Thirteen Group has implemented new mobile workforce management software from BigChange. The system, which incorporates CRM, job scheduling, a customer portal, vehicle tracking and a mobile app, is intended to improve services, reduce costs and boost productivity.
Michael Hall, senior facilities manager, Thirteen Group, said, “We previously relied on a combination of paper records and spreadsheets but with the volume of work we had, it was clear we needed to replace what was a cumbersome, largely manual system. BigChange has transformed the way we work by eliminating paper and providing complete visibility of our work.”
Thirteen’s mobile teams carry out planned and reactive maintenance. Equipped with tablets running the 5-in-1 JobWatch mobile app linked to real-time vehicle tracking, the devices are used for everything from vehicle inspections, coronavirus safety checks and electronic job sheets linked to on-site photos.
Hall said, “JobWatch gives us a live 24/7 view of all our scheduled and reactive work. It’s the data that the system collects and processes that is really useful – we have real insight into our actual costs and performance which is something we simply didn’t have before.
“We’ve already been able to halve daily mileage, reducing wasted travelling time and costs and we expect we will be able to improve our productivity through better resource planning, allocation and coordination.
“We’re always busy, so we expected the implementation of BigChange to be a challenge, but remarkably just one person was able to set up and manage the implementation, although one factor we didn’t anticipate was coronavirus.
“We continued to provide services to tenants during the lockdown and that meant introducing safety procedures for our colleagues. We were immediately able to introduce coronavirus-safe working procedures using JobWatch so the app was embraced by everyone straight away.”
For Thirteen’s mobile workforce, tablets quickly became the accepted way of working, but as a cloud solution, the BigChange system itself also allowed major operational changes to be made quickly. This included working from home and negated the need for teams to come into the office at the start of the day.
Hall said, “Suddenly we switched to full mobile working, with our teams working from home and saving at lot of time and mileage. We can track departure and arrival times and without the depot visits, productivity is much better.”
