Meijs Wonen won over by Initeam's pragmatic approach

For anyone running an interior business, nothing is as rewarding as the radiant smile on a customer's face when they get to admire the final result of their interior. It is for that satisfaction that Bart van der Meijs and Lydia Verhoeven of Meijs Wonen do it too.

Bart van der Meijs: “Our ambition is to take every worry off the customer's hands. In FurnQube from Initeam we found the ideal software package to support us in that, end to end.”

Home is the most important place on earth. With that slogan in mind, the sixteen-person team at Meijs Wonen manages to design the most fitting interior for each customer, choose the right furniture and install it according to the rules of the craft.

Bart van der Meijs: “We welcome every customer in our 3,000 m² design and advice store. Our interior architects gauge their taste, put together a mood board and then choose, in close consultation with the customer, the (seating) furniture, the upholstery and the decorative lighting. We also carry out the installation exclusively with our own people. That inspires confidence in the customer and ensures we keep full control over the project's progress at all times.”

Optimising IT

To raise the level of their service even further, Bart and Lydia set out two years ago to find a software program that could help them do so.

Bart van der Meijs: “The solution we had originally chosen was no longer actively supported, which left us feeling stuck. So we ended that partnership and invited three other parties to present their solution and approach. Alongside two Dutch providers, Initeam came to us to present FurnQube.”

For various reasons, the balance tipped in favour of the Belgian IT specialist.

Bart van der Meijs: “Initeam's approach inspired our confidence right away. From the very first minute we felt that they are very service-minded and do everything they can to meet our requirements. On top of that, the program's interface appealed to us a great deal.”

A logical structure

In the autumn of 2020, Initeam carried out the migration from the old system to the new solution at Meijs Wonen.

Bart van der Meijs: “Of course, such an integration process always comes with a few teething problems, but Initeam spared neither costs nor effort to find a remedy straight away. They then organised a one-day training course for our staff. Everyone quickly noticed that the program is built very logically, with a clear layout and article structure. It is a modern, visual platform that our people took to with enthusiasm. A positive point is that after that training day, Initeam still organised consultation moments at various times and gave clear answers to our staff's challenges.”

Meijs Wonen has been working with FurnQube since November 2020.

Bart van der Meijs: “Thanks to this program, we have been able to increase the efficiency and speed of our workflow. Compared with the old way of working, where orders were noted manually in an order book, the chance of errors has been reduced to a minimum. On top of that, the program runs in the cloud and no longer on a physical server. That lets us work anytime, anywhere and more securely. The new mail environment (Office 365) also offers much more flexibility.”

At Meijs Wonen, FurnQube is connected to the popular accounting program Exact Online.

Bart van der Meijs: “Customer information, payments and sales invoices are synchronised, which avoids double entry. The link with Power BI is an extra asset for consulting the most varied statistics in a very insightful way. On the HR side too, that is a plus, since it lets us accurately assess each salesperson's commercial value.”

Customer portal

In the future, Bart and Lydia would like to deepen the partnership with Initeam and get even more out of FurnQube.

Bart van der Meijs: “The first step will be building a customer portal, where every customer can check the status of their order at any time. By making that information available online, the customer is immediately informed and no longer has to contact us about it every time. We also look forward to launching a web shop for our best-selling items and goods from our outlet shop. These are products that do not require specific advice.”

The pair are glad that the whole team can again focus on what it is really about: advising customers well and taking the worry out of the interior of their dreams.

Bart van der Meijs: “Thanks to Initeam, software has become a very handy virtual partner, and no longer a problem child.”