in one of the roughly 50 sewing shops that are SunGroup customers, the staff wrote down their specific wishes and sent them to SunGroup in an email. SunGroup then forwarded that email to the factory that was to produce the curtain. When the curtain was ready, the factory sent it to the sewing shop, which could hand it over to the private customer.

As you can probably tell, that is a fairly hands-on workflow.

Perhaps some integrations could help SunGroup and their customers make the communication a bit more automatic?

Read more about all our integrations.

What was the challenge?

A lot of time wasted on manual communication

SunGroup, their customers and the factory all spent a lot of time communicating about the specific orders:

• Have the measurements been entered correctly?
• Is the order on its way or has it stalled?
• Are there corrections from the private customer?

That was time everyone would rather spend on their core tasks. So you could reasonably call it wasted time, when a fully automatic solution exists.

Time-consuming and awkward to make corrections to orders

If a private customer suddenly discovered that they had measured incorrectly, that they would rather have rose-coloured curtains instead of pink, or that velour curtains did not suit the living room after all, it was difficult to change.

It required quite a bit of writing back and forth and could potentially stop production at the factory. Or perhaps the moment had passed, because production had already started.

But again, perhaps good integrations are the solution? That was certainly what Connectify was asked to help with when SunGroup got in touch.

What was the result?

The 3 most important changes

• The integration makes sure the form is filled in correctly and nothing is missing
• Invoicing happens automatically after the factory has shipped the order
• SunGroup does not have to enter anything – the customer does it!

No more freehand orders sent by email

All the hassle with orders sent back and forth by email is now over. With 365 Business Central as the central nerve of the solution, SunGroup’s customers can now handle all orders through a web application that is integrated with 365 Business Central.

When the sewing shops enter measurements, colours and material in the app – which is of course synchronised with 365 Business Central – it makes sure that everything is filled in correctly and that no important information is missing.

And so it is not a lie, the integration also sends the order straight on to the factory. With a delay of 24 hours before release. That ensures that any corrections to the order do not stop production or require a lot of communication.

Because everything is automated.

Read more about our customer portal.

Automatic invoicing when the order leaves the factory

SunGroup also no longer has to keep track of when invoices should be sent and where they should go. Invoicing happens entirely automatically in 365 Business Central once the factory has shipped the order to the customer. And the invoicing is of course based on the information the customer entered themselves in the web application, which is integrated with 365 Business Central.

And that leads us to the next point:

The customer enters the data themselves – so SunGroup does not have to!

The integration between the web application – which the sewing shops use – and 365 Business Central means that SunGroup avoids a huge amount of typing. The customers do that themselves. And because the app and Business Central are synchronised, it is also an advantage for the customers, who can find all the information they need in a few clicks.

On top of that, the factory can also run more smoothly, because a delay of 24 hours is built in, leaving room for corrections. And that means SunGroup can serve more customers, because they are not dependent on practical work. And that customers are more satisfied with the service SunGroup provides.

Because Connectify’s integration makes sure that everything is automated.

Read more about Connectify as an integration platform.

How we helped SunGroup in 4 steps

We carried out a thorough analysis

We looked at the systems they use today and compared them with the needs they have right now. Companies often have systems and integrations that were good for them 2 years ago, but are now outdated. Either because the technology has moved on, or because the company’s needs have changed. Often it is both.

We found the biggest errors and opportunities

In our analysis we identified the biggest errors and opportunities. These may be security issues or errors in the way the systems are supposed to talk to each other. We also find the biggest opportunities to improve the company’s workflow, so they can save time and resources.

We presented our proposed solution

We then present our proposal for possible changes. We know that you know your business better than we do, so we listen to your input in order to arrive at exactly the right solution for you.

Because no two webshops are the same.

We built the best solutions – and tested them thoroughly

Finally, we developed and implemented the tailored solutions and tested them thoroughly, so they were ready to slot straight into the working day and the workflows at SunGroup.

And we make sure that everything works together.