You need more than Excel to be excellent if you have large physical areas to audit. You need digitized documentation, good reports, and easy follow-ups.
Ramazan Kanbul is the Regional Manager of a large chain of DIY and Hardware stores in Denmark. He is responsible for the stores in his region is operating optimally regarding sales, personnel, standards, shrinkage, follow-up on budgets, salary, employee well-being, the working environments, etc.
Ramazan Kanbul has worked with Instore Excellence since 2012 in different companies. He always liked the system; thus, he got it implemented in his current company and with great success.
Here you learn how the chain of DIY stores has evolved from time-consuming workflows using Excel to smooth and digitized store audits.
Challenge: Large areas to audit
The company Ramazan Kanbul works in has an extensive assortment of everything a DIY heart could ever desire. No need to say that Store and Regional Managers have a lot to keep track of regarding standards, stock, and maintenance. Both indoor and outdoor.
So what specific challenges does the DIY chain have when doing audits of their large, physical store areas?
“It can be hard to do effective follow-ups on each area. In the past, we used Excel to handle this, which was troublesome and time-consuming. We would use old-school pens and paper for our store audits. Afterward, we would spend a lot of time typing all data into the computer and forwarding it to the right people,” says Ramazan Kanbul.
Goals: Easy follow-ups and user-oriented
Okay, so Excel wasn’t working out. But what requirements do Ramazan Kanbul and his colleagues have for a system to lighten their everyday work? According to Ramazan Kanbul, these primary areas need to be in place:
Follow-ups: When Regional Managers do store visits – or if the Store Managers do a store audit themselves – the report needs to be digital and automatically generated with an easy overview of what needs to be fixed. And the system should automatically send the report to all relevant employees via mail.
User-friendliness: Everybody should be able to handle the system – regardless of IT expertise.
User interface and integration: The system should be able to work with other systems. For Ramazan Kanbul and his company, it’s essential that they can see updates from their Intranet in the app – and vice versa.
Communication: The system should make collecting all communication in one place possible. Not having internal communication all over the place – from SMS and emails to Intranet and other platforms. The system should furthermore make employee communication smooth and effortless.
Solution: App-based documentation, reports, and follow-ups
The Instore Excellence app does all of these things. That’s why Ramazan Kanbul and his employer are thrilled about the collaboration with Instore Excellence. Digitized task management is the key.
“The app makes our job easier, especially during store visits and audits. Instead of walking around with pen and paper – and all the paperwork that automatically follows – we enter the app, find the relevant survey, quickly check off a series of yes / no questions, and we can take and upload pictures,” says Ramazan Kanbul and continues:
“This makes it easy to document if a store looks nice and if there are any areas of concern we should have an extra focus on.”
During a store audit, Store Managers will look at cleaning, pricing, trimming, lighting, stocking status, and everything else that makes the store appear ready for customers.
So what makes the app a good tool for Store Managers?
“The Store Managers are very excited about the system because it makes their job easier. Among other things, due to good reports generated by the system. When they use the app for a store audit and answer ‘no’ to a question – e.g., ‘Are the windows clean’ – a task will be auto-generated and sent to the responsible employee. Afterward, the Store Manager can see the task status and close it when it has been executed,” explains Ramazan Kanbul.
And how about the Regional managers – how do they use the app?
According to Ramazan Kanbul, they use it almost like the Store Managers.
“I do a monthly visit to every store in my region. I have all previous audits and data right at hand with the app. This makes it easy for me to hold each store accountable,” says Ramazan Kanbul and adds:
“For instance, if a certain area in a store repeatedly is a mess. Or if the cleaning in another store doesn’t meet our standards multiple times. The data collection makes the quality of my follow-ups much higher because I know exactly what to focus on.”
Results: Higher standards and time savings
Besides the obvious, there’re many concrete results that the DIY chain gets from digitizing its workflows. Ramazan Kanbul highlights:
Upholding standards: “The app allows us to give each store a score. At all times, it’s visible how the standards are being upheld in each store and the entire chain. This is important from both an employee and a management perspective.”
Time savings: “Excel and the manual workflows stole much time and were troublesome. The app saves us so much time daily!”
Streamlined communication: “With the app, a task has a clear description, sender, and deadline. It makes it much easier for both the recipient and sender to keep track of a task and its completion status. This helps us make sure that tasks are done.”
A recommendation
Ramazan Kanbul will gladly recommend the app to others. Why?
“It has created a better structure in our workflows. Initially, some people saw the system as a way of controlling them. But when employees start using the app in their daily work, they love it because it makes their job easier,” explains Ramazan Kanbul and adds:
“It also shines a light on the strengths and weaknesses in the company, which is a great tool for both Regional Managers, Store Managers, and Assistant Managers.”
“The Store Managers are very excited about the system because it makes their job easier. Among other things, due to good reports generated by the system.” […] “The app saves us so much time daily!” […] “It also shines a light on strengths and weaknesses in the company, which is a great tool for both Regional Managers, Store Managers, and Assistant Managers.”
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