ArrowXL, the UK’s largest and longest established two-person home delivery specialist, has been awarded a contract by AJ Products UK, the workplace furniture & equipment supplier, to store and deliver over 800 orders a month to workplaces across the UK.
Goods will be delivered from AJ Products’ Swedish warehouse to the ArrowXL Wigan depot where they will be receipted and sorted for onward despatch by the ArrowXL delivery team. Customers will be kept updated throughout the delivery journey and will have access to the ArrowXL’s ‘askAXL’ tracking web app, providing real time updates.
With a focus on innovation, efficiency and ergonomics, AJ Products UK create smart design-led solutions for the modern workplace and they view this partnership as an opportunity to expand their UK market share and customer offerings.
Helen Beebe, Managing Director at AJ Products UK said: “We were looking for a delivery partner who will help us to improve our customer experience, visibility and levels of communication. ArrowXL have a fantastic reputation for providing an
exceptional delivery experience. This combined with their bespoke range of warehousing solutions made them an obvious choice for us.”
Craig Kavanagh, Sales Director at ArrowXL, commented: “We pride ourselves on the variety of bespoke services we provide our clients and are excited to work in partnership with AJ Products UK to strengthen their presence in the market.”
Botanica Ditton Park, the multi-let office building with an on-site gym and restaurant surrounded by 200 acres of land have awarded Incentive QAS, leading commercial cleaning specialists, with a 3-year contract for daily cleaning, housekeeping, waste management, washrooms and window cleaning.
Incentive QAS will be working with a leading management agent to provide cleaning services for the significant 200,000 square ft of workspace. The team will provide a flexible service with a mixture of part and full-time cover depending on the requirement from Botanica. All Incentive QAS employees will be provided with a bespoke uniform demonstrating a level of professionalism and synergy with the Botanica on-site staff.
Incentive QAS will be utilising their contract management system offering proof of presence, bespoke electronic auditing and heath checks. By installing the smart systems Incentive QAS can gather ‘Big Data’ in relation to how the Botanica site is being used, and how busy certain areas are. This data allows for improved resource management and valuable analysis for its teams.
Kerry Jones, Building Manager at Botanica Ditton Park said: “We were delighted to award Incentive QAS with this significant contract. One of our key focus areas at Botanica Ditton Park is sustainability and a holistic approach to our occupiers wellbeing. Incentive QAS offered a green cleaning service from day one which complements our offering perfectly.”
David Brown, Commercial Director, Incentive QAS commented: “We were thrilled to win this contract with Botanica Ditton Park. It’s an exciting project and we look forward to working together in such a beautiful location. The introduction of mpro5 will be invaluable for a site of this size. By moving away from static task schedules and towards making our operations fully reactive, our teams can use their time more productively and ultimately provide a more efficient cleaning service.
Incentive FM are delighted to have taken home a coveted European Cleaning & Hygiene Award in the highly contested ‘Excellence in Client-Contractor Relationships’ category for its work at Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre in Leicester.
Leading service providers, manufacturers and distributors from Europe’s cleaning and hygiene sector came together to celebrate the very best of the industry. The event took place on 28th April at Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels. After over two years away, the awards received an unprecedented number of entries, with the judges reviewing over 160 nominations. With 39 finalists across 10 categories, the winners were finally unveiled at the gala dinner event.
Glenn Wilson, Director – Retail & Distribution, Incentive FM said: “We are thrilled to have won the Excellence in Client-Contractor Relationships this year. We were up against some fantastic finalists from across Europe, so to have been crowned a winner is incredibly special.
“This award is a testament to the sheer hard work, dedication, and exceptional service delivered by our team at Beaumont Leys, combined with an exceptional and truly collaborative client service partner relationship. A huge congratulations to everyone involved!”
Michelle Marshall, founder of the ECH Awards and editor of ECJ, said: “We are delighted to award Incentive FM our top prize in the Excellence in Client-Contractor Relationships this year. It was a record year for entries and the standard was so high, but we really felt that Incentive FM was a deserving winner. Congratulations to the team and all our 2022 winners.”
