A Zoho One implementation for A Plus Electric Motor Repair, Inc, an industrial electric motor company from St. Charles, Illinois.
- Status: Active
- Customer since: 05/2013
- apluselectricmotor.repair
Executive Summary
An electric motor repair shop was struggling to manage its growth with manual processes and spreadsheets. We implemented a comprehensive Zoho One solution, including Zoho CRM and a highly customized Zoho Books. We built a unique API integration to sync their WooCommerce catalog directly with Zoho Books, streamlining operations. This solution stabilized their cash flow, reduced past-due invoices by 10%, and enabled seamless remote work.
Introduction
Like many growing industrial businesses, this client was maintaining their repair, sales, and customer information manually. There was one Quickbooks app, one email address at Google, and many spreadsheets, business as usual for a one-man army in the office.
But the number of orders was continually growing, so was the number of employees. This was the time to establish a good platform for future expansion.
The Business
Gilberto Herrera, CEO and owner:
“My business started as a small electric motor repair shop. Over the years, our
company achieved significant growth based on returning satisfied customers
and excellent word-of-mouth reputation. We evolved from a small repair shop into a 4500 square foot facility, acquiring more and more customers.”
The Challenge
A growing industrial electric motor repair company was managing increasing orders with manual processes, multiple spreadsheets, and a basic Quickbooks app. This created inefficiencies, disconnected data, and difficulty scaling.
Mr. Herrera realized that they needed a system in place that’ll help them cover all the needs at a time, as well as give the company employees enough mobility and remote work opportunities.
Finding a Solution
The client needed a single, unified system that could cover all their business needs while providing robust mobility and remote work opportunities. As an Advanced Zoho Partner, United Parts of Chicago identified Zoho One as the ideal platform to meet these requirements.
The implementation was performed by our team, leveraging our long-standing relationship as the client’s IT contractor to ensure a fast and comfortable rollout.
We began by showing how Zoho Books could directly replace their existing Quickbooks workflow, highlighting its powerful features for invoicing and online payments. This practical, solutions-first approach made the value of the Zoho One platform clear.
The client’s positive feedback confirmed this strategy was a success:
Gilberto Herrera, owner, A Plus Electric Motor Repair, Inc.:
Our Implementation and Results with Zoho One Apps
Our Zoho-certified consultants executed the initial “Phase 1” implementation in just two weeks. We strategically selected a core set of Zoho One apps to tackle the most critical business functions. By leveraging the power of the integrated Zoho One apps suite, we delivered immediate value and a unified, manageable office environment.
Our initial deployment included Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Forms, Zoho Flow, and Zoho Social.
This, along with the online payment gateway and the automatic past due reminders for the customers and their invoices, are the most significant benefits. After Zoho Books’ implementation, the cash flow became more stabilized. The average number of past due invoices has decreased by 10%.
Zoho Inventory / WooCommerce Integration
A primary challenge was the client’s disconnected lead management and product catalog. We solved this by integrating several Zoho One apps:
Zoho CRM & Zoho Forms: We replaced all standard website forms with Zoho Forms. This app, part of the Zoho One suite, now feeds all web leads directly into Zoho CRM for immediate follow-up and tracking.
Custom API-based Zoho Inventory/WooCommerce integration: To streamline catalog management, our team developed a unique, custom-made module connecting Zoho Inventory/Books (the core financial apps in their Zoho One setup) directly with their WooCommerce-based website. This bespoke integration allows the client’s staff to manage their entire product catalog from within their familiar Zoho environment.
Gilberto Herrera, the owner of A Plus Electric Motor Repair, Inc.:
“Before I met Dmitry, I was still using paper for everything. He showed me how business is done in the 21st century. He was able to make a website for us. Customize it and integrate it into our Zoho CRM. We are now able to receive WEB RFQs that automatically show up to our CRM. We just work with comfort, that is it.”
Tangible Business Results
This strategic implementation, built on the flexibility of Zoho One apps, created a totally different level of customer service and operational efficiency.
An unplanned but highly valuable benefit emerged in 2020: thanks to the native remote work options built into the Zoho One apps, our client was perfectly prepared for the pandemic, while competitors struggled to adapt.