Yablochkov

A high-growth start-up in need of a web-based ERP system

What is Yablochkov?

As their employee numbers consistently increased, their need for more structured corporate procedures did as well. Vasterra was hired to capture the business processes and to identify inefficiencies the young start-up had been facing. The main objective was to introduce a quick yet comprehensive solution to optimize their business processes immediately.

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Agility and growth — combined

Yablochkov is a high-growth start-up which doubled its headcount four consecutive years in a row. While this speaks for their innovative power, the growth itself introduced corporate challenges. These challenges eventually became overwhelming and distracted from their core capabilities. Vasterra was brought onboard to evaluate current shortcomings and, ultimately, to mitigate these shortcomings by introducing a comprehensive ERP solution.

Formalizing the informal processes

As a typical start-up, Yablochkov had only little standard operating procedures in place. A significant amount of the entire corporate communication was happening via informal channels such as telegram and bilateral conversations. Task distributions were made through spreadsheets and other basic tools.

While these approaches work fine within a very small team, inefficiencies will eventually appear once a critical size has been reached. With Yablochkov employing more than 30 people, this critical threshold had been crossed. Therefore, Vasterra’s team immersed itself into the day-to-day business of Yablochkov and captured all relevant processes.

This step formed a major prerequisite and required a significant amount of time as no formalized procedures were available to start from. Our task was not only the development of a suitable software solution but also to consult our client on how to formalize their informal work processes effectively. This initial discovery phase enabled us to capture the required functionality of the final software solution that we implemented.

Internal communication

A major challenge of Yablochkov was the internal communication. Without a clear procedure on the distribution of tasks, responsibilities, and requirements, none of the workers understood entirely what his or her tasks were. This circumstance led to a whole array of miscommunications ending in delayed payments to suppliers or not-in-time material procurements. With the goal of scaling their business further, these inefficiencies had to be overcome.

To structure their internal communication and facilitate a more agile working environment, we implemented a solution based on the rather traditional Gantt charts. These are simplistic and require only a minimal amount of staff training before creating a positive impact. Despite its simplicity, this approach ensured that communication and work distribution became more formalized and clearer. Vasterra empowered Yablochkov to distribute responsibilities and create accountability among the team. More importantly, the proposed solution fit into the culture of Yablochkov and kept procedures as simple as possible.

A ready-made solution with additional customization

Vasterra knows the environment in which start-ups thrive. It is a very dynamic, fast-paced, and unpredictable one and solutions must be identified, developed and implemented quickly in order to retain the competitive advantage. It was, therefore, clear that any solution had to be available immediately to not lose time during the scaling up of the business.

Make internal insights
visible to the management

Beyond the ERP implementation, Vasterra integrated a sophisticated process analysis module. Through the constantly collected data, the management team of Yablochkov is now able to access insights on which processes run efficiently and which ones require further optimization. This feature ensures that new processes can be optimized without requiring external support. Moreover, insights gained may be helpful at a later stage when raising further capital.

Lightweight, scalable web ERP

We understood that a final solution must be web-based and lightweight in order to scale quickly enough as well as fulfil the client’s simplicity requirements. That is why Vasterra built a web-based interface. This proved not only to be the most preferred access path of the employees but further facilitated the mobile work culture of Yablochkov without implementing an expensive fully fletched ERP system.

Our solution proved to be scalable, lightweight, and versatile – exactly what is needed for a start-up like Yablochkov. Whether you are wondering about the future of EV charging stations or process optimization potentials, we are eager to hear from you.

Mobile Application Development

In addition to the ERP solution, Vasterra also developed a mobile application for Yabl. The mobile app provides employees with a platform to access and update tasks, communicate with team members, and receive real-time notifications on project updates. The app enhances internal communication and streamlines task management for better efficiency.