Iris Group modernizes last-minute staffing with AI agent on OutSystems

Challenge

How to scale logistics for a 3,200+ workforce

If you ever wondered who waters the thousands of plants in the European Parliament or cleans the Brussels Public Transport buses every night, that's the Iris Group. With a workforce of over 3,200 employees, the company delivers cleaning services, technical building maintenance, landscaping, and facility management solutions to thousands of public and private customers throughout Belgium.

But managing this large workforce wasn't always easy. "Back in 2018, we reached out to CoolProfs to build a solution to manage the entire lifecycle of our cleaning workforce and replace our paper-based processes," David Van Lierde, Program Management Office Manager shared. "We had searched for a COTS, but in Belgium we must include a worker's schedule in their contract, and no packaged solution had this level of integration between planning and contractual management."

The result was "WeWork", a core workforce management app built on OutSystems that handles everything from hiring and contracts to scheduling, planning, and time registration. Iris Group later complemented it with "WeTrace", a real-time service tracking solution, also built on OutSystems with CoolProfs.

Together, these tools transformed Iris Group's operations. But soon after, another opportunity emerged.

Solution

From hours to minutes: An AI agent to automate last-minute staffing

Whenever a cleaning worker calls in sick, operational managers need to find a qualified replacement quickly. Every missed shift is a hit on service quality and customer trust. But the search can be highly time-consuming. "We need to find someone available at the right time, with the right skills and experience on the project, and who lives or works nearby or has transportation," David described. For a new or covering manager with no institutional knowledge, the process could take hours of phone calls.

A perfect use case to pilot agentic AI.

Once again, with CoolProfs' support, Iris Group launched the "Replacement Agent", a single-screen app accessible on any PC, tablet, or smartphone. The mobile-first design was intentional. "When people think about using AI, they usually focus on automating tasks done at a computer," David noted. "But most of our managers are driving, calling workers, calling customers. We wanted to solve a problem that happens when they're not at their desk."

Here's how it works: the operational manager selects the absent worker and the date, and instantly receives a ranked shortlist of candidates based on real-time availability, proximity to the site, relevant experience, and familiarity with the client. Based on this list, the manager can then select the best fit candidate and make the call.

What sometimes could take hours, now takes minutes.

Results

Less administrative burden, more reliable service

Using the agentic AI capabilities of OutSystems, CoolProfs and the Iris Group delivered the "Replacement Agent" in just two weeks.

"We wanted to enhance ‘WeWork' without refactoring or rebuilding the entire app," Thierry Bontinck, IT Manager explained. "With OutSystems, we reuse the logic of ‘WeWork' to build a second application and integrate it with OutSystems Agent Workbench."

With this new AI agent, Iris Group could save up to 30 minutes per planner per week on administrative tasks, which compounds to significant annual time savings. But the benefits go beyond numbers. For workers, this new solution reduces the stress levels of operational managers, and cleaners are matched to jobs that better fit their location, skills, and experience. And for the customer, it ensures that they always get the service they need without disruption.

The success of this first agent has already sparked new ideas. Iris Group is now considering expanding the agent to help staff new contracts, and giving workers the ability to flag their own availability, so the AI can target candidates who actually want the extra hours.