Scale-up Talenco implements Business Central in barely 4 months

Complex business processes are no strangers to Talenco. Since its founding five years ago, the company has grown from 2 to 150 employees and has a tailor-made invoicing method for almost every customer. Talenco consulted Cegeka to manage their workplace in a simple and future-oriented way.

Talenco is a scale-up that provides industrial expertise to manufacturing companies. In short: they solve technical problems in the industry. They do this in many shapes: with maintenance services, entire engineering & construction projects, consultancy, machine construction, innovation and digitization assignments. And with success: since its foundation five years ago, Talenco has grown to 150 employees. The broader group has 180 colleagues.

Digital Growth

This rapid growth and complex business operations presented the necessary challenges for the financial administration and supply chain management. “Our invoicing process is tailor-made for almost every customer. The accounting program we used could no longer cope with this growing complexity. We needed further digitization to cope with the administrative processes", says CEO Jens Hendrickx.

“Our invoicing is tailor-made for almost every customer. We had to digitize further to cope with that complex process”

- Jens Hendrickx, CEO at Talenco

Easy system

And so Talenco started looking for another partner to implement a new system. Jens Hendrickx: “We envisioned an elegant, simple system that would fit our entire customer base. An ERP platform that increases efficiency and reduces the risk of human errors. After thorough discussions with various partners and an analysis of the costs, the choice fell unanimously on the solution from Cegeka. Their track record is impressive, and they sensed exactly what we needed. No needlessly complicated tailor-made system, but a flexible standard system. ”

New analysis

To meet Talenco's needs, Cegeka started with a business analysis. “Implementing an ERP package should no longer be a development project like it used to be,” says Thibaut Heeren, Sales Manager at Cegeka. “We advise our customers to graft their processes onto the standard package as much as possible. This gives you a flexible and scalable system. Instead of spending time and budget on development, you focus on the configuration and parameters. Our role as an IT partner is to guide customers in this. ”

“Implementing an ERP should no longer be a development project. We advise our customers to graft their business operations onto the standard package as much as possible.” 

- Thibaut Heeren, Sales Manager at Cegeka

Clear plan of action

“This project-based approach is really paying off ”, Ilja Van Doorslaer, Project Manager at Talenco adds. “There was a clear plan of action, while customization often ends up in a dead-end situation. Transparency at Cegeka was also enormous during the implementation. At every stage of the process, we knew what had to be done, how long it would take and how many man hours it would take. After one month of analyses, the implementation took only 3 months, and the proposed budget was never exceeded.”

Lightning fast implementation

Cegeka presented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the successor to Navision. It took only 4 months to get the ERP package fully operational. “And that is just as much their merit as ours,” says Thibaut Heeren. “The people at Talenco themselves put their shoulders to the wheel of the project: they provided the necessary time for extensive testing and were always perfectly prepared for each workshop. This was a model project in terms of both budget and timing. ”

Smooth, flawless invoicing

“Invoicing is a major step forward for us and our customers", Lieve Wouters, Project Manager at Talenco continues. “Until recently, we still managed a large part of the invoicing in Excel. In Business Central, that process is much more efficient and much more accurate. The margin of error of our complex invoicing is now close to zero. We automatically send reminders with standard emails, the invoices themselves are transparent and correct. We have also taken major steps in terms of reporting. We now have a permanent overview of the financial situation and know perfectly whether we are using the correct rates.”

“The margin of error of our complex invoicing is close to zero. We have a permanent overview of the financial situation and know perfectly whether the correct rates are used”

- Lieve Wouters, Project Manager at Talenco

Further expansion

Talenco made a number of acquisitions in a short period of time, so it was necessary to process everything administratively correctly and smoothly. The company took over part of the bankrupt CG Power Systems to enter a new market segment, namely maintenance on transformers. With this, Talenco now also works on international and offshore projects and can focus even more on total solutions for its customers. Staffing company Mercor was also taken over. It will therefore focus even more on service management in the future. That means more complexity. Further extensions to Business Central are therefore already in the pipeline.

 “Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a modular system, and therefore very scalable by nature, ”says Ilja Van Doorslaer, Engineering Consultant at Talenco. “You start with accounting and invoicing, and once that runs smoothly, you integrate processes such as supply chain management and warehouse management. Those are the next steps we are planning now.”

“We are going to integrate our HR processes and planning into the system, so we can automate and map them ”, explains Jens Hendrickx. “We have a lot of engineers who work on site, so the integration of planning and HR means great added value. It allows us, for example, to integrate pay scales and time registrations, and then link that back to the social-accounting secretariat.”

The power of Business Central and Cegeka

“The complexity of our company is increasing along with growth ”, Jens Hendrickx concludes. “We started working with Cegeka at the right time to manage the administration correctly from the foundations. Once all data has been correctly integrated into the standard package, you can easily implement new extensions and applications. Every functionality we add now means significant time and efficiency gains and more insight into business operations. We owe this to Cegeka's approach. With them as co-pilot and Business Central under the hood, we are ready for the future.”

“Every functionality we add now means direct time and efficiency gains. We owe this to Cegeka's approach. With them as co-pilot and Business Central under the hood, we are ready for the future.”

- Jens Hendrickx, CEO at Talenco

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