Smart Last Mile: How Berlin Recycling enables user-friendly Customer Reporting
“Mail & Deploy made the transition from Qlik NPrinting to cloud-based automation seamless. Integrated with Data+, our employees can manage everything internally. It’s intuitive, efficient, and scalable.”
Christan Polle
Teamlead Data & Services, Berlin Recycling
Overview
Berlin Recycling is one of Germany’s leading recycling and waste management companies, with around 500 employees. As a private subsidiary of BSR (Berliner Stadtreinigung), Berlin Recycling has always prioritized operational excellence and digital transformation. With daily operations spanning 180 vehicles on Berlin streets, the company faced increasing challenges in keeping customers informed with accurate and timely data.
As the complexity of customer operations grew, traditional manual reporting processes became unsustainable. Customer service representatives were spending hours preparing reports, handling ad-hoc requests, and ensuring that every Excel report met the specific requirements of different clients. Berlin Recycling needed a solution that would not only streamline reporting but also deliver a user-friendly, automated experience for internal teams and customers alike.
The Challenge
Before automation, Berlin Recycling’s reporting process had several pain points:
- Complex customer hierarchies – Many property management customers included multiple sub-customers, requiring consolidated and accurate reporting.
- Diverse reporting needs – Each customer had unique requirements for report layouts, data filters, and delivery methods. Some reports needed to integrate with external APIs or ERP systems.
- Manual effort and error risk – Preparing reports manually was time-consuming, prone to human error, and required constant reminders for staff to send them.
- Scalability issues – As Berlin Recycling’s customer base and reporting requirements grew, manual processes became a bottleneck.
The Solution
To address these challenges, Berlin Recycling implemented a three-layer solution combining Qlik Sense, Data+, and Mail & Deploy, creating a fully automated, scalable reporting platform:
- Qlik Sense – Serves as the analytics backbone, aggregating operational data, calculating KPIs, and generating consistent, reliable insights.
- Data+ – Provides an intuitive interface for internal teams to manage report schedules, templates, and customer-specific filters without requiring technical expertise.
- Mail & Deploy – Transforms Qlik data into standardized, branded reports and automates delivery to customers according to defined schedules.
The integration of these tools allows Berlin Recycling to move from a manual, error-prone process to a fully automated reporting ecosystem, where data flows seamlessly from raw input to final customer-ready reports.
Implementation and Workflow
Berlin Recycling’s journey began with QlikView in 2007, evolving to Qlik Sense in 2019. Mail & Deploy was integrated during Berlin Recycling’s transition to Qlik Cloud in 2024. Data+ was later added to streamline report management and enhance user self-service capabilities.
The solution works as follows:
- Customer Request Handling – Employees can quickly search for a customer, generate a report, preview it, and select a template, all with a few clicks.
- Template Management – Multiple report templates accommodate different customer requirements, including waste balances, billing summaries, and operational KPIs.
- Automated Scheduling – Reports can be scheduled monthly, quarterly, or yearly, and automatically distributed via email or other endpoints.
- Data Accuracy Checks – Previews and filter checks ensure reports are accurate before sending, reducing errors and manual follow-ups.
- Archiving – Every report is automatically archived in Berlin Recycling’s document management system (DMS), ensuring compliance and traceability.
Results and Impact
The results of this implementation have been transformative:
- 50 automated reports now cover multiple departments, including customer service, sales, and finance.
- Time savings and efficiency – Staff spend less time on manual report preparation and more time on strategic tasks.
- Improved accuracy and reliability – Automated processes reduce errors and ensure customers receive timely, consistent reports.
- User-friendly self-service – Internal teams can manage reports without technical expertise, while customers receive professional, branded outputs.
- Flexibility for special cases – While standard templates cover most customers, unique reporting needs can still be accommodated.
- Scalability for growth – The platform easily handles new customers, additional reports, and complex reporting requirements.
Customer and Partner Feedback
Sebastian from Leitart:
“The magic lies in enabling end users to configure reports without technical knowledge. This combination of Qlik, Data+, and Mail & Deploy provides unmatched flexibility and efficiency.”
Emma Camacho, Head of Consulting at Mail & Deploy, notes:
“Berlin Recyling’s team has created a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use reporting platform. It’s a perfect example of how technology can empower users while maintaining high-quality, automated outputs.”
Conclusion
Berlin Recycling’s success demonstrates how integrating Qlik Sense, Data Plus, and Mail & Deploy transforms complex operational data into automated, user-friendly reporting. Internal teams are empowered, customer satisfaction has increased, and the company now has a scalable, future-proof reporting solution.
This story is a testament to the power of automation, self-service, and smart data management, showing how Berlin Recycling turned reporting challenges into a strategic advantage.
