St.Jerome, Quebec, January 15, 2021 ─

Van Houtte Coffee Services, an affiliate of Keurig Dr Pepper Canada, are turning to their advantage the six years experience of their retail sales representatives with the route accounting application by CIS Group, Companion^® Route. Their project is now to extend the Companion^® Suite to technicians, with Route running on iOS mobile devices, and to sales representatives with Companion^® Rep, also on the iOS platform.

To coordinate technical interventions, Companion^® Office will serve for call management, job scheduling and priority assignment. As visits are carried out, the Companion^® Route mobile application keeps tabs in real-time to allow systematic parts management and asset tracking. Time In and Time Out are also automatically recorded. With the mobile devices, instantaneous on-the-spot invoicing is also possible.

Sales representatives will rely on Rep to stay on top of their call cycle, and to access all and any information that is needed during the processing of regular and pre-books orders – product information of course, but also the specifics of customer-related information, such as prices, authorized products, purchase statistics, etc.

The results of their work in the field will be uploaded to Companion^® Office after every visit, using an Internet connection. Just-in-time triggers can initiate quick reaction to situations noticed by mobile users. This instance of Companion^® Office will be interfaced directly with the ERP system, using the most recent version of Companion^® Link, the solution used for interfacing one or multiple sources to one or multiple destinations. An important feature of Office is the dynamic Dashboard that will provide full visibility of nationwide operations.

The installation is planned on a Microsoft Azure private cloud managed by CIS Group (including hosting, data storage, backup, redundancy, and disaster recovery). Security concerns are addressed by CIS Group obtaining the ISO/IEC 27001 certification – a world standard for information security management.

The Companion^® Suite is originally designed so it can conform through the widest variety of configurations, to the needs of very diverse types of mobile users – that is how Companion^® Route can accommodate both technicians and retail sales representatives.

“Van Houtte Coffee Services chooses with this software suite a sustainable and evolutive standard solution, with one experienced provider who follows agile methodology. Where the objective is to deliver value in the quickest and most efficient way, specifies Mathieu Adam, Sales Director at CIS Group. Another advantage is the first level support offered to end-users, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

About Van Houtte Coffee Services

Van Houtte Coffee Services Inc. is the leading provider of coffee services in Canada for the commercial clientele. They offer beverage programs adapted to every industry sector, with maintenance services and hassle-free delivery, combined with a wide range of coffee, tea, and other beverages of superior quality offered in a variety of formats and with reliable, high-performance multifunction brewing systems, including Keurig^® one cup at a time coffee-makers and bean-to-cup systems. Their mission is to offer local, regional and national enterprises, as well as foodservice providers, diversified solutions that meet their needs. Their national coverage and local roots allow them to serve hotels, universities and colleges, healthcare institutions, restaurants, service stations, and convenience stores with all the advantages of a large company and the personalized service of a small provider.

With 30 service branches strategically located across the country, they serve over a million cups of coffee a day through their 30,000 corporate clients. Van Houtte Coffee Services are a subsidiary of Keurig Canada Inc., doing business under the name Keurig Dr Pepper Canada, whose head office and roasting plant are located in Montreal.

About Keurig Dr Pepper Canada

Keurig Dr Pepper Canada is the commercial designation grouping Keurig Canada Inc. and Canada Dry Mott’s Inc. From coast to coast, the enterprise offers a wide selection of hot and cold beverages to satisfy every need, everywhere people shop and consume. Keurig Dr Pepper Canada offers a broad range of hot and cold beverages, commercialized under more than 60 leading brands, such as Canada Dry^®, Mott’s Clamato^®, Van Houtte^® and Timothy’s^®, as well as one cup at a time coffee-makers by Keurig^®.

About CIS Group

CIS Group is one of the largest providers of direct store delivery (DSD) and sales force automation (SFA) solutions in North America. They have been creating innovative software solutions since 1977, always helping businesses optimize and streamline their unique business process. Therefore, reducing operating costs and having a positive impact on revenue. The extensive mobile experience of its team,  its track record of several thousands of routes and reps automated, and its strong customer base in various industries. This is what makes CIS Group a leading provider of software solutions for the mobile workforce.

For further information, please visit our web site at www.cis-group.com or contact:

Eric Tessier

Vice-President Sales & Marketing