Mobile FM system tackles ‘time killer’

All Round Security has rolled out a mobile facilities workforce system 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 installs and maintains 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 was 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 was chosaen for its 5-in-1 solution and JobWatch mobile app.

“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,” says Charlie Keegan, contracts coordinator, All Round Security.

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

“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,” says Lee Parker, director, All Round Security.

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.

“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,” says Parker. 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 two-hour response time for critical sites such as hospitals and airports. With 50 fleet and field service engineers located countrywide, incoming service requests are logged into the BigChange scheduler for optimised job allocation, route planning and scheduling.

“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,” Parker adds.

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.