Koen van Halder | SAP Plant Maintenance Specialist | Mobile PM
“We are perfectly capable of providing the demos of our Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance Platform digitally.” Koen van Halder is Customer Engagement Manager at Incentro. In this role he regularly gives demos of a software product developed by Incentro, called the Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance Platform. How does a demo like this work exactly? We followed Koen for a day.
At 8:30 Koen’s working day starts. He prefers to be at Incentro’s office in Alphen, but because of the current corona limitations he is home often. “I am a people person and like to be around my colleagues; that’s what I really miss now.” Today a demo is scheduled, in which he will show the functionalities of the Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance Platform to a potential new customer. He is doing this together with director Erwin Schmidt. “Erwin and Koen do not spend a whole day on a demo. We spend most of the time in the preparations. I think it’s important to read up on the company concerned so that I can personalize my story, says Koen.”
Remote demos
The story itself doesn’t need to prepare anymore. “I was closely involved in the development of the Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance platform and know it’s functionalities inside out. I’ve already provided quite a few demos.” The demos take place digitally, because of the well-known Corona limitations. Koen: “Fortunately that’s not a problem at all – although personally I find it more fun and more convincing to be on location with the company. Prior to the demonstration I make sure that everything is ready and that the platform functions as it should. We use a test system that runs on an online environment. The PM Platform consists of three interlinked applications: one application for smart phones, one application for tablets and one web application. I simulate the operation of all the applications in a web browser.”
Three linked multichannel applications
Erwin usually starts with an introduction of Incentro and how the creation of the PM Platform came about. Then Koen takes over to give a real-time demonstration of the three multichannel applications. “This means that when someone makes a change in one of the applications, this is visible in all applications as well as in the ERP system (SAP).”
“Koen gives an example: in a factory an employee notices that a pump is leaking and needs to be repaired. A technician can register the leakage through the application installed on his smart phone. The technician indicates where and what the problem is on which pump and, if desired, takes a picture of the problem. After saving the data, this information is then visible in all applications and the ERP system. Using the tablet application, the report can be converted into a work order to repair the pump. An estimate of the time and materials needed can also be made. After the repair is done, the technician can enter how much time he has spent but also add more pictures and text.
The web application is the most extensive. One part of the web application is the capacity planner with which, by means of a drag and drop functionality, employees can be scheduled per day and hour. All information that can be changed in the capacity planner is fed back in realtime to SAP. I demonstrate exactly how this works in both the application as well as live in SAP.”
A solid story
In his own words, Koen is anything but a salesman. “I was employed in the field of Mechanical Engineering before Incentro”. I know how the pump in the example should be repaired and I can imagine the possible problems our customer might encounter. Mechanical Engineers don’t like small talk – they cut straight through it. So I want to convince them with a good, clear and honest story. Show them in an accessible way how our PM Platform can support them in simplifying and speeding up their daily administrative tasks. That is what they want to see.
After Koen’s demo, which lasts about half an hour, Erwin and Koen explain how Incentro works, and how the customer can acquire a license to use the platform. To start, we launch a Proof of Concept (PoC), which the potential customer can test. The client’s test system is already connected to the PoC variant of the platform. In this way, the data is recognizable to the customer. In this phase the customer makes a list of additional features and changes that still need to be developed to meet their minimum requirements and wishes. Incentro gets to work on these so that the platform is compliant and can be released for production.”
Product Owner
On an average week, Koen sometimes gives one or two demos of the Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance platform. As Customer Engagement Manager, he is also the Product Owner. “I am involved in the further development of the applications so that they become better and more efficient. We are currently working on linking our own OutSystems environment to our internal SAP system. The improvements we implement are often very interesting for our customers. In this way, we ensure the continuity of the Mobile SAP Plant Maintenance platform.”
Around 17:00 Koen’s working day is over. Time to wrap things up and wish his colleagues a nice evening. On to the next demo!
