On the construction site, everything is planned around the availability of people and materials. Efficiency in building requires good planning of these resources. Most often, such planning is done on a job or an industrial site, far from the comfort of the office, where meetings may take hours of data analysis and discussions across functions. Understanding this, Romcim, wanted to empower customers to manage their orders instantly from anywhere and have full visibility over the exact delivery time.
This required a digital solution, so Romcim embarked several customers on a journey to define the tool that would best fit their needs. The company worked alongside the digital solutions developer Zitec and the customers, to design and test the concept of a portal that would bring the company’s products at one click’s distance. While the first objective was to create a portal for orders, other new features took prevalence. The financial status instant report, or the possibility to view the truck on the map on route to the construction site, similarly to a ride-sharing app, were prioritized and included, as requested. In less than 3 months after the launch, more than 30% of the orders were coming online.
Romcim is one of the largest suppliers of cement, aggregates, and concrete for the construction industry in Romania. It operates 2 cement factories in Medgidia and Hoghiz, one grinding station in Targu Jiu, 19 concrete stations, 9 quarries, 2 cement terminals and 5 ballasts.
Tapping into the benefits of digitalization in the construction industry
Operations and customer interactions in the construction industry rely on conventional models that entail a lot of human interaction in an age when time is more than ever before a scarce resource. The impact of working with traditional models spans across several layers, potentially affecting customer satisfaction, supply chain visibility and more.
Romcim has always been responsive to its customer’s needs and wanted to provide them with an interactive way of doing business, fast, reliable and fully connected. The order management system Romcim used involved manual input of orders coming through a call center. Romcim wanted a centralized solution that would make it easier for customers to order the products necessary for their business and empower them to have full visibility on the order status, financial dashboard, and the contract status.
Involving the customer to create a tailor-made solution
Romcim worked along with Zitec to incorporate customers’ needs into a modern, reliable and user-friendly digital solution. The customers were actively involved in a process to uncover their pain points through field visits and real-life examples.
The final decision of the working group was to develop a centralized platform that would be shared between Romcim and the customers. Using technologies like Laravel, Laravel Dusk, Laravel Horizon and Laravel Nova, the Zitec team created a dashboard, called Customer Portal. The Portal, which is also mobile friendly, enables buyers to make purchases directly and select the delivery method.
Romcim’s customers were the ones to give feedback in the testing phase on the architecture and design of the application.
A tracking functionality was added, allowing customers to know if their order is registered, scheduled for shipping, shipped, or delivered, but also to track the shipment in real time on the map on its way to the construction site through the GPS enabled system. The app is customized for desktop and mobile.
Making purchases quick, easy, and transparent
With the Customer Portal in place, Romcim takes just another step in the digitalization of its Romanian operations. The customers can now better manage their budgets, plan their orders ahead and even improve timings on the construction site, thanks to a more accurate delivery estimate. The ability to easily track the total volumes and the real-time actualization of their financial status have given customers better clarity. The user-friendly design and mobile optimization of the portal have substantially improved the quality of the interaction with the company. In less than three months, more than a quarter of all orders were coming through the Customer Portal, validating the solution’s efficiency in actual use.
The Customer Portal also enables Romcim’s staff to manage products, customer accounts and offers seamlessly, resulting in more orders being handled in a shorter amount of time. The reduction of manual labor previously required to handle the orders has also allowed Romcim to shift valuable human resources to other priority tasks.
If you want to learn more about the Customer Portal or how Zitec can help you with your clients, send us an email anytime.
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