Leading with efficiency: How Plastic Bubbles broke silos and accelerated growth
- INDUSTRYManufacturing
- Key AppsZoho CRM, Zoho Desk, Zoho Social, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Analytics
The company
Plastic Bubbles, a family-owned company established in South Africa in 1975, is currently led by the second-generation siblings, Aki and Virginia Moutafis. Renowned for its dynamic and innovative approach to plastic manufacturing, Plastic Bubbles seamlessly integrates design, mould-making, and production processes. This holistic method enables the company to provide comprehensive turnkey solutions in both injection and blow moulding, setting it apart in the industry.
Committed to community enhancement and sustainability, Plastic Bubbles has positioned itself as an industry leader. Over nearly 50 years, they have established a world-class factory and clean room that complies with FSSC 22000 standards, supported by a state-of-the-art tool room. Its dedication to service excellence and high-quality standards has attracted a diverse range of clients across various industries, including pharmaceuticals, food, hospitality, and more.
The challenge
Plastic Bubbles faced several internal challenges that were slowing down its growth. The company relied heavily on manual processes and disconnected spreadsheets to manage operations, which led to frequent delays, data duplication, and avoidable errors.
Departments such as sales, finance, and production operated in silos, each using separate tools and workflows, which created communication gaps and made it difficult to maintain a single, accurate view of customer or operational data. This fragmentation extended across the entire business, leaving teams without real-time insights and forcing management to depend on manual reporting.
Sales management, in particular, suffered from the absence of a unified CRM, resulting in missed follow-ups, limited pipeline visibility, and inconsistent customer engagement. As the company continued to grow, these inefficiencies became increasingly unsustainable. Plastic Bubbles recognized that to scale effectively and operate with greater agility, it needed a unified platform that could centralize data, streamline processes, and bring all departments under one roof.
The solution
Plastic Bubbles needed a digital solution to overcome operational challenges, and they chose Zoho after conducting a market evaluation. By automating their business processes, they improved management across departments and saved both time and resources. To facilitate this transformation, Plastic Bubbles partnered with Infolytics, a Zoho implementation expert based in South Africa.
Infolytics guided the company in identifying the appropriate Zoho applications, setting up the system, and configuring each module to align with actual business processes. Their team also managed user training, data migration, and post-launch support, ensuring a smooth transition and facilitating employee adoption of the platform. With Infolytics leading the implementation, Plastic Bubbles was able to unlock the full potential of Zoho quickly and experience operational improvements from the very first day.
They implemented a unified Zoho platform that integrated all functions, with Zoho CRM serving as the core for the sales team.
"Zoho CRM is our main driver that drives our business forward.”
Using Blueprint in Zoho CRM, Plastic Bubbles standardized and automated its custom sales processes, mapping out every stage of a deal, defining entry and exit criteria, and enforcing consistency across the team. Simultaneously, the AI assistant Zia in Zoho CRM provided predictive insights, recommended the optimal times to reach out to leads, and suggested automated workflows, helping sales reps work more intelligently rather than just harder.
Plastic Bubbles enhanced customer service by utilizing Zoho Desk for ticket management, with Zia automating ticket tagging and responses. For marketing, they employed Zoho Campaigns to manage contacts and personalize emails, while Zoho Analytics tracked campaign performance and Zoho Social enhanced brand engagement. Internally, they streamlined HR operations with Zoho People, automating onboarding and performance reviews, using Zia for employee queries, and implementing custom workflows for attendance and leave management.
"For me, Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk are essential tools because you get to actually know everything about your business from start to finish.”
Through this fully integrated Zoho suite anchored by CRM, Desk, Social, Campaigns, People, and Analytics, Plastic Bubbles broke down silos, replaced manual workflows with automated, repeatable processes, and equipped its teams with AI-driven tools to operate more strategically. This unified platform provided leadership with a single source of truth, enabling the company to scale in a structured, data-driven manner.
"Zoho is cutting edge, and its digitization is at your fingertips. Together with Zia, we asked many questions, and it provided us with streamlined information that was very helpful.”
Benefits and ROI
After implementing Zoho, Plastic Bubbles saw an immediate boost in efficiency. Their overall productivity increased by 45%, and the team expects this number to continue growing even higher in the next three months as they keep optimizing their processes. Previously, most tasks were handled manually, but with Zoho’s automation, nearly 80% of daily operations are now completed faster and with greater accuracy.
The sales team also experienced measurable improvements. With Zoho CRM’s structured workflows and AI insights, Plastic Bubbles achieved a 10–15% increase in conversion rates, driven by better follow-ups and clearer pipeline visibility. Overall, Zoho’s unified platform gave the company stronger control, smoother operations, and a scalable foundation for continued growth.
"What made Zoho quite appealing to us was that it was in a sweet spot. It offered a lot of features at a very competitive price point, and it was easy to start implementing into our business without accumulating lots of costs.”
Looking forward
Plastic Bubbles has recognized the importance of communication in its operations and has undergone a significant transformation by adopting Zoho's robust business platform. The seamless integration of Zoho applications has been crucial in enhancing both internal workflows and customer engagement, resulting in improved efficiency and continued innovation.
By fully embracing Zoho's unified platform, Plastic Bubbles is now better prepared to respond swiftly to changing business demands and to pursue sustainable, long-term growth. As their teams become more proficient with the system, the company aims to increase overall productivity to 65% within the next three months, further enhancing the value it provides to its clients.