Top Bakkers faced a challenge regarding their order and billing process for one of their customers. Although they already had an EDI process in place, it was not meeting expectations. At NLeyes, we listen carefully to their needs and thoroughly analyze where and how to simplify and optimize the purchasing and sales processes. As a result, Top Bakers trusted us to provide the design for their new ordering environment.
Top Bakkers is a Dutch network of artisan bakers. With a nationwide network of some 65 regional bakeries, ranging from artisan to wholesale, Top Bakkers supplies fresh bread throughout the Netherlands. The company's mission is to find and select the right bakers, and then handles all aspects of the ordering and delivery process, from purchasing to invoicing. This requires flawless handling of complex purchasing and sales transactions between numerous parties
Top Bakkers desire is to create a new ordering environment that will improve business processes and IT systems for both themselves and their customers. The goal is that clients can seamlessly connect to the entire process of ordering, delivery and invoicing, with the solution tailored to their specific way of working. To date, Top Bakers has primarily devised individual solutions per client, resulting in a greater maintenance burden and increased risk of errors.
'Wherever data is exchanged, it comes down to understanding. It's very simple: a customer wants to order something and we need some data to do that. Simplifying that process by reducing it to its essence, and then thinking about what you need to have arranged at the basis: that is the power of NLeyes.'
In our first meeting, we worked intensively with Top Bakkers to understand their needs and vision. The concept we outlined during this meeting still forms the core of their new architecture. Moreover, we quickly realized that structuring and standardizing customers' IT needs is essential, without adding unnecessary complexity. Importantly, a solution must be able to serve hundreds of other customers with similar needs.
In addition, Top Bakkers specifically expressed a desire to make the ordering environment both generic and flexible. This will allow each subsequent customer with similar information needs to seamlessly connect to the same methodology. This fits within their vision of the near future, where all standards and infill information needs will be ready in their system.
In the past, we, as NLeyes focused mainly on consulting and did not have our own technology solutions. We repeatedly ran into limited technical solutions and finally decided to take matters into our own hands. That's exactly what we did in our self-designed low-code platform, GEM! In which we can easily digitize business processes. But how?
We like to explain that in our own simple way. Conceptually, you can compare this to a huge box full of LEGO blocks in different colors and sizes. That box represents our internal product: all the process parts. You then use different LEGO blocks to build a specific form, such as a service (for example, a function in your ordering environment). We want to reuse that shape as often as possible. Occasionally we modify it with another cube from the same box. So we can fulfill hundreds of customer needs, because the customization is already ready and not complicated. We only connect this once, and then we monitor all those LEGO blocks from one location. That way we can immediately see if everything is working as we technically intended. And, perhaps most importantly, we can also verify that the business process is running smoothly.
Thanks to our monitoring system, we can quickly observe, for example, that no orders have been placed at time X when they normally should have been. We investigate where it goes wrong, solve it and learn from it. This enables Top Bakkers to proactively adjust their automation. We understand how critical their primary process is and anticipate it.
Through periodic evaluation sessions with Top Bakkers, we as NLeyes ensure continuous improvement, responding to feedback and new insights. In this way, we can guarantee that the platform will become more and more attuned to Top Bakkers needs and business processes.
We also remain closely involved as a technology partner, because the digital world but also Top Bakkers as a company is constantly changing. Through strategic sessions, we explore new opportunities together and adjust the platform to changing needs. This is how we ensure that our solution adds lasting value, now and in the future.
'We have the opportunity to take advantage of NLeyes expertise and systems, and build on where NLeyes excels. We no longer have the need to do everything ourselves. Together we form a powerful combination for our customers. We strive to respond flexibly to the needs of our clients and develop solutions that can meet those client needs. On the one hand we want to standardize as much as possible and on the other hand we want to maintain our flexibility.'
With a solid foundation, Top Bakkers can now support its customers more proactively. In addition, one solution makes it possible to help many other customers, generating significant time and cost savings, and minimizing unnecessary maintenance. Continuous monitoring allows us to quickly identify, resolve and learn from anomalies, allowing Top Bakkers to proactively improve its automation. NLeyes understands and anticipates the importance of the primary process.
Working closely with NLeyes provides Top Bakkers with peace of mind and comfort. This gives them the confidence that NLeyes is always ready to provide support and service. The ultimate goal is to establish a seamless process between Top Bakkers and its clients. The cooperation with NLeyes is highly appreciated, thanks in part to the common language and careful mutual communication. Top Bakkers therefore enjoys using NLeyes' expertise and systems to strengthen their client relationships.
NLeyes strength lies in simplifying things that initially seem complicated. We then strive to standardize all business processes so that we can build generic architectures that are still flexible enough to accommodate individual customer requirements. To us, no one is just another customer; we strive to be a true partner you can rely on.
Erwin Wulterkens
