Gartec, the supplier and installer of passenger platform lifts, has transformed its business with a single IT system that provides end-to-end digital working, eliminating paperwork using mobile devices. With the 5 in 1 system from BigChange, Gartec field service engineers use smartphones or tablets connected in real-time to cloud-based software that manages the entire business process, from initial call to closure and invoicing.
As the UK market leader, Gartec has been at the forefront of the platform lift industry for 25 years and is a subsidiary of Artico, the Swedish lift manufacturer. Employing 50 people and based in Aylesbury, Gartec supply, install and maintain lifts with a team of 20 service engineers together with sub-contacted installers. The system, called JobWatch, has completely replaced separate software systems used for service management, audit management and tracking, and added a host of new automation capabilities.
“We chose BigChange not only because they offered the best and most cost-effective solution, but because it was clear that they were a company with ambition and vision to really move things on,” says Ben Long, UK Operations Manager, Gartec. “The beauty of JobWatch is that anyone can access and use it. That means our sub-contract installers can use their smartphones to access the same app and we can then manage sub-contracted work seamlessly as if it was our own.”
Although much of Gartec’s service work is undertaken under maintenance contracts, the company provides 24/7/365 emergency services with guaranteed response times of typically 4 hours. Customer service staff use BigChange to log incoming calls and then plan, schedule and allocate jobs to engineers, who in turn use their smartphones running the JobWatch App that gives seamless two-way connection with the back office system. Automated emails confirm orders and call outs and accurate ETAs are provided using data from BigChange GPS trackers fitted to Gartec vans.
“BigChange is providing huge efficiency gains with the optimisation of routes and resources and the complete automation of many administrative tasks,” say Long. “Since implementing BigChange the engineering team has grown from 9 to 15 and turnover has grown by £1miliion, without having to increase the number of office support staff. I reckon we are probably twice as efficient when it comes to administration and managing operations has become a lot easier.”
“Overall BigChange has streamlined the business and the whole process is much smoother. Probably the biggest benefit is the added visibility we now have and the automation provided by the system has helped to remove the human error element; the system gives us continuity and accountability.” Long sums up.
