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Category: Industrial Doors

Access Innovations Achieves 70 Per Cent Reduction in Paper with BigChange

Access Innovations
Posted on by Martin Port

BigChange field service management software is helping commercial and industrial door specialist Access Innovations reduce paper consumption by more than 70 per cent.

Using the BigChange platform, the West Midlands company has also reduced the resource required to manage its field service operation and has improved customer service with automatic job scheduling, reporting and invoicing. Responsible for around 20,000 doors, Access Innovations uses BigChange to improve workforce health and safety with daily vehicle and driver checks, live vehicle tracking and online access to risk assessments and method statements.

“As well as reducing our environmental impact through a massive reduction in the paper we consume, BigChange has also had a positive impact on other aspects of the business,” commented John Lunt, Operations Director at Access Innovations. “The back-office resource required to record, schedule and report on jobs has been reduced, which in turn results in better service for our customers. I even had one client email me saying ‘give us a chance’ having received completion reports, including photos, and the invoice, all within 5 minutes of the engineer finishing on-site!”

Access Innovations install, repair, service and maintain manual doors, fire doors, automatic doors, rapid action doors, roller shutters, fire shutters, sectional doors, manual and automatic traffic barriers, manual and automatic gates. Operating across the West Midlands and London, Access Innovations also supply and fit security fencing, bollards and crash barriers as well as dock levellers, dock shelters and dock bumpers. 

Access Innovation selected BigChange to replace an existing job control system. Since implementing the complete job management solution, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management and business intelligence in one simple to use and easy to integrate platform, Access Innovations has recorded significant improvements in the workflows used to record, schedule, complete and report on routine service and ad-hoc maintenance tasks. Access Innovations is also planning to expand its use of BigChange with increased use of the CRM functionality which it hopes will support the continued growth of the company. 

“When we were looking for a new system, we identified a number of possible suppliers and requested on-site presentations but only 2 agreed to come and see us,” Lunt continued. “BigChange didn’t just sell their system to the management they communicated the benefits to the users, and they made the decision. Since that day the support we have had from BigChange has been excellent.” 

Access Innovations

BigChange Helps Boost Turnover for Dock Solutions

Dock Solutions
Posted on by Martin Port

Dock Solutions, a specialist in the manufacture of dock levellers and loading bay equipment, is set to increase turnover by over 85 per cent since implementing the latest field service management software from BigChange.

Using the complete Job Management Platform, Dock Solutions has transformed its previously paper-based management process reducing costs and increasing efficiency. BigChange has also helped Dock Solutions improve communication between field-based personnel, back-office staff and the end customer, which is helping to minimise downtime and raise customer service levels. 

Lee Brownson, General Manager of Dock Solutions commented:

“We initially selected BigChange for its live tracking as the mapping of vehicles and reports were far superior to the solution we were using, however, with training and support from BigChange, we saw the potential of the platform across different aspects of the business and are beginning to use more of its functionality which is realising more benefits.

“Using BigChange we no longer need to produce the weekly paperwork in advance. Not only was this costly and labour intensive it was very rigid and didn’t allow us to react to changing workloads or priorities. BigChange also improves visibility of the field service operation and allows us to communicate more efficiently internally and with customers. 

“To summarise I would say that BigChange saves us time and money processing business critical information and makes it easy to access!” he continued. “This has without doubt contributed to an increase in turnover post Covid by over 85 per cent underpinned by a rise in production of nearly 300 per cent.”

Based in Gloucestershire, Dock Solutions was formed in 2004 and has seen continuous growth since its inception. Specialists in loading bay equipment and industrial doors, Dock Solutions manufactures, installs and services loading bay equipment including levellers and lifts, rising arm barriers, dock bumpers and industrial doors for customers such as Bentley Motors, Halfords Group, Marks and Spencer and Pepsico International. Dock Solutions operates across the UK and currently employs around 40 full time staff including welders, electricians, engineers, salespeople and administrators.

Using the single platform CRM, Job Scheduling, Live Tracking, Field Resource Management and Online Portal, from BigChange has allowed Dock Solutions to move away from paper-based management with automatic job scheduling and reporting. Dock Solutions is also using BigChange’s CRM functionality to manage its growing customer base and communicate important product and service announcements and hopes to implement additional functionality including financial management such as payments and invoicing.  

Lee Brownson concluded:

“As the UK manufacturer of dock levellers and dock shelters, we can offer our customers the right solution and bespoke service for their projects. With the support of BigChange, and their excellent customer service, we have never hit an issue that was not reacted to positively and promptly.”

