Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

Text: Timme Hos

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DETAILRESULT

Supermarkets recipe for success

Detailresults Aldo Breed and Anita Oorthuis

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The industrial estate in Velsen-Noord, the Netherlands smells like freshly baked bread. No wonder, because much of Detailresults activities, including baking, take place here. The parent company supports 285 stores and 19,000 employees for several Dutch supermarket chains.

From shelf to TOPdesk

Marketing & Communication manager Aldo Breed tells us about Detailresults history and ambition. Our supermarkets were originally family businesses. With continuity in mind, we decided to bring together the supermarket activities and develop them further in a single company. This also included the central service desk, which has been live since March 2013, says Breed. We want all our stores to receive good support. This is why we created a clear point of contact for them. At the service desk, we use TOPdesk intensively. We are able to work with utmost efciency thanks to our own forms. Detailresults service desk receives very diverse questions and calls. Will the delivery truck arrive on time today? Which product ranges can our branch offer? What is the order process for certain materials, such as sandwich bags? However, it is not just shops that register questions at the service desk. Customer questions are also sent via TOPdesk. Which products are also available in organic versions? And what are your opening hours?

Management, and Logistics were merged. A separate TOPdesk environment was then set up for IT, Planning and Control, and HR. We were two months into the project when the TOPdesk Symposium took place, says Oorthuis. While we were there, we became very enthusiastic about TOPdesk 5. Detailresult was one of the rst to switch to TOPdesk 5, and took part in the beta programme to test all the new features. The points for improvement we encountered hardly caused any delay, which is wonderful. As a result, the entire project was implemented quickly within a year, says Oorthuis.

Thinking in solutions
Detailresults various departments now use the same Self Service Desk, but their calls are protected in the Operators Section through different TOPdesk environments. All correct branch, department, and user data were read in from a newly built Active Directory. Our IT helpdesk uses TOPdesk a lot, says Oorthuis. Its IT in the broadest sense of the term: it could concern a malfunctioning cash register, but also a network problem at the ofce. The helpdesk for the IT department, which comprises roughly 15 people, receives all calls and puts them through to the correct departments or colleagues. This method saves them a lot of work compared to how we did things before, when this was not done in a single tool, says Oorthuis. They now have more time for challenging, technical tasks. It took a while, but Oorthuis and her team are used to the new approach with TOPdesk. We had to get used to working with changes in particular. Before we used a tool in which we managed everything based on the changes start time. In TOPdesk the planning is based on when you can say that a change is done,

OUR SUPERMARKETS ARE ORIGINALLY FAMILY COMPANIES

Aldo Breed Marketing & Communication manager

The greatest challenge? According to Oorthuis, this was providing the branches with an overview in the Self Service Desk of all current and recently closed incidents from the various TOPdesk environments. First we had this overview separately, so per TOPdesk environment. Supermarket managers do not have much time. They want to be out on the oor, not in the ofce. Now they can access the right TOPdesk straight away.

though. Now we literally think in solutions.

An extreme challenge
According to Anita Oorthuis, IT project manager, the road to a single registration tool was an extreme challenge. She was responsible for the TOPdesk implementation. In just one year, all supporting departments were gradually brought together in TOPdesk: rst Customer Service, Operations Support, Data

Supermarkets recipe for success

The supermarket branches now also successfully use TOPdesk. Some branches have up to two hundred employees, explains Oorthuis. As a result, the executives have TOPdesk authorization: they work under a general account and can see one anothers calls. When the supermarket manager arrives at work in the

Photography: Myriam Roesink

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morning, he can immediately see what happened the previous day. We have a total of a few thousand different end users, adds Breed. This means that more people can register calls than ever before. Even the person selling the vegetables, or their assistant. This is how Detailresult is gaining even more insight into possible points for improvement when it comes to supporting its branches, and continues to bring the smell of freshly baked bread to supermarkets across the Netherlands.

IN THE MORNING, THE SUPERMARKET MANAGER CAN IMMEDIATELY SEE WHAT HAPPENED THE PREVIOUS DAY
Anita Oorthuis IT project manager

Members of the Detailresult IT, Servicedesk, and Operations Support project groups