Fexa worked with a nationwide casual apparel retailer to address major overspending that was related to unnecessary and redundant vendor calls. Thanks to Fexa’s flexible CMMS, the retailer saved $393,084 by implementing call avoidance strategies. This represented a significant reduction in work order volume, which in turn improved the company’s financial outlook. 

Customer Situation

A nationwide retailer with 450+ sites nationwide, including many over 5000+ square foot locations, was experiencing significant challenges with their facilities management processes. The company had been struggling with uncontrolled spending, aging infrastructure, and inefficient work order management.

The retailer was using two legacy systems for work orders and accounting, which created a lot of disconnect between teams. They were struggling with the issues that plague companies where facilities and finance are siloed into two completely different and divided teams. 

In 2023, the company processed nearly 7,000 work orders---many of which were redundant or unnecessary. Of these 7,000 work orders, most involved individual invoices. The company processed more than 5,100 invoices that year, with an average invoice amount of $1,098. 

As a youth-focused fashion retailer known for contemporary, budget-friendly clothing, the company need to create positive in-store experiences through efficiently-run and comfortable locations. The organization needed to maintain high brand standards and customer satisfaction, but their existing processes simply weren’t supporting these goals.

The right CMMS from Fexa was able to solve these problems and improve the financial reality of the organization. 

The Challenge

We can divide the challenges faced by this retailer into four categories. Each played a role in creating excess expenditures and delayed resolutions for facilities maintenance issues. 

Inefficient Work Order Management

Before implementing Fexa, the retailer had reached a breaking point in their facilities management operations. Store teams were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work orders, and there was no effective process to triage or prioritize them. 

Additionally, the aging infrastructure across their locations contributed to the problem. Maiintenance issues were becoming more frequent and more costly to address.

Unnecessary Vendor Calls

One of the most significant issues was the frequent dispatching of vendors for problems that didn't actually require a technician visit. Common scenarios included:

  • HVAC issues that were actually the landlord's responsibility
  • Equipment that simply needed to be unplugged and restarted
  • Light fixtures that only needed bulb replacements, not repairs 
  • Electrical outlets that just needed a circuit breaker reset

These unnecessary service calls not only created additional costs, but they also caused operational disruptions when store managers were pulled away from their primary responsibilities to meet with technicians.

Lack of Collaboration

The excessive work order volume and resulting invoices created significant financial strain due to a lack of collaboration between teams. The situation had become so severe that it contributed to financial instability within the company.

 There was limited visibility into facilities management spending across stakeholders, and no effective process to control or mitigate these costs.

Disjointed Systems and Manual Processes

The retailer was using multiple software systems across different departments: facilities, accounting, construction, and real estate. The silos that were created by this systems created significant division. Employees within the company could not effectively work together, even if they wanted to. There was simply no easy way to make these systems communicate with each other. 

This fragmentation made it difficult to coordinate maintenance activities, and it certainly led to uncontrolled spending. To make things worse, the company depended upon manual processes that increased the chance of errors. At Fexa, we have worked with enough struggling companies to know that manual processes lead to reduced efficiency in any organization. 

The Turning Point: What Changed? 

The catalyst for change came when the organization experienced some significant leadership turnover. New leaders came with new perspectives, including the idea that facilities management technologies should better align stakeholders within the company and bring budgets back under control. 

It was the director of construction who recognized the opportunity to align the facilities and construction teams through the same platform. This streamlined operations and improved cross-departmental collaboration. Leaders within the organization who had experience with similar retailers knew that aligning the entire organization with one software solution could lead to improved outcomes across the board. 

The unified approach of construction and facilities inspired an exploration of other methods of alignment. In short,  was there a way to unify all of these disparate systems?

This reorganization highlighted three key focus areas for improvement:

The new leadership team, drawing from their experience with other similar retailers, recognized that there was a better way to manage facilities maintenance. They saw an opportunity to not only consolidate systems for immediate cost savings but also to implement automation to help triage unnecessary work orders and gain better control over maintenance spending.

