Last Updated on October 30, 2024 by Owen McGab Enaohwo
Introduction
As president at Location Accès Crédit, Michel Coutu was committed to assisting his clients with accessing vehicle loans in Canada amid the strict loan regulations in the country. The success of every application required the utmost attention to detail and efficiency among employees.
Maintaining such a high standard was a challenge due to the absence of standard operating procedures.
The lack of proper documentation posed a threat to the organization as it expanded, and Michel sought a workflow software to close the loopholes in their operations. The security of the system was a major concern given the delicate financial nature of his business.
He knew he had found the solution he was looking for when he tried SweetProcess.
He tells us how he was able to streamline his business processes and secure his business data. First, let us take a look at the company for context.
About Location Accès Crédit
Location Accès Crédit offers financing services for on-road and recreational vehicles including cars, motorcycles, trucks, quads, snowmobiles, ATVs, etc. Established in 2009, it offers support to individuals whose loan requests have been previously declined due to either bankruptcy or voluntary filing by giving them the edge they need to get approved.
The Canadian company helps interested parties in building or rebuilding their credits to be eligible for financing by a credible financial institution when they choose to access a vehicle loan. In the last few years, the organization has assisted over 12,000 clients to regain mobility and 75% of those clients are now doing business with traditional financial institutions.
Location Accès Crédit leverages its vast network of over 2,000 affiliated car dealers in Eastern Canada to service its growing clientele, and it currently has 75 employees.
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The Biggest Pain Point: Inconsistency
Work instructions are given to employees to make them efficient in their duties. It is almost impossible to get the desired results when these instructions are not followed. Michel explains that this was a major issue at his company. After agreeing on specific guidelines for work, he would realize much later that his employees had deviated from the guidelines and were doing things their way. A lot of damage would have been done by the time he realized this.
“When you say something to someone, and after a few people, at the end of the day, it’s not the same policies that you decided on two years ago—that was the main issue for Location Accès Crédit. When we were five, it was very easy for us. As soon as we changed our policy, we just talked about it around the table at lunch time. After 10-20 employees, the issue was: Okay, we decided on something a few years ago and suddenly I realized that what you are doing now for your job is not what you’re supposed to do.”
It was difficult for work guidelines to be maintained at the organization due to the absence of standard documentation. There was so much back and forth about getting employees to be efficient, and the organization suffered.
The Discovery and Skepticism About SweetProcess
Michel’s first point of call to search for an effective software system to document his business processes was the internet. He found SweetProcess after a series of searches and signed up for the 14-day free trial. At first, he was skeptical about the issue of security.
The Canadian government and a few banks had been victims of hacking at the time, so Michel was concerned if the software was secure. He found out that SweetProcess was highly secure with cloud-based security features that prevent unauthorized access.
How SweetProcess Became a Vital Part of the Organization
Michel has created a new tagline for SweetProcess—he calls it the Holy Bible.
“I call this application the Holy Bible of Location Accès Crédit because everything inside SweetProcess is all our policies and procedures.”
From all indications, SweetProcess met his expectations and he is satisfied with the outcomes. Let us find out some of the ways the software has improved his business.
1. Standardized business process documentation
Employees have a disconnect with processes documented without their input, and the processes may not be effective for their tasks without their contributions. SweetProcess allows everyone to participate in the documentation process. Michel reveals that this was one of the things that stood out for him with SweetProcess.
“Everyone can [input] information, policies, or procedures. Every employee can do that. But of course, they have to ask for approval from me. The knowledge base of SweetProcess, our Holy Bible, is built with everyone.”
Updating their business processes is an issue many organizations face with documentation, but that is not a problem with SweetProcess because updates can be made on the go at any time and by anyone.
“As soon as we create something, everyone knows about our policies. It’s also something to [reference] back [to for] the employees. If I ask an employee: Why did you do this? [They can say] sorry, look in your Bible. This is your procedure, this is your policy. Maybe when you created the policies, you made a mistake.”
2. Seamless employee onboarding and training
Getting new employees acquainted with their duties is not a walk in the park. A lot of time and resources are often spent to get them to a point where they can function on their own efficiently. SweetProcess helps organizations to fast-track the onboarding process and equip new employees with the knowledge they need to stand on their feet as soon as possible.
“As soon as we hire someone, it’s easier for us to give the training. The first one or two days of the training, the employees are just to read all our policies.”
Employee training is not a one-off activity with SweetProcess. They can access work processes and procedures continuously, especially when they are in doubt about anything.
“For instance, if an employee wants to know how to change a password in the system…as soon as you write the word password, SweetProcess shows you every policy and procedure with the word password.”
3. Remote access to work documents
Limiting work activity to a physical location is a thing of the past. Organizations thrive in today’s mobile society when employees can work remotely. SweetProcess makes that easy by allowing authorized persons to have remote access to an organization’s processes, procedures, and policies.
“The great thing is nothing is printed. Nothing is on paper. We are paperless every moment. Everything is on the cloud. If I’m an employee of Location Accès Crédit, I have access to the information. If I hire someone from India or Illinois, everybody knows our policies automatically in ten seconds.”
The Need to Streamline Your Business Processes in the Early Stage of Your Business
Michel is enjoying the benefits of using SweetProcess, but he wishes that he started using the software earlier. He advises anyone looking to start a business to start with documenting their processes with SweetProcess.
“When you start your company, start with an application like SweetProcess. Our issue now is to put everything we know since day one into SweetProcess.”
There are so many processes in his organization and incorporating all of them into SweetProcess is taking a while. It’s a challenge that would have been avoided if they had adopted the software earlier.
“It’ll probably take two years from now to complete our Bible. But if you are a new entrepreneur and you would like to create your company, think about the fact that today you are just two or three [employees] but tomorrow you’ll probably be 50, 60, or 80. And at that time, you’ll lose control of your employees and you can’t check what everyone does at every minute.”
The Next Big Goal of Scaling Up
With the company’s business operations in great shape due to effective documentation of their processes, Michel says that they are focused on scaling across Canada.
“My expectation for the next probably seven or eight years would be to reach the rest of Canada.”
They can achieve their goal by replicating their success with SweetProcess in various aspects of their operations.
Grab the Chance to Streamline Your Business Operations
The change we desire begins by taking a step in the right direction. Michel had a problem of inconsistent performance among his employees, and he adopted SweetProcess to resolve it. Today, he reveres the software as the Holy Bible of his organization. You too can use SweetProcess to resolve operations-related problems in your business. You can begin the journey by signing up for a 14-day free trial.