In addition to reporting and activity allocation, Rhenus Freight Network also uses the nicetec software for simulations, forecasts and budgeting. "This was one of the main reasons for us to implement the solution," explains Beenders. In the past, the planning processes for costs and budgets were extremely time-consuming and complex. After all, the required information had to be gathered manually from a wide variety of data sources and consolidated and prepared with a great deal of effort and a large number of Excel spreadsheets.

There was also significant potential for optimization in the area of IT controlling, as all IT service costs were posted to collective objects in the SAP system, making a detailed evaluation of the various circumstances virtually impossible. This lack of transparency not only made active cost management and the targeted further development of the service portfolio more difficult. It also repeateadly gave rise to discussions during budget negotiations and service charging: "The management and internal customers want to know what costs are incurred and for what and how our charging prices are made up in detail," explains Beenders. By using netinsight, the data can now be filtered and reported in detail according to a wide range of dimensions at the touch of a button. This reduces friction losses and provides the IT service provider with a sound basis for its own business development. "Thanks to netinsight, we can now continously track whether our service and project teams are covering costs or whether we need to readjust if necessary."

Order in the data jungle

As part of the introduction of the solution, Rhenus Freight Network had to carry out some preliminary work. "We had to put our data in order, set up new structures and improve the quality of the data," says controller Berrit Lambardt. After that, everything went like clockwork: Within a few months, the project team had the new solution up and running.

Since then, netinsight has become an indispensable part of the IT service provider's everyday work: thanks to the integrated planning and calculation functions, target and actual figures can be compared at the touch of a button, intra-year forecasts can be created in no time at all, and service prices can be calculated and charged in a cost-covering and traceable manner.

Quantity data on service usage and cost data are automatically tranferred from upstream applications. This enables reporting at product level, from which the profitability of individual services can be seen in detail. No comparison to the manual reporting of the past: "The longer I work with the solution, the more it excites me," Beenders enthuses. "netinsight really offers everything you need to manage a complex service organisation.".  

Further development of the solution planned

The overall potential of the platform is far from exhausted: "There's a lot more, we're working on," says Lambardt. For example, there are plans to consolidate invoices that were previously run separately via other systems into netinsight in order to create an overall invoice for the customer. Rhenus is also introducing the solution at other IT locations of the group in Asia and the Netherlands.

The expansion is not too much of a headache for those responsible - not least because the support from the manufacturer nicetec leaves nothing to be desired. "The consultants have a lot of project experience and understand what drives us," praises Beenders. "Our contacts are always available to us and actively support us in achieving our goals."

After go-live and the hypercare phase, the need for support from the manufacturer has been reduced to a minimum. The Rhenus team now implements new requirements themselves and with ease. Optimal conditions for smooth billing processes and transparent IT service costs.