The Fexa Solution

After recognizing the need for change, leaders at the company researched and implemented Fexa's CMMS solution, with a primary focus on addressing their excessive work order volume, improving asset maintenance, and enhancing cross-departmental efficiency.

Call Avoidance Strategy

At the heart of the solution was Fexa's call avoidance functionality. This feature empowered facilities managers to distinguish between essential and non-essential work orders and prevent unnecessary vendor dispatches, which was a major source of excess spending.

Because Fexa is a completely flexible CMMS, this feature was customized to the retailer's specific needs. It provided: 

  • Multi-step troubleshooting questions based on the category, priority, and class of work
  • Automated guidance to help store staff resolve simple issues on their own
  • Clear communication about which issues would or would not result in a vendor dispatch
  • Automated status changes to track avoided calls and associated cost savings

Smart Workflow Automation

Next, Fexa's solution streamlined workflows by automating key processes. Eliminating most, if not all, manual processes, addressed multiple issues: 

  • Provided real-time updates to call avoidance criteria any time there were changes to company directives or budgets
  • Improved, data-driven decision-making to ensure vendors were only dispatched when it was absolutely necessary
  • Automated accounting exports, which reduced errors and streamlined financial processes
  • Tracked and reportied on avoided work orders to demonstrate cost savings

Enhanced Asset Maintenance

Fexa provided much-improved tools for asset management, thus increasing asset lifespans. This included:

  • Better tracking of maintenance history across the entire company
  • Streamlined preventive maintenance scheduling
  • Improved decision-making for repair versus replace scenarios
  • Reduced manual steps in the asset management process

Integration of Departments (No More Siloes!)

Fexa's platform replaced the previous system that the company was using for work order management. The new system integrated with existing systems to improve visibility and efficiency. Specifically, this integration led to: 

  • Better-connected facilities and construction teams on one platform
  • Streamlined data sharing between departments
  • Reduced duplicate data entry and manual work steps
  • Minimized  errors through automation and standardized processes

Customer Benefits 

The implementation of Fexa's CMMS solution delivered significant benefits across the organization. Most importantly, Fexa reduced the company’s excess spending in multiple areas that are connected to facilities management. 

By implementing Fexa's call avoidance strategy, the retailer achieved:

  • $393,084 in call avoidance savings
  • 484 work orders avoided (7% of total work order volume)
  • 358 invoices avoided (74% of avoided work orders would have generated invoices)
  • Reduced software costs by replacing Accruent with Fexa's more comprehensive platform

Improved Operational Efficiency

Beyond the direct cost savings, the solution improved operational efficiency across multiple departments. 

  • Store Level: Managers received clear guidance on which issues warranted service requests and gained the tools to troubleshoot simple problems themselves, reducing disruptions to their daily operations. Downtime costs money, and Fexa prevented  unnecessary downtime. 
  • Facilities Management: Fexa ensured that the facilities management team experienced a reduced backlog of open calls. Following implementation, FM could better focus on critical high-priority issues, increasing their overall effectiveness.
  • Finance Department: Automated accounting exports and reduced invoice volume streamlined financial processes and improved accuracy. There were also significant improvements based on the elimination of manual processes. 
  • Construction Team: Better visibility into facilities data supported more informed decision-making for construction and renovation projects. 

Improved Asset Maintenance

The new system provided significant improvements in how assets were maintained. Fexa provides a clear system for managing assets to extend the lifespan and ROI on each system, whether major or minor. This includes: 

  • Better tracking and documentation of maintenance history
  • More efficient scheduling of preventive maintenance
  • Reduced manual steps in the maintenance workflow
  • Improved data for repair vs. replace decisions

Reduced Manual Work and Error Prevention

Manual processes have more room for human error and delays. Automation, on the other hand, directly addresses company goals. Specifically, Fexa supported the company with: 

