Camille De Bruyn, Plugnotes: “Businesses do not believe that a solution can be that simple!”
In November 2022, Gumption invested in Plugnotes, a promising start-up based in Brussels. The company digitises workflows without programming.
Things are moving quickly for Plugnotes. We spoke to the fledgling company's co-founder, Camille De Bruyn.
How is Plugnotes doing today?
Camille De Bruyn: 'Fantastically, Plugnotes is growing like mad. We now have twice as many customers as we had last year and have already achieved the same turnover in the first quarter of this year as in the whole of last year. The team has grown from three to eleven employees.'
What exactly does Plugnotes do?
Camille: 'In a nutshell, Plugnotes makes it easy for companies to digitise processes. Digital forms come to replace paper and spreadsheets. You can plug them into ERP software without incurring development costs. An ERP is good for generic flows. We offer an answer to specific processes that are unique to a particular business. Imagine you sell apples – you have a totally different quality process than a company trading cars. Our system embraces the differences and provides a customised response to the specific needs of every single party.'
How is Plugnotes doing today?
Camille De Bruyn: 'Fantastically, Plugnotes is growing like mad. We now have twice as many customers as we had last year and have already achieved the same turnover in the first quarter of this year as in the whole of last year. The team has grown from three to eleven employees.'
What exactly does Plugnotes do?
Camille: 'In a nutshell, Plugnotes makes it easy for companies to digitise processes. Digital forms come to replace paper and spreadsheets. You can plug them into ERP software without incurring development costs. An ERP is good for generic flows. We offer an answer to specific processes that are unique to a particular business. Imagine you sell apples – you have a totally different quality process than a company trading cars. Our system embraces the differences and provides a customised response to the specific needs of every single party.'
How do clients use Plugnotes in practice?
Camille: 'Our portfolio of clients is diverse and includes several niches. A metal company is using Plugnotes to share quality reports with its customers. A logistics business is currently using our system to replace paper delivery notes. A restaurant is digitising timesheets and daily revenue flows. A wholesaler collects reports from representatives who go out to visit customers. These are just a few examples of our dozens of clients. We often work with SMEs, but we can also help larger businesses.'
Are the results that you achieve for clients measurable?
Camille: 'Our clients get a return on investment of 800% on average. In less than one day, we can create an analysis and have the Plugnotes system up and running. There’s no need for development. Our tool is what’s known as ‘no code’. Costs are limited, and the implementation time is short. This translates into a high ROI.'
How is the team at Plugnotes doing?
Camille: 'As we grow so quickly, we pay added attention to team spirit. A different colleague prepares lunch for the whole team each week. Every other week, we organise an after-work event during which one of our colleagues teaches us something new. That could be work-related, like the session on ChatGPT and how it could save us time, but it could also be completely unrelated. For example, our colleague Pierre will soon teach us to play the guitar. These are always such fantastic moments.'
How is the team at Plugnotes doing?
Camille: 'As we grow so quickly, we pay added attention to team spirit. A different colleague prepares lunch for the whole team each week. Every other week, we organise an after-work event during which one of our colleagues teaches us something new. That could be work-related, like the session on ChatGPT and how it could save us time, but it could also be completely unrelated. For example, our colleague Pierre will soon teach us to play the guitar. These are always such fantastic moments.'
What is the added value of Gumption for you?
Camille: 'I find the mentoring from the group extremely valuable. We love the advice from Alain Prick and Olivier Leroy of Gumption. The networking opportunities with other business leaders are also very useful. Our obvious partners in the group are TheValueChain, because of their expertise with ERP, and valueXstream, with their logistics expertise. But we are also talking to other businesses to see how we can collaborate. We strongly believe in co-creation, and love the experience of meeting so many new people.'
What is the most challenging part of it all for you?
Camille: 'No code is still little relatively unknown. The work we need to do is like evangelism. Businesses do not believe that a solution can be that simple. They know that adaptations and developments always cost a lot. Hence, they are suspicious when we come forward with our straightforward solution. They think it might be too good to be true. Early adopters come to us more readily, and they are all happy.'
What is the most challenging part of it all for you?
Camille: 'No code is still little relatively unknown. The work we need to do is like evangelism. Businesses do not believe that a solution can be that simple. They know that adaptations and developments always cost a lot. Hence, they are suspicious when we come forward with our straightforward solution. They think it might be too good to be true. Early adopters come to us more readily, and they are all happy.'
Want to know more?
Contact Camille (camille@plugnotes.com) or Harold (harold@plugnotes.com)!