Although I personally am not familiar with issues of water scaling, I have learned that it is really important for large-scale institutions that depend on water for operating their HVAC systems. Keeping the scaling giants at bay has been the mission of Klenzoid, a Toronto-based, ISO-registered, environmental engineering firm, and its US division, Eldon Water Inc.
By monitoring and helping its clients manage scale buildup on sensitive equipment, Klenzoid has forged its leadership in a key niche. Currently supporting 1,200 plus customers, Klenzoid is growing at nearly 20 per cent per year, with a full service focus from “main to drain.”
Klenzoid’s decision to use the NetSuite platform to develop, customize, and host specific applications have, according to Michael Cairns, Klenzoid’s director of business improvement & operations manager, allowed Klenzoid to improve their operational efficiencies by more than 40 per cent.
All of this got the attention of NetSuite, where at the SuiteWorld 2014 conference held in San Jose California, Klenzoid walked away with the “YOUR Suite Award.”
This award recognized Klenzoid for having the most innovative and creative SuiteCloud customizations, the broadest and most native use of the SuiteCloud platform, the native app with the best user experience, and the app with the most compelling business benefits delivered.
Klenzoid supplies chemicals to prevent water scaling on sensitive equipment that can lead to costly equipment repairs and downtime. The inefficiencies caused by scaling results in higher energy and water usage, which is not good for the environment.
Klenzoid realized that its monthly client visit could be augmented by remote daily monitoring. As water quality can vary daily, closer monitoring would allow more timely intervention as needed to address or prevent scaling problems.
The use of NetSuite enabled Klenzoid to optimize its own operations and allowed it to develop innovations with its customers in mind. Because the smallest amount of scale can cause significant havoc with intricate HVAC systems, service timing is very important. Klenzoid customers now have their own unique, individualized customer database to help with their own monitoring, and they can also use the Klenzoid AP to access their unique database with full water test results and treatment history.
As a result, greater access to their own key data has improved customer decision-making to address critical water quality issues. The customized dashboard provides customers insight to their systems and data. Not only has this facilitated more timely support from Klenzoid, but also has increased the customer’s internal communication and effectiveness.
Rather than doing it “in person”, the design and capability of the customization has forged greater connectivity than had been previously possible. Instead of the customer being fully dependent on a monthly visit from Klenzoid, the customer can now do accurate daily monitoring, which has had huge implications for ensuring the water quality and smooth operation of onsite equipment. The individualized client database is also linked to the CRM in NetSuite.
Prior to the transition to NetSuite, Cairns describes how there were many different branches of information in Klenzoid, and none talked to the other. Now, with its innovative approaches, the NetSuite system provides information for key decision making; it highlights sales issues, opportunities, from beginning to end; there is one stream of data – from sales, to accounting to data on energy – all on one system.
As a result client service efficiency onsite has improved by 30-35 per cent, and Klenzoid’s ability to access customer information and produce reports is 45 per cent more efficient. Klenzoid now has live access to customer data, and in a big data world is able to run lots of calculations. This is clearly helping to support the organic growth that Klenzoid is experiencing.
Not stopping there, in the future, Klenzoid plans to bring in further data acquisition streamlining to be even quicker in their response to customers.
In the cloud, Klenzoid saw an opportunity to serve their customers more effectively not so much by increasing their field staff but more so by investing in a system customization that would improve the quality and timeliness of the services that they deliver.
This is working smarter, not simply harder, and Klenzoid’s growth, customer satisfaction, and the “YOUR Suite Award” are a reflection of this. Kudos to Klenzoid for its innovation and vision!
The customization of the NetSuite platform has had a huge payoff for both Klenzoid and its customers. As a golden rule of business, Cairns aptly stated, “If you do the right thing – eventually the market will reward you as well.”