  • Eliminating manual data entry between systems
  • Standardizing processes to reduce errors
  • Automated accounting exports with higher accuracy
  • Streamlined workflows that reduced the steps required to complete tasks

Enhanced Communication and Transparency

Last but certainly not least, Fexa implementation fostered better communication across the organization. This led to: 

  • Store managers gained immediate clarity on the status of their requests
  • The perception that "corporate didn't care" about store issues was addressed through transparent communication
  • Facilities teams could make real-time updates to triage criteria as company directives changed
  • Better visibility across construction and facilities teams improved coordination

Game Plan with Fexa: What We Did 

Fexa's implementation approach was tailored to address the retailer's specific challenges with work order management, asset maintenance, and cross-departmental efficiency. It’s important to note that Fexa’s configurability means that we were able to support the specific goals of the organization. There was no retrofitting of processes here---we evaluated the needs of the organization and provided exactly what they needed. 

Step 1: Learn about the organization and its unique needs

We worked closely with the director of construction to understand their vision for aligning facilities and construction teams, and later, all relevant teams. We also learned about the client’s specific challenges, including those unnecessary work orders and manual processes. 

We assessed the limitations of their existing software solutions and provided a complete overview of how Fexa could solve existing problems within the organization. Upon recognizing that call avoidance needed to be a major goal, we customized call avoidance parameters---again, based on the retailer’s specific needs and priorities. 

Step 2: Set up the system and lead the integration process 

Implementation included: 

  • Creating custom troubleshooting workflows to guide store staff through common issues
  • Configuration of automated communication processes, which created more transparency between all stakeholders
  • Setting up reporting tools to track avoided calls and associated cost savings
  • Establishing technology  integrations to reduce manual data entry between departments
  • Creating streamlined processes for asset maintenance tracking

Step 3: Provide meaningful training and support

Software platforms that provide technology without training and support are a frustrating reality in the world of CMMS platforms. Fexa would never leave a client stranded, without excellent training and support! 

Upon helping the company transition to Fexa, we also: 

  • Trained the facilities management team on how to configure and update call avoidance criteria
  • Educated store location staff on the new work order creation process
  • Provided guidance on how to report on savings and demonstrate ROI
  • Ensured all stakeholders understood the new system and workflow
  • Supported the cross-department alignment between construction and facilities teams

Step 3: Support ongoing optimization

Because the organization was in the midst of a lot of institutional change, we made sure that everyone knew that we would continue to support them throughout these organizational transitions. 

This included working with each affected department to streamline change. For example, we helped the finance department reduce errors and improve efficiency, which wasn’t an immediate change but a steady one. We also provided continual guidance on reducing manual steps and eliminating errors. 

Through this comprehensive implementation approach, Fexa delivered a solution that not only addressed the retailer's immediate challenges but also provided long-term value through sustained cost savings, improved asset maintenance, and enhanced cross-departmental efficiency.

Key Outcomes 

So what did all of this end up doing for the company? 

  • The retailer saved $393,084, thanks to call avoidance
  • 7% of spend on break/fix invoicing was avoided
  • Reduced work order volume was a major cause of improved financial outlook for the company

Ready to see for yourself? Schedule a Fexa demo

The transformation achieved by implementing Fexa’s CMMS solution demonstrates how the right FM software can deliver significant value beyond just consolidating your operations into one software. 

By focusing on process improvement, smart automation, and cross-departmental alignment, this well-known clothing retailer was able to eliminate unnecessary work orders, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency across their organization.

The $393,084 in call avoidance savings represents just one aspect of the overall value we delivered. There were also improved asset maintenance processes, streamlined protocols, and enhanced communication. This created benefits that extended across store operations, facilities management, construction, and finance departments---all departments that were previously suffering from being siloed and divided. 

Experience how Fexa's flexible CMMS platform can help your organization reduce unnecessary work orders, streamline asset maintenance, and improve cross-departmental efficiency. Our customizable solutions are designed to address your specific challenges and deliver measurable results.

Schedule a personalized demo today and discover the Fexa difference.