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Certifications exist in many companies, have many purposes, and are carried out in many ways. But regardless of the details, there’s time, money, and higher performance to be gained in the certification process.

Allan Nørgaard is Quality Coordinator at Aktieselskabet CARL CHRISTENSEN (CAC) – a large Danish company that, among other things, distributes spare parts to the automobile industry. Much of Allan Nørgaard’s work involves carrying out certification processes. 

In this case study, he talks about his experiences with moving from Excel to a digital, data-driven system – and the results he has experienced.

The certification process in CAC

Regularly, Allan Nørgaard drives out unannounced to the workshops that are affiliated with CAC. Then he goes through an audit that results in various degrees of certification. 

Workshops get different benefits depending on whether they have a gold, silver, or bronze certification. Therefore it’s in the workshop’s interest to score high.

“In the analysis, I look at the workshops both from a customer perspective and from a company perspective – i.e., everything from cleaning and communication to company optimization and marketing,” says Allan Nørgaard.

A review consists of three parts:

  • Before the visit: Reviews the marketing, such as customer satisfaction, stars, and reviews on Google.
  • Before the visit: Review the report from the last visit.
  • The visit: Review the workshop, dialogue with the master, and the certification.

The content of a review today is the same as in the past. But after the company began cooperating with the SaaS provider, Instore Excellence, Allan Nørgaard’s work became considerably more manageable.

From print to digital certification processes

Before collaborating with Instore Excellence, Allan Nørgaard used Excel to execute the certification processes. He made Excel documents containing the questions he had to review with the workshops and then printed out copies before each visit.

“It was a lot of work when I returned to the office because I had to enter all the data manually. Especially when I had taken pictures as documentation, it was time-consuming because, due to IT security, I had to go through a huge process to get the pictures into the documents,” says Allan Nørgaard.

It was Allan Nørgaard’s initiative to switch to the app and Cloud-based solution that Instore Excellence offers. This means that today he can access all the forms he uses in his work directly from his iPad.

“Digitization has made my work so much easier! The fact that I can now upload the images directly into the app is a huge liberation and time-saver. I can finish 80% of my work on the spot today, and the workshop owners can get their certification immediately,” says Allan Nørgaard.

The results

According to Allan Nørgaard, the transition from Excel to a digitized process is showing results in many areas:

1) “The most crucial result is the time we save. It means that we can do approx. 20 additional certifications on an annual basis.

2) We have gained better control of the certification process. In addition, we have better control over the implementation of unwritten industry rules and the ongoing implementation of new things such as GDPR rules.

3) The forms and questions are much more systematized, and we have much better opportunities for ongoing follow-up. Now we can follow up on the things we agree with the workshops with direct reference to previous reports.

4) In general, the forms and questions are so thoroughly worked out that they serve as a foundation for having a good conversation about everyday life in the workshops – and through this, I get a better insight into what works well and what needs to be optimized.

5) Last but not least, you look more serious when you stand with an iPad,” smiles Allan Nørgaard.

CAC has been using Instore Excellence for the second year now, and therthere’shere’s not enough data yet to make in-depth analyses, but the company has plans for the future.

“Right now, we have two reports on each workshop in the system, but after next year we’ll start to have enough data to do larger benchmarking. It’ll be an excellent tool because the amount of data allows us to form an even better overview and take action in the right places,” concludes Allan Nørgaard.

About CAC

Aktieselskabet CARL CHRISTENSEN (CAC) is a commercial and industrial company founded in 1927. Among other things, the company distributes spare parts to the automobile industry via au2parts. The CAC group has an annual turnover of more than DKK 1 billion and has approx. 650 employees.

“The fact that I can now upload the images directly into the app is a huge liberation and time-saver. I can finish 80% of my work on the spot today.”

“The most crucial result is the amount of time we save. It means that we can do approx. 20 additional certifications on an annual basis.”

Allan Nørgaard

Quality Coordinator, Aktieselskabet CARL CHRISTENSEN

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