We are in Bilzen, one of the many locations where Group Bruno currently has a branch. Anyone who has lived under a rock in Limburg for the last 36 years and does not know Group Bruno undoubtedly knows their famous Bruno Foodcorner. However, the story of the Italian family goes much further than just delicious pizzas and fresh sandwiches. To continue their growth, they were looking for an IT partner who could grow with them, and they found that in Tricore.
We sit down with Luca Bruno, Valerio Saia, Stijn Derison, Wouter Vanaken, and myself, Senne Snellings from Smeltpunt, for what promises to be an engaging conversation about the origins of Group Bruno, Tricore's achievements so far, and the foundations of a strong collaboration. Enjoy!
Hello gentlemen, what exactly does Group Bruno do?
Luca: “Group Bruno has been around for 36 years and originated from the gas station story where we focus not on the car, but on the road user themselves. Over the years, we have developed various facilities to optimize the experience of that road user:
- Bruno Service Station: Everything related to refueling.
- Bruno Foodcorner: Sandwiches and pizzas.
- Bruno Carwash: Self car wash or wash tunnel.
- Bruno Car Rental: Collaboration with Hertz as an independent distributor in Limburg combined with our own offer of vans.
- Bruno Safe Parking: At the request of transport companies so that their drivers have a place to park safely.
- Green Hotel: The greenest three-star hotel in Genk.
- Roots Bar: The former Irish Pub in Genk that we have transformed into a cocktail bar.
- Terra: Event location in the center of Genk.
- Nina Bruno Real Estate: Real estate office of my sister.
- Opruimen.net: Cleaning and stripping of buildings, also used as our own facility department to maintain our 28 sites.”
You certainly don't get bored here, it seems to me. What are your responsibilities within Group Bruno?
Luca: “I took on the responsibility for the commercial aspect in 2021. Everything related to sales, marketing, customer service, and communication.”
Valerio: “And I take care of the rest, right (laughs). No, I handle the IT technical part. So everything that falls under infrastructure and digitization, but also building technical matters such as: new construction, maintenance, facility management, and innovation to make buildings remotely controllable.”
How did Group Bruno end up at Tricore?
Luca: “I think I introduced Tricore? I knew someone who worked at a client of Tricore and then I informed myself.”
Stijn: “The link also came about because we had already encountered Noë (Luca's brother, ed.) a few times at the business club of Hubo Handball.”
Valerio: “So we definitely did not just search the internet for ‘IT company nearby’, the relationship originated from internal circles. I also called both clients and former clients of Tricore for references, the most positive one even came from a former client. Based on their strong offers and other conditions that were met, we then decided to partner with Tricore.
What were the main challenges that Group Bruno faced before the collaboration with Tricore began?
Valerio: “I started here a year and a half ago, at that time there was still another IT partner responsible for the technical aspects. From alarms to screens, digital signage, telephony, infrastructure, … They managed everything that had a button.
After my first days here, I started to notice that there was some room for optimization in terms of infrastructure. Eventually, we decided to issue an RFP. In January, the takeover of our previous supplier was initiated. We are certainly not there yet, but there is already a clear positive change. Noë recently said that we have had little to no IT problems in the last six months, that was different in the past.”
“Noë recently said that we have had little to no IT problems in the last six months, that was different in the past.”
Stijn, what has Tricore already accomplished here?
Stijn: “Creating an overview of what infrastructure existed here was an important first step to bring more proactivity and automation into the organization. Our audit also revealed that there is still some work to be done in terms of cybersecurity, as little attention was paid to it in the past. We are now updating the infrastructure in phases; 28 locations cannot be fully reorganized in three weeks, of course. This phased approach works to our advantage because it allows us to standardize and automate a lot, something we always go very far in.”
Valerio: “Especially the monitoring that has been set up is really paying off. A few months ago, Tricore noticed that somewhere in a shop the camera surveillance had failed while the operator hadn’t even realized it.”
What else is on the agenda?
Stijn: “The intention is to install new firewalls in every shop for extra security between the shop and the internet, as well as within the internal network. The redundancy of the internet lines was also very important for the food corners; without internet, there is no payment processing and no web orders come in. Additionally, we have also migrated from Google to Microsoft Cloud to enable integrations.”
