Customer Success Story
Hydraform International Ltd.
Hydraform has used Maximizer since 2012 and upgraded its systems to Sales Leader Edition to boost its reporting power.
Industry
Manufacturing
Company Size
11-50 employees
Location
Jhb, South Africa
Website
hydraform.com
“Maximizer is like part of our family—the brain of our business operations. We wouldn’t be able to survive without it.”
Annelien Nel
Admin and Operations Director – Hydraform
Background
Hydraform International Ltd. was founded in 1988 by Jochen Kofahl from the belief that high-quality bricks could be made with a mix of 20/80 cement and soil under hydraulic pressure. This early focus on sustainability means Hydraform has been the leader in alternative building technology since its establishment.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a global customer base across more than 50 countries, they deliver technology-driven solutions that enable communities to build in an eco-friendly manner. Hydraform is the original developer of the Hydraform interlocking building system, and their solutions promote sustainable practices.
Hydraform has been a Maximizer customer since 2012, and recently moved from the On-Premise Edition to the cloud-based Sales Leader Edition.
Challenges
“Maximizer On-Premise Edition no longer met our changing business needs. We needed a solution that could modernize our operations and empower our teams.”
Hydraform faced challenges in scaling its sales, logistics, and customer service operations efficiently using the On-Premise Edition of Maximizer. Despite their long-standing usage of Maximizer and happiness with the product’s easy, no-code configurability, there was a need to grow. Hydraform was looking for more robust reporting and a cloud-based solution that would allow their teams to access critical information remotely.
Solutions
“The transition to Maximizer’s cloud-based CRM facilitated seamless access to critical information from anywhere, driving efficiency gains and enhancing collaboration across departments.”
Recognizing the need for modernization, Annelien, the Admin Operations Director at Hydraform, spearheaded the transition to Maximizer’s Sales Leader Edition. While cost conscious like many customers, Annelien first explored other CRM (customer relationship management) systems, but they couldn’t handle the transfer of over 35 years of data. Furthermore, the other solutions were unable to match Maximizer’s hyper-configurability which was hugely important to the Hydraform team and their business operations.
Once they decided that upgrading to Maximizer Sales Leader Edition was the right move, Annelien and her team collaborated with Camsoft Solutions, a Maximizer partner in South Africa to streamline the transition process. They underwent comprehensive training sessions to familiarize themselves with the new cloud platform’s features and functionalities.
To address their data storage and transfer concerns, Camsoft worked with Hydraform to first conduct a thorough database cleanup to optimize storage space and ensure a smooth transition. The initial expectation was for the transfer to take six to eight hours to complete, but the team was able to perform the data clean-up and migrate Hydrafrom to the cloud in under three hours, minimizing any impact on the business.
As a bonus, this move to the cloud with Maximizer afforded Annelien the space to examine other business processes and helped make Hydraform go paperless across its operations. From piles of paper to accessible data online 24/7, Maximizer Sales Edition helped Hydraform modernize its business in more ways than one.
Benefits
Efficiency Gains
The transition to the cloud facilitated seamless access to critical information from anywhere, enabling employees to work remotely without compromising productivity.
Data-Driven Insights
Over 35 years of data is now more powerful with sales and logistics personnel having access to accurate, robust data and reporting 24/7 where and when they need it.
No-Code Configurability
Hydraform has adapted Maximizer to fit their business, redesigning the types of fields they use and ensuring they capture the vast range of data needed for their company to thrive.
Enhanced Collaboration
The centralized CRM system enabled cross-departmental collaboration, fostering synergy between sales, logistics, and customer service teams.
Robust Reporting
Quick access to business-critical dashboards that help track performance, monitor activity, and make data-informed decisions.
Scalability and Futureproofing
Maximizer offered both the scalability and customization to accommodate Hydraform’s growing business needs, moving to the cloud added the protection of futureproofing their business for Industry 4.0.
