How Udo Wagner can create invoices at the touch of a button with PlanD.

Challenge

When Udo Wagner started in 1994, he began as a one-man show. Nearly 30 years later, Udo Wagner Building Services has around 20 employees, including two of his sons who are trained building cleaners. "It's really quite wonderful how things are going," Udo Wagner observes. In the office, he works alone with his wife. In the field, several glass and building cleaners, as well as maintenance cleaning staff, are employed. In addition, Udo Wagner and his team also offer crime scene cleaning and special cleanings. "We could do even more if we could get more staff. That's a huge problem at the moment. But that's the case for everyone right now," Udo Wagner shares the current issue of staff shortages in the industry. A possible solution is the implementation of intelligent software solutions. He tackled the challenge of digitalization last summer when he almost stumbled upon the All-in-One software from PlanD. During a material order from VF Cleaning Technology, a brochure flew into the hands of the managing director, who immediately thought, "If it's true what it says there, then you have saved a lot of time. You just have to try it out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And right from the first conversation, I was so thrilled with your program from the first half hour that I said I don't need to think about it, I have to have it," recalls the managing director and owner. Udo Wagner had been searching for a specific software solution for building cleaners for some time. Especially all the paper and the timesheets cost him a lot of time and money at the end of the month. He and his wife manually entered the times into a list and printed out an A4 sheet for each employee stating which customer the employee had been with and for how long. "After that, I calculated how many hours it had been, and the customer received the invoice," Udo Wagner remembers. "I always sat there for three quarters of a day just to write out these times and to be able to issue the invoice at all." And the scheduling? "We always did it through an external calendar, and printed out the deployment reports or the times for the employees where they then had to go," explains Udo Wagner.

Solution

Udo Wagner was quickly convinced by the software from PlanD: "The first thing that impressed me was how everything interlocks in the program. You see the times, you can see where your employee is, how long it took. That's what makes everything fit together. It couldn't be better, I would say," he describes his first impression of the system. Particularly the almost complete abandonment of paper significantly eases the daily routine for Udo Wagner and his team. With PlanD, he no longer needs to print paper for his supervisors or for the employees: "Just the amount I save on paper and printer toner is amazing. It's unbelievable," the owner expresses his satisfaction and continues, "When I think back to how much toner I saved alone. Sometimes I used to print four or five sheets of A4 paper a day, double-sided. That's quite a lot." And the training and implementation went quickly and smoothly: "It was really great that you're not left alone," says Udo Wagner, reflecting on the initial period with PlanD. Through the PlanD employee app, Udo Wagner's cleaning staff can see their hours worked and remaining vacation days at a glance. They can also write tickets or messages via the app. "They really took to it wonderfully. So, they were actually very excited from the beginning," Udo Wagner is satisfied. The function of digital material ordering is also a huge time saver for him. His employees can simply click in the app what materials they need at their site, and the system immediately sends a notification to the office, where Udo Wagner only has to pack it and set it out as a box for them.

Results

Thanks to PlanD, a lot has been made easier for Udo Wagner. At the end of the month when invoicing individual customers, he now only needs to go to the evaluation and can see how many hours each customer has had. "Now it's really just a push of a button, it's there, and it fits. It's just brilliant," Udo Wagner summarizes. And also in scheduling, thanks to PlanD, paper and a lot of stress are spared. Employees no longer have to write their timesheets by hand; it's now automatically in the app. "It's just mega easy. I can check anytime if the employees ask, how many hours do I have? What am I missing? Then we can just reconcile it. So, it's really a super, super relief for us. I wouldn't want to miss it, I must honestly say," explains Udo Wagner. Luckily, he doesn't have to anymore. "It's highly recommended. If anyone were to ask me, I would recommend PlanD 1000%. Thanks a ton, Udo!"