Wilms works faster & more efficiently thanks to the broad Microsoft 365 ecosystem

Wilms Rolluiken, Zonwering & Ventilatie has grown like hell over the past few years. Thanks to the maximum digitalisation of the entire product administration, combined with the further expansion of a high-performance digital customer platform, the company has a solid competitive advantage today, CEO Erik Wilms makes the case.

Wilms develops and manufactures solar shading systems and has enjoyed a solid growth spurt in recent years. Thanks in part to a number of new, patented products it launched on the market. "To this end, we recruited around sixty new employees for our production," explains Erik Wilms. "This also greatly increased the pressure on administration and we realised that we had to bet on accelerated digitisation. On the advice of VanRoey.be, we set up a new server infrastructure and also invested heavily in new software."

Microsoft 365 ecosystem

"Via Sharepoint, our employees - wherever they are or whatever department they are working in - can access the right documents and information in no time. This ranges from stock reports to info on any product damage. In addition, many products made here are not entered administratively. This is done by the customers themselves, using a new digital system on which they make their configurations and send them directly to our production department. Even during the pandemic, those digital systems and all the communication tools used in Microsoft 365 built in, obviously proved their added value extensively. Although, at the time, at most 10 per cent of our administration was present on the shop floor, the entire production could continue flawlessly."

Accelerated digitisation

In the meantime, the accelerated digitalisation is also bearing fruit, Innovation Manager Yannick Philippaerts knows. "We now work faster, more efficiently and avoid mistakes. I strongly feel that we also offer a better service. Through our website, for example, customers can click through to the Wilms World customer portal with assembly instructions and/or videos. It is also possible to make customised quotes and place orders via the site, or track the status of orders. Moreover, we offer a tool that allows our customers to virtually configure all kinds of products on a wall or partition, taking into account, for example, the colour of the joints."

Competitive advantage

"I think the market is definitely asking for more transparency," Erik Wilms makes a strong case. "The time when, say, you ordered a roller shutter over the phone, after which there was silence for weeks until delivery followed, is definitely over. Customers want to know which components and parts are in our products, how much they cost, the status of their order, you name it. That kind of service and transparency earn us a lot of trust and therefore undoubtedly a competitive advantage."

Over 90 per cent of what we put on the market is ordered by large dealers, who in turn serve private or corporate customers. They find it a great advantage that they can send their orders directly digitally. For both us and them, this is a solid administrative relief, which also allows us to set our prices a lot more competitively." Digital security is also given a lot of attention while optimising the digital systems so that communication and production can be done in a secure and transparent way. "Data collection is also gaining in importance. In the future, we want to focus much more strongly on data collection, both here and with our customers. In this way, we will eventually also create a kind of digital passport of each product, which will obviously benefit our quality control and also the entire production process."