On Friday 29th April, Incentive QAS hosted a charity football tournament to raise money for Scotty’s Little Soldiers, their nominated charity. The event kicked off at 2pm with 8 teams competing for the coveted Scotty’s cup!
RAF II SQN were the lucky winners of the inaugural Scotty’s Cup with BPR taking the runners-up plate.
A penalty shootout took place before the semi-finals match, with Rob Doyle (from Mayflower) winning the Samsung tablet. As the shootout was sponsored by Mayflower Rob kindly donated the tablet to Scotty’s.
The tournament raised over £4,500 for the charity and will undoubtedly become an annual fixture for Incentive QAS.
The event wouldn’t have taken place without the generous time and financial donations from our sponsors:
BPR (Paper Round)
Mayflower Washroom Solutions
Mpro5
FullVision
Bridge Recruitment
Wessex Cleaning and Janitorial Equipment
Ideal 365
Safeguard Pest Control
MDS Professional Floorcare
Darwin Clayton
ICE
Children’s Armed Forces charity, Scotty’s Little Soldiers, is the chosen charity for national Facilities Management company Incentive FM Group. They are dedicated to supporting bereaved children who have lost a parent while serving in the British Armed Forces.
Martin Reed, Chief Executive, Incentive FM Group said, “We are very proud to be supporting such a great charity. We have a huge amount of respect for all our servicemen and women therefore helping the children of those who have lost a parent whilst serving in the British Armed Forces is of great importance to us. We have had great success in the past fundraising for our chosen charities and hopefully this one will be no different.”
Incentive QAS have been awarded a further three-year contract with Link Group after supporting them through their UK expansion.
Link Group, a global leader in financial administration solutions headquartered in Australia, completed its acquisition of London based Capita Asset Services (CAS) from Capita plc in 2017, to extend its UK and European operating platform. Included in the purchase were six locations and shortly after the transition Incentive QAS were awarded the Facilities Management contract by the newly formed UK branch of Link Group.
Incentive QAS worked closely in partnership with Link Group during the initial three year term to close operations at the Huddersfield site but continue to provide ancillary landscaping, pest control and reactive maintenance services. Incentive QAS also closed the Beckenham site and mobilised the new Leeds office in January 2020 where it provided all cleaning and maintenance services.
The UK wide cleaning and FM contract was up for renewal in early 2022 and after a competitive tender process, was re-awarded to Incentive QAS. The new three-year contract will see Incentive QAS providing a total FM service across Link Group’s five sites (Huddersfield, Leeds, Ipswich, Exeter and London) including daily cleaning services, waste management, washroom services, window cleaning, pest control and full planned and reactive M&E services.
Mark Ringsell, Divisional Facilities Manager at Link Group commented: “Incentive QAS have partnered closely with us as we further established our business in the UK.. They have provided an excellent service throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and we are pleased to award them a further three-year contract after a competitive tender process, where they offered a best value for money solution.”
Jamie Wright, Managing Director, Incentive QAS added: “We’ve built a great working relationship with Link Group over the past few years, providing them with cleaning and FM services throughout a challenging time. Our company vision it to have staff and clients who love working with us and we’re delighted that our contract retention rate is so strong.”
Leading London-based commercial cleaning company Julius Rutherfoord & Co has appointed Northern-based, The Big Bamboo Agency, to support with bid & proposal work and email marketing communications campaigns on a retained basis.
The full-service agency will help JR&Co develop the content and design of its bid documents to an industry-leading standard, working within the APMP accredited framework. In an increasingly competitive world, bids need to stand out from the crowd – not just in terms of how they look, but also what they say.
In addition, the agency will provide email marketing communications support, running a series of planned campaigns on a variety of topics, helping JR&Co to stay at the front of their customer’s minds.
Julius Rutherfoord & Co was founded in 1994. It provides commercial cleaning services to a wide range of organisations, including Cushman & Wakefield, MADE.com and City, University of London.
Launched in 2018, The Big Bamboo Agency boasts a team of 18 strategists, bid specialists, content writers, PR experts and designers. From its base in Yorkshire, the agency supports clients across the UK and internationally.
