From scattered systems to one app in the field

Project Overview

Who is Verlimac?

Verlimac is a crop-spraying contractor from Koekelare in West Flanders, run by Olivier Vermeersch. The company carries out crop protection treatments for farmers and growers in the region. Think hundreds of plots, a product catalog of 300 to 400 products, and strict regulations around dosages, waiting periods and record-keeping.

The company was running two outdated systems side by side, one of which had been discontinued by its supplier. A lot of knowledge also lived in the planner's head. And the admin got done in the evenings and at night.

The challenge

Invoicing was done entirely by hand. Creating one invoice took 15 to 30 minutes, for around 400 invoices a year. Records were sometimes forgotten or entered incorrectly.

"Admin and invoicing take up an excessive amount of time today. How do we make the organization more efficient, more profitable and future-proof by automating manual processes and handling planning, data and regulation more intelligently?"

Project Delivery

The approach: calculate first, then build

We didn't start with building — we started with the numbers. In September 2025, we held a half-day A.I. Business Value workshop at Verlimac. Here's how the session went:

1. Pinning down and validating the top opportunity.
2. Refining the goal into measurable outcomes.
3. Mapping today's process, from request to invoice, with the pain points marked.
4. Mapping the desired process for tomorrow.
5. Defining the technical needs and user stories: integrations, data sources, access rights, must-haves.
6. Calculating the business case together.
7. Sketching mockups of the ideal solution.

The workshop produced five metrics: fewer night shifts and less overtime, admin time dropping from hours a day to minutes, invoicing time going from 15-30 minutes to instant, zero forgotten or incorrect records, and a payback period under two years.

We calculated the business case honestly. The estimated annual value came out at roughly €44,700, with a payback period of around one year and four months. On top of that comes a lot of value we didn't put a euro figure on: less stress, faster invoicing, happier clients and better margins because the right products get billed.

Based on that, Verlimac gave the green light. The upside: the decision to build rested on numbers, not gut feeling.

What we built: the Verlimac 2.0 platform

We built the platform in two phases, agile, in two-week sprints with a demo at the end of each one. Kick-off was in early December 2025, and the first version went live at the end of March 2026. The platform runs on Microsoft Azure with a SQL database and works on both laptop and iPad, including out in the field.

1 · Central database and tablet registration

All plots, clients, products and suppliers now live in one system. Plots are created via an interactive map with hundreds of clickable agricultural parcels, based on Geopunt Vlaanderen data. The sprayer logs a treatment on the tablet, with product, dosage, area and growth stage. The history per plot is visible immediately.

The upside: nothing gets lost anymore between someone's head, paper and the system.

2 · Integration with Fytoweb and automatic dosage checks

The platform syncs daily with Fytoweb through a secure connection: EPPO codes, authorization numbers, permitted dosages and interval rules. When planning and logging a treatment, the system automatically checks whether it stays within legal limits. Split dosing is checked too — the combined dose across multiple treatments on the same plot.

The upside: overruns get flagged before they happen, not caught afterward during an inspection.

3 · Automatic crop cards and the crop protection register

The crop protection register and crop cards are generated automatically from the recorded treatments, as PDFs with the client name in the file name.

The upside: the official document an inspector needs is ready in a few clicks, instead of after an evening of piecing it together.

4 · Invoicing through Billit, straight from the record

A completed treatment automatically becomes an invoice in Billit, with the correct per-hectare price and the correct product-and-dosage combination.

The upside: invoicing time per invoice drops from 15-30 minutes to virtually zero.

5 · Digital planning

The planner works with a visual planning board, drag-and-drop, with color codes for scheduled and completed treatments. Follow-up treatments like T1 and T2 can be scheduled in bulk. There's an integration with agricultural parcel data and x-y coordinates for plot identification, plus weather data through an API.

The upside: the planning lives in the system instead of in someone's head.

6 · Stock management and margin insight

Purchase invoices are uploaded and automatically update stock and average purchase price, even when packaging is measured in grams or milliliters. Selling prices are managed per unit and can be adjusted in bulk through an Excel template. The dashboard shows profit per client, per plot and per product, with an adjustable minimum margin per hectare.

The upside: Verlimac can now see, per spraying job, whether there's margin in it.

7 · Client portal

Clients sign up through the website. Their details are validated against their VAT number. In the portal, they see their plots, request new treatments, track their spraying history and download their crop protection register. New plots only enter the database once Verlimac approves them.

The upside: fewer calls and emails, and the client has their legal documents on hand themselves.

After delivery

After delivery came a hypercare period and a support contract, so there's a fixed point of contact and the platform can keep growing.

Results

Verlimac now works with a single platform instead of two outdated systems running side by side. Registration happens on the tablet in the field, the crop protection register and crop cards are generated automatically, and a completed treatment becomes an invoice in Billit without a single extra step.

Creating an invoice used to take 15 to 30 minutes, for around 400 invoices a year. That time is now largely gone. Dosage checks happen automatically against Fytoweb's rules, so mistakes get caught before they end up on an invoice or in an inspection.

The calculated business case comes out at roughly €44,700 in value per year, with a payback period of around one year and four months. According to Verlimac itself, the biggest win is in what doesn't show up in that calculation: no more admin at night, fewer headaches, and more time for the business and the family.

Flowkify continues to support Verlimac as an A.I. partner, with further expansions around planning, reporting and customer convenience.

Want to know what automation and A.I. could mean for your business? Get in touch with Flowkify for a custom Business Value workshop.