Sunlight Solar is a Florida-based family-owned business providing solar and battery storage solutions for both residential and commercial customers. They nurture a workforce of over 100 employees, spanning both office and field roles, and empower a sales force of 150 representatives. Over the last four years, Sunlight Solar has witnessed tremendous growth, from 20 monthly installations to managing the entire project lifecycle of 120.
The Challenges: Workflow, Dataflow & Communication
Rapid growth was both a dream and a challenge. While revenues were rapidly increasing, with growth also came a set of hurdles, particularly in ensuring that their business processes, communications, and workflow automations were up to the task:
- Communication: As they expanded, it became increasingly vital to enhance their internal and external communication efforts. Externally, keeping customers informed and engaged throughout projects was a priority. However, the team at Sunlight Solar struggled with manual reminders to send updates to customers, making it challenging to have consistent customer updates at select project milestones. Internally, field and office teams worked in silos with disconnected systems, which made it difficult to collaborate.
- Dataflow: The growth meant that data, documents and photos were being collected and generated at an unprecedented rate, but it was spread out across different platforms. This decentralization made data management a significant challenge, making retrieving essential information difficult. The lack of a centralized data repository meant that they needed to complete manual data entry for data to flow between different systems, such as Aurora, Docusign, and Quickbooks.
- Workflows: Sunlight Solar’s expansion was a testament to their sales prowess, going from 10 to 70 sales per month. However, this brought about a new challenge: workflow management. They identified a lack of control over the essential steps of their processes and handoff of work from one team to the next. Projects were getting lost in a figurative limbo, and the team struggled with visibility on progress.
Why Scoop: Questions Sunlight Solar Asked When Scaling
Sunlight Solar’s journey from being proficient installers for external organizations to wanting to take control of the entire project cycle was marked by a significant shift in mindset and culture. As they transformed, they were faced with a fundamental question of how to proactively address the challenges brought about by their growth.
The need was not just for a tool to tackle current challenges but to find a long-term solution that could adapt and evolve as they grew. Scoop emerged as the answer, offering them the ability to customize and fully adapt the tool to their operations. This flexibility ensures that Sunlight Solar can autonomously and confidently grow.
“I couldn’t see us scale the way we have without Scoop. The platform was a game-changer for us.”
– Danillo Denzin, Vice President of Sales
Results: Solving Challenges and Looking Onwards With Scoop
Enhanced Communications
External
Through Scoop, Sunlight Solar implemented a system that triggered automated emails to customers mirroring key project milestones. This led to a surge in positive customer feedback. As a result, this helped increase sales as many new customers have come through referrals, thanks to a job well done.
“We’ve received fantastic customer feedback due to our improved external communications. Scoop allows us to send automatic email updates to customers at every step of the process.”
– Danillo Denzin, Vice President of Sales
Internal
Technicians in the field can now capture photos, execute mandatory checklist items, and complete documentation directly on the Scoop Mobile App, making it instantly available to managers, who can oversee operations in real time. This instant oversight of operations allows for quick problem-solving and quality control and ensures improved communication within the team. Everyone can access the same information, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings and errors and eliminating the need for repeat site visits.
Dataflow
Sunlight Solar has successfully established a seamless data flow between Aurora, Scoop, and DocuSign, with ongoing plans to broaden this integration to QuickBooks using Scoop’s GLOO Integration Service. Leveraging LOOXY, Scoop’s Analytics, BI and Reporting Platform, they have also developed insightful dashboards.
A noticeable dashboard is their audit trail, providing a detailed daily account of activities for any customer project. This allows them to not only track project timelines but also effectively handle any customer complaints by identifying the root cause. Sunlight Solar came up with the idea of creating such a dashboard—a testament not only to Sunlight’s dedication to delivering quality services but also to LOOXY’s flexibility.
“LOOXY is a blank canvas. We can manipulate data any way we want to create customized dashboards.”
– Danillo Denzin, Vice President of Sales
Workflows
Sunlight Solar significantly improved their workflow, leading to a smoother and more efficient operational process. Managers no longer grapple with the anxiety of missing crucial project information, thanks to the integrated project management solution.
With Scoop’s Project Management Software, project managers now have the invaluable ability to gain a comprehensive view of all projects, neatly segmented into distinct phases, complete with essential key performance indicators (KPIs). This macro-level perspective enables them to closely monitor project progress, assess the duration of each stage, identify stage leaders, and acquire a holistic overview of ongoing projects.
“I was deeply moved by the abundance of positive comments we received from our field team. With Scoop, they now feel more comfortable than ever in their roles, thanks to the clear workflows and instant feedback from management.”
– Danillo Denzin, Vice President of Sales
Conclusion
Sunlight Solar’s journey from challenges to success highlights the importance of streamlined renewable operations. Using Scoop, they improved workflows, data management, and communication, leading to enhanced installation quality , customer satisfaction, and increased sales and employee engagement. Their operations now run like a well-oiled conveyor belt of renewable operations, driving continued growth.
To learn more about Scoop and how we can help improve your renewable energy operation, reach out to one of our dedicated experts!