Big Bamboo’s Founding Director, Nicola Stamford said: “With a strong background in the facilities management industry, our team is well positioned to support JR&Co in achieving its future vision. We are delighted to be supporting them on their journey and we look forward to our relationship developing over time.”
JR&Co’s Sales and Marketing Director, Nick Rastelli commented: “The Big Bamboo team has the expertise we were hoping to find in a partner agency. As our business grows, bringing on an agency will help us advance our approach in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment.
“They have a great deal of expertise in bidding and winning in our field. We look forward to seeing how they can add value to our business, and from what I have already seen – I am sure that value will be great.”
To maximize profitability and gain new spending skills in today’s competitive market space, companies need to focus more on their core business functions and outsource their non-core activities to convenience management service providers. Office spaces are much more than their physical location. They are the center of activity that requires careful handling of all moving parts. Each single activity must be coordinated to avoid conflict or hiccups. Managing Integrated Facilities, also known as IFM, is one of the best ways to integrate a single management team and all office services under contract. The main purpose of integrated facilities management services is to facilitate communications and make daily activities easier. In this purchase report, Spandez’s analysts have identified some of the key providers of integrated facility management services worldwide.
They are one of the top facility management consultants. They are providing worldwide support in FM solutions services and training. “Evbex is a is an Asset Performance Management company that integrates facilities management with sustainability. We will ensure that you will achieve operational excellence through reducing costs, optimising performance and mitigating risks, across people, the built environment, processes and technology. Our core service offering includes: – Advisory – Consultancy – Procurement – Technology – Research & Development – Training We are located in the UK, North America, Asia and the Middle East”
JLL
They are one of the most popular integrated facilities management services suppliers in the world today. They aim at driving operational excellence by leveraging industry-leading technologies. JLL also offers smart building solutions and helps build engineering and operations strategies for businesses.
CBRE
Globally, CBRE employs more than 38,900 facilities management and 15,800 engineering professionals who help enhance workplace environments and efficiency. They have expertise in Lean Six Sigma Methodology and quality improvement tools for improved process efficiency. Their proprietary technology services, including an in-house computerized maintenance management system sets them apart from the competitors.
Sodexo
For several decades, Sodexo has been one of the active integrated facilities management services suppliers. Sodexo’s capability to offer the effective technical maintenance services has made them one of the prominent suppliers for a wide range of asset management and engineering services.
Compass Group
Compass Group is well-known for their excellent support services and wide range of solutions that range from business, guest services, and cleaning. Their core services include FM and guest services, security, food service, cleaning, vending and micromarkets, and many more.
Cushman & Wakefield
The C&W facilities management team aims at offering the safest and most efficient work environments to clients. They employ best practices to offer superior IFM services and add value to the client’s organization by leveraging their personnel’s expertise and industry knowledge. Their services include sustainability programs, energy procurement and management, vendor management, and many more.
Atkins
FM has seen change and innovation driven by various factors, and customer demand is certainly one of them. It was about 10 years ago that Atkins, the international consultancy active in a whole range of areas, began to transform its service provision in this sector. Term maintenance contracts were evolving into service contracts on the back of increasingly professional helpdesks that centralised customer support.
Carillion
Like i-FM, Carillion marks its 10th anniversary this year following its demerger from the Tarmac construction group. Carillion says that its double-digit organic growth, coupled with strategic acquisitions, has seen it become the UK’s market leading facilities and property management service company. A reasonable claim: Carillion does sit of the head of the i-FM Top 50 rankings, and it certainly has a reputation in the marketplace as a solid player.
Cofely
The Cofely name is a new one in the FM sector, created only in March 2009 when the massive French group GDF Suez merged its Cofathec and Elyo businesses. The logic was the creation of a unified brand name for its energy services activities, in order to consolidate its position across Europe, increase visibility and facilitate expansion.