Dock Solutions welding

Complete Shutter Doors Boost Productivity by 20% with BigChange

Complete Shutters Services employee Holding a JobWatch device
Posted on by Martin Port

Industrial doors company Complete Shutter Services has doubled its business and boosted productivity by 20 per cent since implementing  field service management software from BigChange. Providing a complete job management platform, BigChange cloud-based office software synchronises with a rugged tablets used by field operatives to provide real-time 24/7 visibility of every job nationwide.

Established 35 years with headquarters and factory in Rotherham and a factory in Harlow, Essex, Complete Shutter Services designs, manufactures, installs and services door systems for clients including BP, Shell, Jewson, Homebase, Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op.

Paul Quealey, MD, Complete Shutter Services commented:

“We’re in an increasingly competitive market and it is crucial to keep ahead”.

“Our clients are also now much more demanding when it comes to reporting on jobs – they expect accurate and real-time reports.  BigChange allows us to do just that and the platform is so easily adaptable that we know we’ll be able to meet any client need.”

According to Quealey, the biggest impact of BigChange has been in improving the quality of its services.  The software guides field operatives through procedures on site ensuring everything is done correctly with consistent and complete reporting every time; backed up with time recorded before and after photographs. 

Quealey explained:

“We’ve possibly increased the quality of our services by 70 per cent with BigChange.  That’s key to retaining and growing our business and the way we have deployed BigChange gives us a key competitive advantage.”

Complete Shutter Services was one of the first adopters of BigChange and played a central role in developing the platform for use in the industrial doors industry. BigChange is a complete job management platform bringing together customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management, and online portal into one simple to use and easy to integrate platform.  Jobs are automatically allocated based on real-time engineer availability, skills, live location and parts stock. This is significantly increasing productivity; minimising customer wait time and driving first time fix at competitive cost for clients.

Quealey continued:

“BigChange has delivered huge cost savings and we’ve increased productivity in the office by at least 20 per cent and we’ve made similar gains in terms of the number of jobs completed daily”.

“It’s also made business expansion very easy.  New engineers can literally be up and running in minutes using the very easy mobile app.  And when we opened a new office in Harlow, we just connected online to access the cloud-based software giving all the IT we needed, instantly.”

Complete’s field engineers use the platform to complete their timesheets and vehicle checks, before instantly accessing job information. Linked to vehicle trackers, the software provides navigation with live traffic to ensure the best route is taken and customers receive ETA updates by text and email. On arrival, engineers can create instant estimates and the app guides them step by step through health & safety and job-specific workflows including photo capture.  On completion, the system generates job-cards that are automatically shared via a customer’s booking portal or via email.

Quealey concluded:

“Invoices can be raised immediately on job completion and since the system allows us to provide such good proof-of-service, disputes are very much a thing of the past. For management, BigChange really does bring peace of mind.  We’ve got access through a BigChange management smartphone app that gives us complete round-the clock visibility of everything going on.  It means we are always in control and able to provide the high levels of service whatever the operational challenges.”

Complete Shutter Services

All Round Security Unlocks Productivity Gains with BigChange Mobile Workforce System

BigChange all round security employee
Posted on by Martin Port

All Round Security has rolled out a high tech mobile workforce system.

The new platform is connecting field service engineers in real-time to the office as part of an end-to-end management system. With clients including Heathrow Airport, Arcadia, Mitie and Cloud FM, All Round Security install and maintain security roller shutters, doors and barriers across the UK. Since going live, the cloud-based system from Leeds-based BigChange has boosted productivity and customer service.

All Round Security had previously implemented a number of different systems but were frustrated with having to manage different systems and began the search for an all-in-one solution. With an expanding customer base and over 60,000 jobs completed in the last year, BigChange with their 5-in-1 solution and JobWatch mobile app was quickly seen as the ideal solution.

Charlie Keegan, Contracts Coordinator at All Round Security comments:

“We are always striving to provide our clients with the best possible service and as our workforce grows we required a system that can tackle our needs. With JobWatch, powered by BigChange, we have the system that we have longed for; offering real-time automatic updates, engineer tracking, 24/7 support and general ease of use”

Formed in 1986 with headquarters in Newton-Le-Willows near Warrington, All Round Security is planning to expand organically within the next 5 years.

Lee Parker, Director at All Round Security comments:

“Our challenge is to manage growth whilst maintaining our high quality service. With BigChange we have something that not only dramatically improves our business efficiency, service and productivity but also a solution that will allow us to freely expand the business thanks to the automation and ease of access via mobiles and the cloud,”

With the flexibility of JobWatch – the BigChange mobile app – All Round sees opportunities to diversify. With simple creation of new job sheets and workflows, services that are currently sub-contracted, such as electricals, or new services requested by customers, could be easily added. All Round Security contractors already use the same JobWatch app.

