V-Zug
Getting control over repair processes.
The client
Every business will always remember the first client. For us this client is V-ZUG from Switzerland. V-ZUG produces beautiful high-end household appliances in their own swiss factories and sells these throughout the world.
In Europe they were looking for a system that would make it easier to manage customer service visits, and to help mechanics do their job as best as they can. This boils down to a platform where repairs can be assigned to mechanics and their progress can be viewed in real time. V-ZUG. found us through a relative of our founder Joeri Scheerhoorn. You might not realise this but there are not too many people in Europe that are knowledgeable about servicing washing machines and have knowledge to build a system around this process.
An efficient collaboration
Together we worked together to realise such a system. Using agile development methods we had a running start. Building a simple MVP, just for the Belgium market and expand from there. We realised that it was incredibly powerful to have weekly or biweekly meetings to discuss progress. For V-ZUG this provides incredible flexibility to have influence in the system that they want. For us it was very useful to have direct feedback on the work that we are building. Our knowledge of the technology and the needs of the V-ZUG business grew significantly at the start. Because of this and our flexible way of working, we could use all that we learned to achieve better results for V-ZUG. The way of working in this project will not sound unfamiliar for most of you, since it is the normal agile way of working. Technically this true, however there is a business side to this that is interesting. We quickly realised that this is a key ingredient to sustainable growth.
From a business perspective
Together with V-ZUG we found a way to align our goals by working together in a method of working that we call CSaaS. Custom Software as a service. A project where we combine the best things of development and SaaS to align our goals. This means that V-ZUG will pay a monthly fee, based on usage of the software whilst we maintain the software. Here is why we did it in this way:
Benefits for V-Zug
- No financial risk at the start. There was very little financial risk for the side of V-ZUG. Simply because we did not charge them for development.
- No future financial risk. What people sometimes fail to realise is that software is never done. If a company pays 50k for an application to be developed this year. Because of changing markets and new technology, expect that this needs to be upgraded within 2 years if the company wants to stay competitive.
- An IT partner that benefits from V-ZUG doing well.
- A partner that makes decisions that work in the long term because of mutual interests.
- Continuously upgraded software and integration of the latest technology.
- Proactive advice to make sure that both parties benefit.
Benefits for Octopus
- Long term commitment from a client.
- Market knowledge to build products that we own.
- Great company as a reference.
- Income over time instead of a one time boost.
Progress over time
The project and the application have been named JobDispatchingTool, within the V-ZUG company and we adopted their naming convention. The JDT has been live since Q1 2020 and since then it has changed significantly. We have been working on the tool continuously to move with changes in the market. There are some technical improvements that we keep providing to the system. We are proud of the following details:
- Live in 6 countries.
- Managing 125 mechanics.
- Available in 4 languages.
- Stable and scalable on the strong Google Cloud infrastructure.
- A happy partnership with a great client.
After this first great adventure we have become excited for our future endeavours
“During the development of the system, we have had an uncomplicated, reliable and very committed team of developers at our side. I can definitely recommend Octopus IT.”
Damir Potocanac
Head of Technical Service & Support International at V-ZUG AG
Questions?
Have an unsolvable problem or audacious idea? We’d love to hear about it.
Speak to us