Bruce’s Doggy Day Care

Info

The UK’s largest dog day care operator – Bruce’s Doggy Day Care (BDDC) is a multi award-winning business which offers personalised day care for pups. At BDDC, dogs spend their days socialising with friends in acres of farmland. There are swimming pools, agility, heated log cabins, numerous activities and a team of adoring staff with years of experience. Bitcube implemented and continues to improve a fully bespoke CRM system to allow customers to make reservations from both web and mobile, integrating into the back office systems and processes of BDDC teams and we also built an app for drivers to optimise their routes as they pick up and drop off pups in various areas of London.

Bruce Casalis, the founder and managing director, is a passionate and ambitious entrepreneur with a love for dogs, business, property and travel.

Deliverables

In the media

Pet Gazette, The Telegraph, The Guardian

Roles

UI/UX Design
Software Development
Project Management

Tech

Ruby on Rails, Swift

Integrations

Xero, Gocardless, Stripe, Mailchimp, Facebook, Google Calendar

The Challenge

The system they were using before, as Bruce put it: “was like sticky tape and plasters: a combination Apple notes, Apple calendar, Excel, our accounting software and our direct debit software. The problem was that nothing was integrated in one place so obviously to keep track of what’s happening was almost impossible. Having data in multiple places was risky, and the risk of human error and administration mayhem was high.”

They were using Excel for their customer data table and they had a monthly spreadsheet that they would use to update which days the dogs attended and extra services required. They’d then import a CSV of that file into their accounting software which they would then use to invoice the customers. It was then linked to their direct debit provider which was separate so they had to then import another CSV into that. They would also use Apple’s yellow sticky notes and they had a template they’d copy and paste each week and kind of edit that. Then there was Apple calendars. At that time it was the early days of iCloud so the syncing was far from perfect. As Bruce put it: “you’d watch something just disappear and think you were losing your marbles. Then you’d have someone else looking over your shoulder and he or she is literally standing there and they’d say ’look I told you, it was there and now it’s gone!’”

Our Solution

We built a custom CRM that automates the booking process, allows the BDDC team to communicate with customers (including real-time notifications about the status of their dog), takes care of billing, invoicing and payment collection and also syncs with BDDC’s accounting systems so that the revenue section of their accounts are always kept up to date. The second part was an iPad app for their drivers who drive around in their doggy buses. The app allows the drivers to have real-time information of the dogs that they are picking up and also provides the office with their GPS location so that they can track where they are and create audit trails for training and assessment.

Key Features/Objectives

Customer can:

Request, view and edit services or bookings.
Receive real-time notifications about their dog.
See regularly updated photos of their dog and upload pictures themselves.
Ask for feedback and communicate with the doggy day care team.
View and pay invoices by direct debit or credit card.
Rate Bruce’s Doggy Day Care for others to read.
Check their dog’s location in real-time.

The Results

44% of customers downloaded the app within weeks of its launch. As the UK’s largest doggy day care service, they’ve used technology to innovate in a way never seen before in the UK pet care industry. They now have one of the largest scale dog day care software systems globally; capable of handling hundreds of thousands of services and customers. What’s more important is that they can open new branches and set up the back office in as little as 15-30 minutes. The app enables customers to seamlessly manage their dog’s bookings, including syncing their dog’s activities to their own iCloud calendar and browse pictures of their pooch at day care. The iPad app has also allowed drivers to be more efficient with their dog bus routes, which is better for human and canine customers.

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Client Testimonial

“We have worked with Bitcube for 4 years, and continue to be impressed by their capability, customer service and strong work ethic.”

“A few things that stand out for me are their efforts to understand our business and their appreciation that customer experience has a massive impact in our operation.

Another one is their technical capability in that they can actually do the incredible things that they promise, which sounds simple, but very rarely is. At the start I thought ‘if this system does what these guys say it’s going, it will be phenomenal.’ And although I didn’t believe them at the start, it has done everything and more than they promised!

Bitcube has built a fantastic team of developers, and we will no doubt be continuing our relationship with Bitcube into the future. As we are UK based, when starting the project our biggest concern was about working remotely. However, this concern proved to be unfounded - collaboration and communication has been fantastic. When needed, we have been able to have daily calls and numerous screen-share sessions and we have also been able to catch up during their visits to London and my visits to their offices.”

Bruce Casalis - Founder & Managing Director