So quite a bit has already happened with the infrastructure. How is the situation on the software side, Wouter?
Wouter: “With Odoo, we mainly set up a ticketing system, which was necessary since previously all communication went through the mailboxes. Now everyone can see who is working on what and all the info is in one central place. We actually hear very few complaints about this from Group Bruno; when something comes in, it’s more informative questions about what else is possible.
“Group Bruno is our first client to send more than a hundred thousand emails in one campaign.”
In addition, we are now also using the email and SMS marketing module; Group Bruno is our first client to send more than a hundred thousand emails in one campaign. The next step is to integrate facility management and the field service into Odoo to generate insightful reports. For example, mapping out which stations have the most problems.”
Was there a switch from an existing ERP system needed?
Luca: “A switch from an Excel file actually (everyone laughs). No, we were already working with Icasa for programming, invoicing, and a limited piece of CRM. The latter has now been switched to Odoo. Since 2018, we had been looking for a new tool, but we always ran into the problem that there was no connection possible with Icasa. Now we just made the decision to switch without a connection. Our youngest employee is 24 and the oldest is 55 years old. So we have a very diverse team, and a smooth transition is not always so obvious. But, I must say that it actually went very well. On one hand, due to the efficient approach of Tricore; but also thanks to Athena, our customer service manager.”
Have any training sessions been necessary to implement those changes?
Luca: “Yes, we went live with Odoo just over a year ago and then we scheduled a few half days of training, split into customer service and sales.”
Wouter, what is the main advantage of working with Odoo?
Wouter: “In the case of Group Bruno: having an overview of what is happening and what interactions there are with the customer in the form of a clear CRM module. This way we have been able to remove communication from the mailboxes and now all contracts and important documents are nicely together in a customer file. All stations also have their own account and can immediately ask their questions in the right place, which helps distribute the workload internally better.”
Luca: “We often faced the problem that emails were sent with 15 people in CC and they would start with ‘dear’. Who takes on that task? That is now solved with the ticketing system.”
What do you think is the biggest asset of Tricore?
Luca: “We have the ambition to grow with 4 to 5 locations per year, so we also need partners who can grow with us. We have found that at Tricore. Their biggest asset is, in my opinion, that proactivity so that our operators can focus on their core tasks. If you arrive at five in the morning still half asleep and have to make your baguettes, while you also notice that the cash register is not working, that is no way to work. Those things just need to work, now they call you even before you wake up if something is down (laughs).”
Valerio: “Yesterday a colleague came to me and said: ‘I think I have a virus on my laptop.’ Thanks to the 24/7 monitoring from Tricore, I can be sure right away that that is not the case, because otherwise I would have known it long ago.”
Stijn: “That is the big advantage of that monitoring, that we can solve a problem at night and do not have to wait until the busy moments during the day.”
Valerio: “We are also sitting here at the table with the owner who thinks along with the approach ‘if Group Bruno does well, that is good for us too’. That close relationship with management is of great value to us. Also, the consistency in the people from Tricore we work with is important. If we have to deal with someone new for every problem who is not fully aware of our situation, we would unnecessarily lose a lot of time.
“Yesterday a colleague came to me and said: ‘I think I have a virus on my laptop.’ Thanks to the 24/7 monitoring from Tricore, I can be sure right away that that is not the case, because otherwise I would have known it long ago.”
One last question to conclude: If you had to summarize the collaboration with Tricore in three words, what would they be…?
Luca: “Flexible, transparent, and clear. Often when you talk to IT people it is in Dutch, but that IT person then replies in Chinese. They may have to code their solution in Chinese, but they must not forget to translate it into Dutch in the communication to us (everyone laughs). That is not the case with Tricore.”
Valerio: “Thinking along, proactive, and consultants. At Tricore, there are no IT people, but consultants. If Niels Billen for example, if you call a shop, then that operator also understands what Niels is saying. That is really very valuable.”
Stijn: “That must be a smart operator to understand Niels (everyone laughs).”
The clarity that Tricore was able to create in the IT structure of Group Bruno has left a significant impact in the short term. At Group Bruno, they understand the importance of streamlined IT management, and that translates into an efficient and structured way of working.
Are you still looking for an IT partner who knows how to get things done? Then contact us via the button below.