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FSH, the one-stop construction company servicing the north of England, has transformed its business with a 5 in 1 management system from BigChange.  Operating as a cloud service linked to mobile apps used by workers onsite, the solution provides FSH with real-time operational information for improving efficiency, productivity and service.

Employing 132 mobile tradesmen and 65 office staff, the Castleford headquartered company has regional offices in Hull, Liverpool and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  FSH specialises in insurance-related work, typically repairing flood or fire damaged properties.  A new construction arm handing reactive maintenance work is also driving expansion in sectors such as social housing and education.

“We work mainly for the UK’s biggest insurance firms and providing a consistently high-quality rebuild and refurbishment service is absolutely vital,” says Matthew Cappleman, Managing Director of FSH.  “The monitoring and reporting of our work on site is however just as important and that’s where BigChange comes in.  It gives real-time visibility of every job and provides an audit trail of all work.  We can manage the work better, improve customer service, and provide insurers with immediate job updates and evidence of work done.”

With a fleet of 132 BigChange equipped vehicles providing live data for managing operations, tradesmen are being equipped with rugged Samsung tablets running JobWatch.  Mobile apps completely replace paperwork with live data reporting and the devices capture useful time and location stamped photographs, as well as customer signatures.

"BigChange really does expedite everything as our tradesman can go straight to the job and put in a full, productive 8 hour day.  The system also ensures good work discipline and good practice as the tradesmen are in effect self-managing their work, backed up with their reports and photographs. With JobWatch there is no more sitting around and managers no longer need to go onsite to check the work.  Everyone wins,“ comments Matthew Cappleman.

Stuart Welburn, Finance Director at FSH agrees that BigChange has had a positive impact, adding “Certainly BigChange has been good for business and we estimate efficiency gains of 2 or 3 percent.  However, we anticipate it will improve our profitability not only through better utilisation of our resources but by generally improving our services to continually improve our reputation and win more business’.

 

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Over 300 service companies are now using its paperless 3-in-1 JobWatch field service solution, reports UK mobile workforce management solutions BigChange.

Launched three years ago, JobWatch was developed to give field service businesses of any size everything they need to plan, manage, schedule and track their mobile workforce. The easy to use, simple to implement system combines back-office, mobile app and real-time vehicle and resource tracking in a single cloud based solution.  It provides end-to-end management of the entire service process from quotation all the way through to invoice including intelligent planning and scheduling. A whole mountain of paperwork is replaced with automated workflows on the JobWatch app that guides mobile engineers or drivers through all their tasks.

According to BigChange’s CEO and founder Martin Port, JobWatch aims to bring mobile workforce management technology to the thousands of small, medium and large businesses that still operate using manual paper based processes:

“Historically this technology has been out of reach for SMEs given the cost and perceived complexity. JobWatch is a game-changer for these businesses, giving them the power of a ‘big enterprise’ system but with incredible simplicity, affordability and customisability.”

Among the users are nationwide hire companies Nixon and Elliott Hire who are using JobWatch to streamline the servicing of equipment and portable toilets  across the UK. The Forestry arm of Komatsu uses JobWatch to manage the servicing of huge timber felling and processing machinery.

JobWatch is proving to be a growth catalyst for startups such as waste and recycling specialist Clearabee who adopted the system back in 2013 when they had a single vehicle. Their business has grown rapidly and the company now serves over 30,000 nationwide clients across 15 sites with a team of 50 employees.

The return-on-investment for users is significant, says Port. “A perfect example is dp Doors.  JobWatch has brought their business 25% more revenue each month, thanks to smarter scheduling and greater productivity across their 23 strong field service team. This equates to an extra 4 jobs per engineer per week. Admin in their back office has been reduced by 15% and this time saved is being dedicated to value-adding sales and marketing activities. Failed jobs have been reduced by 50%. Their annual fuel savings from JobWatch are in excess of £5000 and this saving alone is paying for their JobWatch system.”

 

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Replacing a manual paper-based job scheduling system with JobWatch software from BigChange Apps, has enabled Sheffield based DP Doors to achieve greater productivity across its 23 strong mobile team. Revenue is up 25%, there is a doubling of first-time fix rates, fuel savings of £5,000 and a 15% reduction in adminstration. 

DP Doors is an industrial door specialist. It  manufactures, install, maintains and repairs fire doors, roller shutters, steel security doors, PVC strip curtains and crash doors. The family run business employs 42 employees, including 23 field based engineers, serving a nationwide blue-chip customer base. Projects come in all shapes and sizes, including huge doors that are 14m high and 6m wide.

The company prides itself on delivering the highest levels of service and response. Industrial doors are mission critical for customers including food companies who need to separate frozen and chilled areas and maintain the integrity, safety and security of their products.

DP doors were looking for a mobile workforce system to address two key issues within their operation. One was to achieve higher first-time-fix rates. Secondly the business wanted to eradicate the excess paperwork that was hindering productivity.

The company chose JobWatch from Big Change, after careful comparison against two other solutions. “We chose JobWatch as the team at BigChange really understood our business. They had something out-of-the-box that really fitted with our requirements. Plus the overall system offers great value - combining mobile, back office and real-time workforce tracking,” said Managing Director, Alan Bolsover.

Paper work reduction

The company used to take several sheets of paper to every single job (a method statement, risk assessment, vehicle check and job card). In addition drivers had to visit the office to collect job information, adding extra travel time to each day. JobWatch has simplified the workflow, replacing paper job cards with electronic worksheets on rugged mobile tablet. Engineers can access job information instantly wherever they are and travel from home straight to the first job of the day.

 

“At times we were were overwhelmed with paperwork and the manual admin that goes with it. It’s time that we could be spending selling, marketing and developing the business. Admin isn’t adding value,”  pointed out Bolsover.

Smarter scheduling

Smarter scheduling has eased the challenge of planning work for the 23 engineers to locations nationwide. It’s maximising billable time, avoiding unnecessary travel and making the back-office team far more productive. Real-time visibility is avoiding multiple calls to the mobile team to check on status or location.

JobWatch is also helping DP Doors with Health & Safety compliance - an area that’s crucial in this industry and at the top of the agenda for blue-chip clients. Engineers were failing to complete or return their daily driver checks to the office. The JobWatch mobile app now makes it easy for drivers to do their checks at the beginning of each day - and the app won’t let them start work without it. Faults or defects can be logged instantly, ensuring that the maintenance manager is alerted to manage them to resolution. In addition JobWatch is ensuring that risk assessments and method statements are just a click away on the mobile tablet.

Integrated invoicing

Integrated invoicing is invaluable, says Bolsover. It enables jobs to be invoiced as soon as they are completed. Engineers can capture photos on-site for proof-of-service and can be shared with customers.

“We were waiting days for job cards to come back. If a job was on a Monday, we wouldn’t get the paperwork back till Friday. This could have a real knock-on effect on cashflow. With JobWatch we don’t have to wait for anything to be returned to the office - there are no documents that could get lost. Plus we’re able to bill accurately for time spent on site. We’re also looking to start using JobWatch for our invoicing too.”

Finally, JobWatch is helping DP doors to reduce their fuel use, one of the highest costs incurred across the entire business. Drivers are receiving a tailored de-brief at the end of each working day, with friendly encouragement towards safe and responsible behaviours. Line managers can see which drivers are achieving the best MPG and can reward the team accordingly.

 

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