From an Excel maze to a bespoke AI planning tool: how Belisol Eindhoven built its own planning system using monday.com.

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Niels van de Gevel Financial Controller

Belisol Eindhoven is the Belisol Group’s largest branch in the Netherlands and designs, sells and installs window frames, doors and sliding doors. When the Excel files could no longer keep pace with the company’s growth and working methods, Niels van de Gevel sought a system that could scale with the business. With monday.com and Gorilla Services as its advisory partner, Belisol Eindhoven built its own organisation-wide work management system, including a bespoke AI-powered planning tool.

monday.com – New feature update

Starting point

The problem was in Excel

Every project at Belisol Eindhoven follows the same process: consultant, surveyor, work preparation, planning, installation, after-sales service. As the branch grew, this process became increasingly vulnerable. The entire planning and workflow was managed via Excel, and much of the knowledge was locked away in the minds of individual staff members.

Finding a suitable system proved difficult, as every window frame is unique. On paper, Salesforce and HubSpot seemed capable of handling everything, but they ran into difficulties with the exceptions inherent in a bespoke industry.

Belisol Eindhoven

The choice

Looking for a system that grows with you

Van de Gevel was introduced to monday.com via a demo at industry peer Be Solar, which was also a client of Gorilla Services at the time. “It’s super simple, super practical. Basically, it’s Excel 3.0.”

Belisol Eindhoven chose Gorilla Services as its local partner and sounding board. The role was deliberately advisory: Belisol built the structure itself, whilst Gorilla Services provided guidance and advice where necessary.

“We started small, with two or three of our 45 employees. We literally copied an Excel tab, pasted it into monday.com, and said: this is it, and from now on we’re not working in Excel anymore.”

Belisol Eindhoven deliberately opted for a small, phased roll-out rather than a ‘big bang’ implementation.
monday.com vs. Wrike, Asana & Click-Up: Wat is de beste optie? 2
Belisol Eindhoven 2

Approach

Start small, build up step by step

monday.com can be fully customised to meet the needs of the workplace. For example, the surveyor can now upload his photos directly from his mobile, rather than emailing them and printing them out. Thanks to small wins like this, acceptance and adoption came naturally.

Gorilla Services remained constantly present in the background:

  • Advice on the layout
  • Using new features on monday.com
  • Making smart choices regarding, for example, the costs of AI

Challenges facing Belisol Eindhoven

Planning in Excel All the planning and procedures were carried out using Excel, and that was precisely where the problem lay.
Knowledge in people’s minds A great deal of knowledge was stored in the minds of individual staff members, rather than being recorded in a shared system.
A delicate process As the branch grew, the process from adviser to after-sales service became increasingly vulnerable.
Exceptions to bespoke work Every window frame is unique. Salesforce and HubSpot ran into difficulties with the exceptions in a bespoke industry.

Belisol Eindhoven’s objectives

A system that grows with you A platform that adapts to the business, rather than the other way round.
Overview in a shared system Establishing processes and planning so that the absence of a colleague no longer leads to a loss of overview.
Building it yourself with a sparring partner Set up the structure largely on your own, with a local partner acting as a knowledgeable sounding board.
Enter step by step Start small and see what works, rather than opting for a ‘big bang’ implementation.
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Structure, control and a proprietary AI planning tool

Belisol Eindhoven does not keep hard figures on customer or employee satisfaction, but staff costs are demonstrably rising at a slower rate than turnover, and customer communication has become clearer.

Scheduling was the last task still managed in Excel. Thanks to monday.com’s open API, Belisol had a programmer build its own scheduling tool, working four hours a week. With the help of AI: “What used to take ten hours now takes just an hour.” The tool runs on monday.com, with an initial AI agent that assesses service requests.

Lessons learnt

  • Let the system follow the process, not the other way round.
  • Start small and prove the value before scaling up.
  • Give staff ownership of their own part of the process.
  • Define your partner’s role in advance: full-service support, or a strategic sounding board.

Impact in figures

Niels van de Gevel "As soon as you start using monday.com, you’ll gain a completely different perspective on your own process."
monday.com vs. Wrike 5
Staff at Belisol Eindhoven
Projects by year

Results

Account manager Gorilla Services 1

An overview that is no longer in people’s minds

Processes and planning are now documented in a shared system, rather than being scattered across Excel files and the knowledge of individual staff members.
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Staff costs that are rising at a slower rate than turnover

A demonstrable benefit of organising processes more efficiently within monday.com.
Educatie (Freshservice) 2

Clearer customer communication

Not necessarily faster, but much clearer for the customer, thanks to a better-structured process.
monday.com – New feature update

A bespoke, in-house AI planning tool

The final and most critical component, which was previously in Excel, has now been custom-built within the monday.com ecosystem, featuring the first AI agent to assess service tickets.
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