At arabel, we understand how important good after-sales are.
At arabel, we understand how important good after-sales are. As a marina, you can’t have all the expertise in-house, so we at arabel have invested in a strong service offering. Earlier this year, Bart Fonteyn joined the arabel services team. He brought with him more than 34 years of expertise and has become a familiar face at many marinas that need support in implementing arabel marina solutions. We spoke with Bart about how arabel supports marinas with strong after-sales services.
Bart, can you introduce yourself?
Bart: “With pleasure. I am Bart Fonteyn. I have been a Field Service Engineer at arabel marina since the beginning of 2024. Before joining the arabel team, I had more than 34 years of experience in what could be described as the high-tech environment of professional printing solutions at, among others, the Japanese company Canon. In this rather complex industry, I started as a Field Engineer and then progressed to Technical Support Engineer / Pre-Sales Software Application Consultant. I provided both pre- and after-sales services to demanding customers expecting the highest level of service. I now continue this passion of working with high tech products and cloud solutions at arabel, which makes it exciting. I find the world of marinas incredibly interesting and I can say that I have really learned the ropes in the last 8 months. There is still a lot to do as marinas are often still in the process of automation or preparing for it. So there is still a lot of work to do and together with the team and our customers, we see a lot of room for further expansion of our hardware, software and middleware solutions and supporting them.”
How do you use your knowledge with arabel customers?
Bart: “Every day I see new opportunities to help customers and I find it incredibly fascinating to take on new challenges all the time. At the same time, I help achieve our business goals by further expanding our customer portfolio and service portfolio. I can use my knowledge and expertise to satisfy customers and that is what it is all about. As an “ambassador” in the field, I can more quickly discover customer needs and act on them together with our sales organization. The accumulated experience of each of our team members and the strict quality procedures guarantee quick solutions to potential problems.”
Are there experiences that you look back on with pride?
Bart: “I am extremely proud of the fact that I was able to work on one of our major projects, the marina in Zeebrugge. What we realized together with the customer and our fantastic arabel team gave me the opportunity to learn a lot and to grow in this job in a short period of time. In addition, during the same period I was allowed to collaborate on about 10 other projects that we successfully realized together with our team. I can say with conviction that this was a real crash course and that I learned an awful lot by working together with the different marinas.”
How do you see the future looking at the challenges for marinas?
Bart: “For me there are three key words: automation, remote services and integration. Automation is the key to success. The ability to scan the QR code via smartphone to reserve the berth and purchase/pay for electricity, water consumption, etc. or to access the marina or certain services with a valid QR code on the smartphone is an important asset that makes the life of marina owners and users so much easier. The added value of the harbour master is in managing customer relations, informing visitors and making sure customers are satisfied and everything runs smoothly. The automation we offer allows the harbour master to concentrate on these core tasks.
Another crucial point is Remote Monitoring/Testing. For example, remotely controlling flush valves, water points and outlets and monitoring the status of all systems. Because we always have an overview of all devices that the customer has in use, we can provide maximum support to the customer. For example, for initial advice on checking cable connections, etc.. It is important that we offer an adequate solution to any technical problem and working remotely allows us to do that very quickly.
Finally, Integration is super important. The expertise and knowledge we have built up around the integration of hardware, software and middleware is an extremely important asset to our customers. Our software talks to the hardware through the middleware and this is not only important in the context of total automation, it also prevents potential problems and is also a guarantee to make everything work with each other from the start.”
How do you use your knowledge for the new developments within arabel?
Bart: “During my previous missions in sales organizations, I had a pre- and after-sales role with the associated high quality requirements. At arabel, there is an important additional aspect, namely that I see the products being developed/produced and can therefore use the knowledge I gain during my interventions to further improve our solutions. At arabel this is all made possible which of course benefits the customer.”
More information about arabel marina and our services? Contact us here.