Incentive FM
Jeremy Waud walked out of OCS in search of independence – and found it with the creation of Incentive in 2002. “I always said FM is great fun, but I would never do it with my own money: what did I know?” he says looking back on those days. He also says that forming the company and pushing it into the marketplace with limited funds but plenty of passion and determination has been ‘really exhilarating’. And pretty successful, too. Incentive is relatively small (number 40 in the Top 50) but it has grown steadily and developed a reputation for creativity. In September it won its largest ever contract, a multi-million pound deal at London’s Covent Garden Estate.
Emerging from the pandemic and meeting sustainability objectives — Facilities Management at a crossroads, chasing shadows or a bright new future?
Facilities management (FM) is often seen as the poor relation within many organisations, a commodity where costs continuously need to be scrutinized and cut accordingly. As organisations start coming out of the worst pandemic for over a hundred years and seek to secure financial stability through reducing their property needs and portfolio size, does this spell more danger for the FM industry or is it an opportunity to spearhead organisational sustainability objectives?
As the world eventually emerges from lockdown, FM will inevitably need to change to a more ‘on demand’ based service to suit the changes enforced on organisations due to the pandemic and new approaches and strategies towards business planning and operations. This presents an ideal opportunity for organisations to re-consider their wider property needs and requirements, holistically across the entity and in doing so, embrace sustainability in facility management in the race towards the United Nations ‘Sustainability Development Goals 2030’ and ‘Net-zero 2050’ Target.
The questions I will attempt to answer here are:
What is the considered view of FM as organisations recover from the pandemic?
What are the key objectives and goals for organisations in moving forward?
How can FM help drive the sustainability goals & objectives?
Although FM is an absolute necessity in each organisation, it is usually perceived as a commodity where the costs continuously need to be reviewed and cut as it does not appear to contribute towards meeting organisational objectives and goals.
It is often considered as a ‘means to an end, a ‘necessary evil’ where organisations need to ensure that their buildings meet regulatory compliance and are fit for purpose. It also seeks to ensure that organisational employees are optimised to contribute towards organisational profitability.
The official definition of Facilities Management, in the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 41001:2017 is ‘an organizational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business.’
This definition would lead us to believe that, arguably, FM should be considered across all levels of organisational architecture i.e. strategic, tactical and operational, whereas it is mainly considered as an operational function by many organisations.
Indeed, based on research undertaken by Evbex, as up to 35% of an organisation’s costs are attributable to the fixed and varying factors that constitute FM, one could argue that it really deserves more prominence within organisational hierarchy and value.
Indeed, ever since my FM career started in 1990, FM has always been under pressure to reduce and cut costs. With organisations starting to re-emerge following the worst pandemic for over 100 years, will FM be better off or worse off?
1. What is the considered view of FM as organisations recover from the pandemic?
Emerging from the impacts and effects of COVID-19 the FM industry and profession is arguably at a crossroads.
Globally, organisations will wish to reduce the size of their property portfolio to remain competitive and even survive. The pandemic showed us that employees can work effectively from home and the latest thinking suggests that we will not need as much property to support our businesses and that a blended hybrid of employer property-based and home working hybrid will result in less demand for the traditional work from the office or workplace location. This is already happening in retail where online shopping and global lockdown has forced retail organisations even more towards online shopping. The same will be true, to varying degrees, for offices, manufacturing and public buildings. Trust in their workforce to work from home was forced upon organisations during the pandemic and it largely worked so why wouldn’t businesses organise their future resource structures around this premise and further reduce property costs?
This will undoubtedly mean further cost reduction targets for the FM sector.
2. What are the key objectives and goals for organisations in moving forward?
In recent times and before the pandemic, sustainability has become a high priority on organisational agendas. As organisations have largely adopted the UN’s ‘Sustainability Development Goals’ and in doing so, created their own ‘Net-zero’ goals and objectives.
To achieve these goals, organisations are signing-up to or adopting various sustainability-based Standards or Good Practice guides in their quest to becoming carbon-neutral, conserve water, and support a clean environment.
Sustainability in facility management in this context can be defined as the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance.
Whilst organisations do not generally include much on FM in their corporate agendas and published goals and targets, meeting sustainability targets and the annual reporting of progress against these targets certainly features on most companies’ websites and social media channels. Indeed, organisations with properties certified by any of these green organisations will gain positive recognition and economic gains from such certifications.
