Initial Situation

Brandschutz Ettiswil AG’s customers include private individuals, companies and fire brigades. The company deals with fire protection technology, offers service for hand-held fire extinguishers and produces hoses. It was the goal of Stefan Bucheli, owner of Brandschutz Ettiswil AG, to digitize the company for the next generation.

Challenge

Brandschutz Ettiswil AG employs 14 service technicians every day throughout Switzerland. Their work prompted them to rethink their internal processes. Service reports in triplicate, typed by the back office, had to be more efficient. Stefan Bucheli heard about the SAP Field Service Management software. However, he discovered that it was not compatible with the existing ERP system and turned to DATA UNIT AG: "There must be an integrated solution for all areas of the company!"

Solution

SAP Business One - the SAP software solution for SMEs - replaced the existing enterprise software. For the field service, the module SAP Field Service Management was integrated. Today, the service technicians are on the road with tablets. The administration transfers a month’s supply of work to each technician’s tablet.

The technician visits the previously notified customers, carries out the maintenance work on the hand-held fire extinguishers, reports the work performed on site on the tablet and carries out any changes such as a change of location online. The customer acknowledges the work digitally and immediately receives an e-mail with the work report. At the same time, the report is sent to the Ettiswil fire protection office, where it can be checked again and then invoiced - the perfect solution for Stefan Bucheli.

Added Value

Today, the owner and entrepreneur Bucheli can access current data at any time, control sales figures and react quickly to changing conditions. After the training, the employees were also euphoric: the sales representatives - craftsmen - are proud to be on the road with modern technology. Another new feature is that today all fire extinguishers are recorded and their history can be called up at any time. The office staff are also pleased with the modern work equipment, which has increased the quality of customer service and, for example, enables offers to be made in the shortest possible time.

Instead of manual administration, I’d rather invest in field sales. The reactions of the customers are consistently positive. The fact that an SME like Brandschutz Ettiswil AG invested in a modern SAP solution was received with respect. - Stefan Bucheli, Managing Director, Brandschutz Ettiswil AG

About the customer - Brandschutz Ettiswil

For 60 years, Brandschutz Ettiswil AG has been weaving around 200,000 metres of fire brigade and industrial hoses annually and now maintains over 100,000 fire extinguishers. Stefan Bucheli digitized his company in order to prepare the company with 38 employees for the handover to the fourth family generation.

About the partner - Data Unit AG

Data Unit AG is an IT company founded in 1974 and based in Sursee, Switzerland. Since then it has been successfully providing IT services at a high level. Our main field of activity is the development, implementation and maintenance of business solutions. As a leading SAP Business One Competence Center, Data Unit AG is the ideal partner for trade, service and manufacturing companies.