Castle
The Nyenrode site in Breukelen covers an area 60 hectares. Nyenrode is famous for its castle, which dates from the 13th century and is still in daily use. The lecture halls and offices are in the modern Dr. Albert Heijn and De Rooij buildings. The university complex is also home to 29 nationally listed buildings, a library, a sports hall, a student cafeteria, a restaurant for executives, and two hotel buildings with 100 rooms.
Young and old
Every year, an average of 4,750 students follow a full-time or part-time degree course, and 8,500 managers and professionals participate in one of the wide range of executive education courses provided by Nyenrode. On an average day, young and old students can be seen on campus in anything from jeans and a T-shirt to a three-piece grey suit. ‘True,’ agrees Joost. ‘Not surprisingly, our motto is lifelong learning. We like our students to come back.’
Stand on its own two feet
Even for a university with the stature of Nyenrode, it’s not easy to stand on its own two feet. ‘That’s also true,’ confirms Joost. ‘We’ve received no grants to date, so we’re increasingly upping our game with our business operations. Fortunately, student numbers are picking up again, and we’re also trying to tap other sources of income with activities such as organising weddings, parties and events in the castle and coach house, and retreats for management teams. The coach house wing is home to a business accelerator, where Nyenrode helps budding entrepreneurs in their first steps towards opening their own companies, and the old sports hall where lean methodology is taught has been renamed the Nyenrode Lean Institute.’
Cutting costs
‘We’re also looking at where we can cut costs, of course,’ Joost continues. ‘We’re trying to do everything smarter, and in that respect we’re ideally placed here at Nyenrode. We asked our lecturers in lean management for advice, and then reorganised our business processes. We’re adapting our services to the changing market. For example, our procurement is now organised differently. We increasingly adopt best value procurement, and work with a select number of preferred suppliers.’
Facilitor helps us improve processes and reduce costs
CAFM
Nyenrode relies on Facilitor, the Computer Aided Facility management System (CAFM) of Aareon subsidiary Facilitor, to support its business operations. Joost: ‘We were looking for a web-based CAFM that was able to meet all our requirements and wishes. Facilitor ticked all the boxes. Moreover, the no-nonsense mentality of the Facilitor supplier suits us. They don’t pretend it is rocket science, and their Facilitor system is a pragmatic solution. The system is also flexible enough to link with other systems, such as our HRM system and financial system.’
Improved process
‘Facilitor helps us improve processes and reduce costs,’ Joost explains. As an example, Joost mentions procurement, which has been completely streamlined in line with e-procurement. ‘If you want to reserve a room or order a notepad and pen, everything goes through Facilitor. It saves a lot of human intervention, so there are fewer errors. Moreover, there are now only half as many suppliers, and master contracts offer benefits thanks to larger volumes.
Partners
Facilitor is also linked to our caterer’s business operations, and the firm that cleans our buildings and maintains the greenery. ‘In fact, we made it a condition that our partners use Facilitor. Facilitor is the source, the fountain of truth, for all of them. As it’s a web-based solution, Facilitor is easily accessible and transparent for everyone. In addition, a web-based system means no investment in servers or maintenance is needed,’ Joost explains.
Mobile devices
‘When various people and companies work together in a single web application, it places demands on behaviour, organisation and technology,’ Joost continues. ‘Facilitor, which includes apps for mobile devices, provides the technology needed to report when a task is finished. However, that does have to happen when a job’s done. Technology and organisation ultimately depend on the user’s behaviour. Facilitor works really well, even for the less technically literate. It has the same look and feel for all tasks.’
Nyenrode e-store
‘Facilitor is actually Nyenrode’s internal e-store, where you order, make changes, book and pay,’ says Joost, and gives a practical example: ‘Imagine someone wants to arrange a programme for a multi-day event. They can reserve the room, arrange the catering, and order audio-visual equipment and other supplies via Facilitor.’ ‘Facilitor sets everything in motion for the partners involved. Changes can be made up to a certain point, such as additional registrations or cancellations. After that, the process is closed and finalised. All those involved enter their changes directly in the system.’
Authorisation
Authorisation takes place at the back when the invoice arrives. ‘The doors of the e-store are wide open at the front, because restrictions disrupt the process,’ says Joost. ‘Anyone can simply place orders up to a certain size. That stimulates people to use it, and saves on administration and work. If you trust people, they won’t let you down. In fact, ‘illicit’ orders have actually declined.’
Maintaining focus
When Joost is asked if he has any other plans for optimising business operations, he replies, ‘As a facility company, we continually ask ourselves if we’re doing the right thing with the right people. Should we continue doing something in-house, or should we outsource it? Is technology helping us in the right way? We also expect partners, including Facilitor, to challenge us and keep us on our toes. In the future, we’d also like repair requests from our housing units to go through Facilitor. We want to increase the user group, which we could do by making more apps available. Facilitor is the hub, and there’s still a lot of potential to exploit.’
By Aareon insight, publication June 2015