Three broad principles of sustainability in facility management can be considered as being made up of 3 pillars — the economy, society and the environment or as a triple bottom line of financial, environmental and social. These principles are also sometimes referred to as profit, people and planet.
Within the context of FM, there is a strong correlation with two of the three pillars, people and plant and of course there is an indirect link with profit.
How are organisations interpreting sustainability and how can they develop strategies that align with and deliver the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals in meeting their ‘2030 — Sustainable Development Goals’ and ‘Net-zero 2050’ objectives with least 50% reduction in emissions by 2030, which is only 9 years away?
In order to answer this question effectively, we can consider sustainability and its relationship with FM from the following perspectives:
Sustainable Buildings — Energy and Environmental considerations
Sustainable Teams — People Performance and Wellbeing considerations
Considers impacts of the built environment. Advocates sustainable energy sources. Steps are taken to incorporate energy efficient practices, including the use of renewable energy in the design and use of buildings.
Sustainable Teams — People Performance & Wellbeing:
In this context, employees are considered in terms of their performance and outputs against the buildings they occupy. People are our most important assets and it is therefore imperative that their wellbeing is prioritised accordingly.
Social responsibility is also a means of achieving sustainability goals. When an organisation adopts key responsible principles such as accountability and transparency, it can demonstrate that it ensures the long-term sustainability and success of an organisation or system.
Many certifiable Standards and Good Practice Guides now exist to guide organisations towards their sustainability goals and the take up of such standards has risen significantly in recent times. Listed below are some of the main Standards available today:
Sustainability Standards
Sustainable Buildings — Energy & Environmental:
BREEAM is the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for master planning projects, infrastructure and buildings.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world
ISO 50001:2018 is the newly revised international standard for Energy Management providing the most robust framework for optimising energy efficiency in public and private sector organisations.
Sustainable Buildings — People Performance & Wellbeing:
The WELL Building Standard is a vehicle for buildings and organisations to deliver more thoughtful and intentional spaces that enhance human health and well-being.
Sustainable Society — Supply Chain; Organisational Responsibility & Accountability:
SA8000 is an auditable certification standard that encourages organisations to develop, maintain, and apply socially acceptable practices in the workplace.
ISO 26000 is intended to assist organisations in contributing to sustainable development.
As organisations strive to become certified and adopt the above standards to meet their sustainability goals, they will embark on a fragmented, stop-start journey.
Why is the sustainability journey fragmented?
Certification to the relevant Standards will inevitably be a resource and business process re-engineering obligation by an organisation which will be backed by senior management commitment. Establishing eventual certification to the required standard will certainly not be a simple task or a ‘one-off ‘event. Organisations will need to demonstrate ongoing and continued adherence to the requirements of sustainability standards as this will need to be demonstrated periodically through periodic maintenance or surveillance audits.
As already identified, there are also different standards and certification routes to match each of eth three perspectives of sustainability. Furthermore, there are also competing standards organisations and institutions that want your business. This has to be considered against other organisational objectives from an economic perspective.
Unlike FM, where there are defined service lines and roles, there are no sustainability-based natural resources, beyond management activity, which can deliver sustainability related tasks in a collective and cohesive manner. This can cause difficulties in maintaining continuity of sustainability certification in between audits, particularly where there is a disconnect sustainability in facility management.
It is commendable that so many organisations now demonstrate such commitment to sustainability through their corporate values and goals but it will take on-going effort and input to maintain accreditation along the journey towards ‘Net-zero’. As stated, this is generally underestimated in terms of allocated resources on a day-to-day basis within an organisation’s normal operations.
On a positive note, recent developments and convergence in methods and objectives on the green Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) is starting to make in-roads in recognising the need for a common approach for certification through targeting similar approaches.
3. How can FM help drive the sustainability objective and agenda?
The FM function within an organisation is usually consistent and always there to ensure that new practices and tasks can be developed, applied, monitored, measured and improved.
