Reporting on the results of its implementation of Telecetera’s Connect mobile working and scheduling system last year, Blackpool Coastal Housing said that it is saving £360,000 per year via a reduction in outsourced jobs and has cut its overheads by £260,000 by closing its stock depot. Other savings include average job costs down by £10 to £79 per job, £11,000 saved in fuel and 2,000 hours’ travelling.
BCH implemented Connect in order to lower the costs of its housing maintenance and repairs teams, automate its stock and resource management and reduce its overheads. After reviewing BCH’s maintenance and repairs processes, Connect’s appointment and scheduling component was installed, resulting in more efficient job allocations and more jobs completed each day, all at times convenient to tenants.
Substantial amounts of paperwork have been eliminated from BCH’s operations, with all jobs entered on back-office systems and updated on-site via PDAs. BCH said that Connect has also revolutionised its stock control, giving workers automated information on the stock they are carrying and what they will need for each job. This automation has since allowed BCH to establish a supply partnership, removing the need for its own stock depot.
Telecetera reported that the cost of the BCH project was around £65,000, excluding hardware costs.
