”You make us feel like more than just a name in the system”

We spoke with Head of CRM Dr. Daniel Gentner and CRM Project Manager Florian Deuringer about their experience of implementing Skovik across their subsidiaries and what matters to them in their day-to-day use of the system.

An appreciated system

Sales makes up the largest portion of Uzin Utz’s workforce, and it’s also the team that submits the most expenses.

The sales team has a lot more traffic in the system than our other employees, because they’re using it every day. They have, I don’t know, about two or three receipts they need to upload daily, Florian explains.

Given how frequently they report expenses, a change of system naturally came with some skepticism.

But now, all of our sales people say ‘We were skeptical in the beginning, but we’ve seen how well it works now’. So they are, I think, pretty happy, Florian says.

The other departments appreciate the system too, Daniel adds:

“The system itself is of course really intuitive. We have a manual on our intranet but most people say ‘Yeah I don’t need this, it’s pretty intuitive. I’m guided through the process, I don’t need instructions’”.

Global alignment

Uzin Utz first rolled out Skovik in Germany, but it didn’t take long until other subsidiaries joined in:

I think it was shared in some management meetings that we had implemented Skovik in Germany. Through that, some of the other subsidiaries became interested in it too, so they contacted us and then we just decided on a rollout plan, Florian says.

Having multiple subsidiaries in the same system supports both autonomy and alignment, Daniel explains:

“We have a standardized tool now, for the group. And each country can work with it individually. For example, our colleagues in Switzerland, we just did the implementation together, and now they are working, I think, more or less completely autonomously”.

He continues:

“In the end, they work with our Skovik standard, by themselves. So that’s also good for us, because their bookkeeping is a lot faster and we don’t get that many questions”.

Importantly, having multiple subsidiaries in the same system doesn’t lock them into one set-up, the system’s customisable both within and between subsidiaries.

For example, for members of our sales team, it isn’t their supervisor who should check the expenses, it’s someone within our finance team. That also helps with the process, that you can individualise it, Daniel says.

Things would have been really difficult if we hadn’t been able to, to be honest, Florian adds.

Not just another number

When asked what they would say if another company asked them if they’d recommend us, Daniel is quick to offer his thoughts:

I would say that you provide an up-to-date solution. But we’re also looking at the values of the company and the people behind it, he says. Are we just an anonymous customer number?.

He goes on to say that this hasn’t been their experience.

For example, we appreciate having a dedicated person responsible for us, a key account manager. And we can give your contact details to our other departments, such as bookkeeping, to have interactions with you, too. So I think the philosophy and the way you are working is what fits us, he explains.

Florian shares this sentiment:

“Yeah, Daniel mentioned a lot of it. I’d also add that Skovik is very solution-orientated. We can always come to you if we’re facing an issue, because we know we’ll always find a good solution”.

The conversation is then brought back to the global nature of the system:

I would say that even if you are not originally from Germany, I think we are proof that you belong here. That the country-specific details are in place, that the conversation works, and so on. So we’re looking forward to continuing the cooperation we’ve had so far, Daniel says.