Interview with RTH

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From its headquarters in Greater Helsinki, RTH OY has been providing maintenance and repair services to properties and outdoor areas for over 17 years. With a team of 60 dedicated staff members and an impeccable reputation, RTH Oy has been entrusted by public administrators, private companies, and property managers to keep their real estate clean, modern, and efficient.

The company prides itself on its highly skilled workforce, cutting-edge tools, and its use of the latest technologies to deliver incredible customer service. In fact, most of RTH Oy’s customers have been working with them for over a decade.

Maintaining this standard of excellence has come at a significant cost, however. Recruitment-wise, few people have what it takes to excel in such a dynamic and evolving business environment. First off, it requires a vast knowledge base and skillsets just to get started. Beyond possessing a good understanding of structural engineering, staff need to know how to safely operate heavy machinery and other equipment. Where this line of work is also highly unpredictable, it demands flexibility, agility, and the resourcefulness to come up with solutions on the spot.

Like many other companies in the industry, RTH Oy has struggled to fill their job vacancies, leaving staff to absorb additional responsibilities. After cycling through the same set of challenges over and over, the executive team discovered that they could streamline their administration, boost productivity, and protect their time for higher value activities by improving their internal business processes and modernizing their technological landscape.

To identify the greatest barriers to change management and modernize the back office, Lassi Aarnio – Senior Vice President and Service and Development Lead – left no stone unturned. When he found a trail of unorganized Excel files and varied software solutions that ran in isolation, he recognized that this was an area that could yield significant results with limited effort. In his own words: “A back office that runs on a single version of the truth makes decision-making less overwhelming.”

A back office that runs on a single version of the truth makes decision-making less overwhelming.” - Lassi Aarnio

It is impossible to argue with that logic, especially since their customers reach out by email, phone, text messaging, and a myriad of other communication channels. This issue was further compounded by the businesses’ unsteady workflow and wide array of activities. Without robust information systems, it would have been nearly impossible to keep on top of customer inquiries, requests, and work orders.

After surveying the market, Mr. Aarnio chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central over industry-specific solutions. This suite of services delivers a unified and integrated experience – one that has allowed RTH Oy to conduct their business the way they want to, both now and into the future.

Throughout this journey, RTH Oy benefitted from their enterprise resource planning partner, NAVAKKA. Through a direct referral, Mr. Aarnio got in touch with Tommi Skogberg, Navakka's co-founder, and, together, they composed a solution that incorporated the best of Business Central, along with a few adjustments developed by Navakka to facilitate service contract management, such as Power Apps, Teams, SharePoint, Forms, and Dime.Scheduler.

Managing the operations of a firm that employs 60 people and possesses hundreds of pieces of equipment, machinery, and vehicles is no small feat. While a part of their business involves recurring (and predictable) work, there is a significant amount of business that simply cannot be forecasted. For instance, when a customer’s heating system breaks down, RTH Oy must immediately assign a work order for a qualified and available technician. Without the tools to visualize the entire workforce’s schedule in real-time, mistakes will happen. Bearing that in mind, Mr. Aarnio realized that the company would also benefit from an integrated visual scheduling tool that would allow them to make planning adjustments with confidence.

Ultimately, RTH Oy chose to add Dime.Scheduler to Business Central for its ease of integration, flexibility, and visual scheduling capabilities. “I like Dime.Scheduler because it is so visual. It's clear, it is easy to make changes, and you can see where our people need to go,” Mr. Aarnio explained.

I like Dime.Scheduler because it is so visual. It's clear, it is easy to make changes, and you can see where our people need to go.

As a Dime.Scheduler reseller, Navakka set up the service management module and hooked it up to the planning solution. Now, the company’s predictable, recurring work, such as cleaning services, are managed through service contracts in Business Central, which generates service orders automatically and allocates resources in advance. Complementing this, Dime.Scheduler is used to visualize the schedule and allow for modifications. For unexpected incidents, a service order is registered in Business Central, and the planner will use Dime.Scheduler to dispatch the right resources as soon as possible. Staff in the field then use Power App to give status updates that allow for clear communication and coordination with the office team.

Prior to embarking on this journey, Mr. Aarnio already had a clear vision of how he wanted to run RTH Oy. Above all, he wanted a suite of connected business applications that would work seamlessly to help them face everything from scarce human resources to back-office agility.

Along this journey, RTH Oy took a big leap forward, “but it doesn’t stop here,” Mr. Aarnio pointed out. “We’re planning to expand into other areas that Business Central and the ecosystem offers, so that we can continue streamlining our processes beyond day-to-day operations, including accounting and sales.”