About

Velux is a global leader in roof windows, dedicated to improving people’s well-being and the planet by enhancing indoor spaces with natural light and fresh air. Founded in Denmark, VELUX now operates in over 40 countries with nearly 12,000 employees worldwide.

VELUX France, responsible for the French market, employs around 300 staff and is part of the Southwest Europe region alongside subsidiaries in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This regional structure enables sharing best practices and tailored support for local customers.

Maud Foulard, Head of Operations and Customer Care France, oversees customer services for individuals and distributors. With 24 years of experience at VELUX France, Maud started as a customer advisor and gradually took on increasingly broad responsibilities before assuming her current role.

Sales administration is a key department for an industrial company like VELUX France, whose business involves reselling construction materials through distribution networks. To deliver excellent service consistent with the brand’s reputation, Maud recently led a complete redesign of activity planning processes to improve telephone handling and reduce email processing times.

Challenges before Peopleware

Before adopting Peopleware, VELUX France faced difficulties in managing their scheduling process. Maud explains that her team, spread across the headquarters and several regional offices, struggled to maintain smooth communication and effective schedule management, which were then managed via Excel.

“I had a team scattered all over France, with employees in Lyon, Toulouse, Rennes, and Reims. We urgently needed a centralized planning tool, but we were still relying on Excel files.”

Every morning, she had to adjust everyone’s tasks: “I spent hours making schedules, applying color codes, managing time slots. Every change became a headache.”

With Excel, schedules were often prone to errors or unauthorized changes: “Even when I thought I had locked the schedule, someone always managed to unlock it and make changes, which erased some data.” This manual and tedious method caused significant time loss.

"I was spending way too much time on Excel when I had other, more strategic tasks to handle. I really wanted to focus on higher-value actions."

Why Peopleware

At VELUX France, the need to professionalize and optimize schedule management quickly became a priority for Maud. Although part of a large group, she chose not to use internal tools, believing they did not meet her specific needs.
Maud was looking for a solution perfectly suited to her needs, with clearly defined selection criteria.

“I wanted a cost-effective, easy-to-implement solution that required no development on our side.”

The demonstration by the Peopleware team quickly confirmed her expectations: "After the demonstration, it was obvious to me." Maud also underlines the importance of the fluid exchanges and the clarity of the explanations provided by Emmanuel Gilet, the WFM expert in charge of the project: "The explanations were so clear that it really made the difference. We immediately saw ourselves using it."

The Peopleware journey

The implementation of Peopleware was progressive and structured, with personalized support from the WFM Consultant team at Peopleware. Maud participated in several training sessions to fully master the tool.

"I attended 5 or 6 step-by-step sessions. Before and during each session, I had tasks to complete in the tool, which allowed me to learn how to use it gradually.

This support played a key role in the successful deployment of Peopleware: “When choosing a solution, support is key for effective adoption. And that’s something Peopleware does very well.”

Maud found the online resources to be valuable both during her initial learning and in her current work, complementing the live training she received.

“When necessary, I can consult these online resources. Thanks to the quality of the training and tutorials, I feel completely autonomous.”

Value and achievements

• Real-time adjustment - One of Peopleware’s main strengths is the flexibility it offers to manage unforeseen events. As Maud explains: “In the morning, when you arrive, you never know if the team will be complete.” Thanks to Peopleware, Maud can adjust the schedule in real-time, enabling quick and effective team reorganization.
• Advisor autonomy - The advisors have also integrated Peopleware into their daily routine. “They are instructed to check their schedule every morning to know the tasks assigned to them.” The interface was adopted smoothly: “They’re really used to it, it’s very fluid.”
• Schedule accessible on a smartphone - The tool allows advisors to check their schedules remotely. While most do so on their office computers, some don’t hesitate to check their timetable on their phones from home. This shows the autonomy and engagement of advisors in managing their work time.
• Reliability and robustness - The reliability of Peopleware is a major asset for Maud. “It works very well, it’s intuitive and reliable. It never crashes, and we have full confidence in the tool.” The robustness of the solution ensures access to schedules and guarantees increased productivity within the team.
• Time saving - The simplicity and speed of Peopleware have radically transformed Maud’s daily work, allowing her to generate quarterly schedules in just a few minutes: “The base schedule is done for three months, and it takes me five minutes. I start the process, and it’s done.” This time-saving feature now lets her focus on more strategic tasks, essential for managing her team.

 “Peopleware has strengthened our professionalism, giving us a more structured and reliable image, both internally and externally.”

The Future with Peopleware 

In light of the benefits observed since implementing Peopleware, Maud highlights the opportunity to extend its use to other teams at VELUX. “I think there are still teams that continue to manage their schedules on Excel. Peopleware could really help them optimize their planning.”

Given the benefits already observed and promising projects, Peopleware establishes itself as an essential solution for schedule management and resource optimization within VELUX.