40 years of Exact - Partner Bijzen&Dekker on this collaboration: “A unique combination”

40 years of Exact. That deserves a celebration! And Bijzen&Dekker are happy to join in the festivities. They have been Exact partners for almost 30 years, advising on and implementing Exact software. Founders Hans Dekker and Johan Bijzen and Operations & Sales Director Jolijn van der Plas explain why their methods align so well and what makes Exact and Bijzen&Dekker such a unique combination.

How it all started

Bijzen&Dekker has offices in Apeldoorn and Enschede and customers all over the Netherlands. “The main things are for us to get along well together and to feel confident of producing a good solution to our customer’s problems”, says Jolijn. Bijzen&Dekker’s team is close-knit and dynamic, with short lines of communication. Founders Johan Bijzen and Hans Dekker gave their names to the company and act as the team’s executive members. “In 1996 Johan was still a business consultant and I was a controller”, Hans recalls. "We found each other because we shared the same vision of automation. This was a time when people mainly focused on the opportunities offered by hardware and software as products. We did not want to be guided by the product. Instead, we wanted to start by charting an organisation’s processes and then use that to determine the best solution. To think along with companies about their business processes and possible optimisations was quite a revolutionary approach back then. Exact Software was also far ahead of the times, so we entered into a partnership with them.”

Putting the customer first

For Bijzen&Dekker, it all starts with the customer. A deal is a deal. As more technical solutions became available, they continued to find new and better ways to add automation and make their customers smarter. “We still want to learn all about an organisation and think along with them, it’s in our blood”, says Hans Dekker. “Getting a good idea of how things stand, focusing on their business processes and advising, implementing and improving efficiency on that basis; this is what our customers expect of us. By making sure to ask critical questions, we also encourage customers to take a good look at their own organisation and processes.”

Process visualisation

"We visualise these processes for our customers using so-called sketches. These make it much easier to show the possibilities and opportunities for optimisation. Not all customers are comfortable with IT and some people struggle with change.” Jolijn adds, “We want to make our customers’ lives easier and demonstrate our understanding of their needs as clearly as we can. We show them where opportunities can be found and what we intend. When plans are presented as simply as possible, everyone gets the idea. We want to create the best possible landscape for our customers, so we cast a wide net in our search for solutions. The possibilities offered by the Cloud and SaaS also play a big role, of course. Again, we make sure to determine what will be the best fit together with our customers.”

Smart integration

Bijzen&Dekker only uses Exact solutions as a starting point. “We integrate suitable supplementary solutions to reinforce Exact and make it even smarter”, says Johan. “These can be industry-specific or process-specific. Exact used to offer all kinds of industry-specific solutions such as e-Architect and e-Dental. They stopped doing that some years ago. Now they stick to their area of expertise. There are other good solutions are available for highly specific industries or issues. By integrating these, we offer our customers the best of all possible worlds. Our experts integrate such supplementary solutions with Exact in clever ways, allowing us to deliver precisely what a customer needs. It’s just like when Hans and I first launched Bijzen&Dekker. Combining your qualities is what makes for success.”

Starting with standard software

Hans continues, "When we first started Bijzen&Dekker, we noticed many customers thought their methods were so unique, customisation was essential. Digging deeper into their organisation often produced very different insights.” Jolijn nods. “We believe in setting up solutions to be customer-specific. Not all companies are the same and everyone has specific wishes and requirements. Even so, we aren’t fans of customisation. Customisation makes you dependent on a partner and we believe customers should be free to do what they want. The solution is often a good supplementary tool with optimal linking to Exact. A best-of-suite solution that does it all won’t generally be the best in every area. We believe strongly in going for best of breed instead. That way, the customer has the best of everything and can use standard software with a customer-specific set-up.”

Shared development

“Exact is our most important partner”, says Johan. “Throughout the many years of our collaboration, we have seen how much Exact invests in innovation. Recently, Exact has also been interacting with dealers more actively and more often. That’s a good thing in my eyes.” Jolijn continues, “We actively provide input on Online Premium, and we work with Exact and several other partners to keep innovating and adapting this solution to market demands and requirements. Together, we are even better at knowing exactly what customers need.” Jolijn also appreciates the fact that Exact is a Dutch company. “They are easily accessible and we know each other well. We have been through a lot together and learned from each other. Both companies are forward-thinking, which encourages innovation. AI integration is currently a hot topic, for example. Personally, I also hope that Exact Online will eventually be available worldwide for more legislative systems, just like Globe.” Johan adds that making it possible to run Exact Online in-house, if that’s what the customer wants, would be another good idea for the future.

Optimum results

“The best parts of our collaboration are the many successful projects we have delivered together”, says Jolijn. “Those are always meaningful advances. We also attend the Partner of the Year awards every year. A few years ago, we won the Customer Loyalty Award. That one means a lot to us because it’s about customer satisfaction. This is our greatest priority: achieving optimum results and thereby, satisfied customers.”

Bright future

Her colleagues nod their agreement. “Exact has been our most valuable strategic partner for 28 years. We see the fantastic advances they are making and look forward to continuing our collaboration with great confidence. On behalf of the entire Bijzen&Dekker team: Exact, congratulations on your anniversary. We look forward to many more wonderful years together!"