Parker explains:

“We’ll rely on partners for sure as we expand but whether we do it ourselves or subcontract we have, through JobWatch, a platform that is seamless as far as the customer is concerned,”

Parker believes the facilities management sector will see a change in the future with data-driven and completely integrated management of assets; a more holistic approach where Capex and Opex budgets are much more closely aligned.

Parker continued:

“With our involvement in security matters there is a strong element of trust with our clients and we foresee our role expanding as an adviser on the condition of assets and provider of an all-encompassing asset management service,”

“The beauty of BigChange is that is can be easily configured to do just about anything so we are not restricted, IT wise, in what we can offer.”

All Round Security provides a 24/7 call out service with a maximum 2 hour response time for critical sites such as hospitals and airports. With 50-strong fleet and field service engineers located countrywide, incoming service requests are logged into the BigChange schedular for optimised job allocation, route planning and scheduling.

Parker adds:

“For a mobile service operation like ours, the killer of productivity is the travel time to jobs. With improved scheduling, routing and resource allocation using BigChange scheduler software we’ve already improved engineer productivity,”

The engineers receive jobs on their rugged Samsung tablets and with vans equipped with BigChange GPS telematics, live tracking and navigation is provided. The system generates an estimated time of arrival at site so customers can be auto-alerted via email or text.

On arrival the JobWatch app guides the engineer through the correct risk assessment procedures using workflows before proceeding with the job. Using the tablet, the engineer completes their Job Card and gets an on-screen customer sign off. Time and location stamped photographs are also taken as part of a complete audit of the job.

Keegan concludes:

“Having this comprehensive and real time information at out fingertips 24/7 has really revolutionised our customer service and work output,”

“Not only can we dynamically allocate engineers to do more jobs but onsite we can be more productive through live interaction to resolve issues and get quick answers if extra work is needed; the office and customer are much better informed.”

BigChange all round security office

BigChange technology transforms Customer Service for Complete Shutter Services

Complete shutter
Posted on by Martin Port

Nationwide industrial door specialist Complete Shutter Services has rolled out BigChange’s Mobile Workforce Management Technology across its operation.

Based out of Sheffield for over 30 years, the company designs, manufactures, installs and services door systems for clients including BP, Shell, The Co-Op, Waterstones and House of Fraser.

The company switched from a manual T-card system to BigChange’s All-in-one, Paperless Cloud based system that combines back-office CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Job Planning and Scheduling and a Mobile App for engineers and real-time tracking of vehicles. Managing Director Paul Quealey scoured the market for a technology solution that would take the business paperless and provide real-time visibility across the operation.

MD Paul Quealey said:

“As our business grew, planning and scheduling work became increasingly challenging and at times it was difficult to keep track of when things were due. We looked at various systems but couldn’t find anything that was the right fit. Then we discovered BigChange; it was as if I had written the software myself. It ticked all the boxes, and the integrated vehicle tracking was unlike anything we’d seen before”.

Complete Shutter Services are using an Industrial Doors specific version of the BigChange system that allows back-office users to plan, manage, schedule and track work effectively including planned maintenance and urgent reactive work. In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customers and is intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time engineer availability, skills, live location and parts stock. This is significantly increasing productivity; minimising customer wait time and driving first time fix at competitive cost for clients. The integrated CRM is also providing customers with a joined-up experience, thanks to automated job booking confirmations, service reminders, ETA updates on the day of service and instant access to job-cards and reports instantly after work has been completed.

Mr Quealey continued:

“Customers now expect real-time information as standard. Our back-office team were inundated with calls from clients wanting to check the status of an order or service. This led to multiple phone calls to engineers out in the field. BigChange has empowered the team with real-time information. Our use of the system has been key to winning a number of new contracts. Without the system, we’d need more administrators in the back-office, so from a commercial perspective, the technology is adding real-value for us. For me as a Managing Director, I have the confidence that we have a robust system in place to ensure we maintain our reputation for customer excellence.”

Complete’s mobile engineers benefit from an easy to use Android mobile app. They start their day by completing an electronic timesheet and vehicle check, before instantly accessing job information. Integrated sat-nav with live traffic ensures the best route is taken and customers receive proactive updates by text and email. On arrival, the app allows engineers to create instant estimates and guides them step by step through health & safety and job-specific workflows including photo capture. Proof-of-service is instantly relayed to the back office and the system generates fully branded job-cards that are automatically shared via a customer’s booking portal or via email.

Martin Port, Founder and CEO of BigChange said:

“Our technology is helping Complete Shutter Services maintain its excellent reputation and excellent levels of customer service in the marketplace. They are reaping the benefits that our scalable, cloud based system provides. We look forward to working with Paul and the team for the next 30 years and beyond.”