As a rule, we do not employ operatives to specifically to deliver sustainability agendas. How else can this therefore be achieved in an effective and cost-efficient way. Step in FM!
The range of sustainability-based procedures and tasks required to maintain the relevant certifications and sustainability based working practices to achieve the organisations goals can and should be delivered by FM resources. Traditionally, this is often not the case but this is a monumental opportunity for FM to step out of the low-cost commodity shadows and show that it can deliver real additional value through ensuring that sustainability goals will be met.
FM services typically cover the vast majority of needs to maintain accreditation to the relevant Standards and in doing so, support organisational objectives in this regard.
Indeed, there is a strong argument that our mature FM resources and teams that are ever present within our workplaces could and should deliver the vast majority of the sustainability related operational tasks at zero or negligible additional cost through modifying the FM specifications. As the FM industry will undoubtedly be driven towards an ‘on-demand’ service post-pandemic, this is the ideal time to do it.
Table 1 — Examples of combining sustainability tasks within facilities management service lines
There is no doubt that FM needs to change, top become more of an ‘on-demand’ type service so as part of this change, we should also look at ways of integrating the sustainability requirements.
All these services play a key role in informing the sustainability agenda and in ensuring that the sustainability journey is a smooth one
Through revised FM models and structures and the re-designing FM specifications, contracts, measurement frameworks etc. FM can rise from the shadows to finally project itself as a critical resource and service that demonstrates value against 30% upwards of an organisations costs but also providing additional value in assisting organisations to meet their ‘Net-zero’ targets.
If the FM profession and industry can create the clear links and association between sustainability and FM then it promises to be an exciting time for the FM sector. Yes, it will need to re-invent itself again as a combined ‘Sustainability & FM’ function with potentially far more credibility and relevance than it has ever had before.
Much in the same way that FM was historically expected to pick-up compliance, health and safety and environmental responsibilities, a greater opportunity now exists for the industry — to lead the sustainability charge!
As the world eventually emerges from lockdown, FM will inevitably need to change to a more ‘on demand’ based service to suit the changes enforced on organisations due to the pandemic and new approaches and strategies towards business planning and operations. This presents an ideal opportunity for organisations to re-consider their wider property needs and requirements, holistically across the entity and in doing so, embrace sustainability in the race towards the United Nations ‘Sustainability Development Goals 2030’ and ‘Net-zero 2050’ Target. It is considered that as much as 80% of an organisation’s sustainability needs for certification and meeting organisational targets can be delivered through FM resources.
Such a move will inevitably ease the financial burden on FM as an entity in its own right, as funding and budgets will be made available for meeting sustainability targets.
The future for FM should be bright, it should embrace the opportunity and show the world that ‘they are the guy’s to deliver this agenda’, as FM transforms once again to delivering valuable strategic support to the core business.
Written by By Andrew Robbins, Associate Director of Security at Incentive FM
Providing security in a shopping centre environment is already a tough job even before you add pandemic risk mitigation into the mix. With non-essential shops now starting to open, at Incentive FM we are ramping up our ‘Business Resumption Programme’ which acknowledges the increased role that the security teams will need to play in keeping members of the public and retail staff both safe and compliant.
A number of our security staff have been on furlough for much of the past year and so it is vital that we refresh their training and provide up to date guidance to ensure that they feel both safe and able to work. Mental health and wellbeing considerations are at the forefront of our approach as we are aware of the increased number of strains of the past few months. Communication and collaboration are key as always and we have a documented framework to ensure this approach is standard across all of our retail portfolio.
Of course, some of our staff have not been furloughed but have been working at our centres which have been partially open throughout the pandemic for essential shops and take away food outlets. We believe that they will provide additional support for their colleagues and share their experiences and learnings.
Traditionally a retail security officers main focus was to prevent any theft or damage from taking place. Over the years this has changed to more of an emphasis on keeping staff and customers safe but Covid has delivered further changes, not least managing people’s differing views on the restrictions that we will need to enforce within the shopping centres. Some people are simply less convinced about the need to follow the hands, face, space guidance. There is also increasing evidence that others who have had their jabs may refuse to comply altogether so it seems that our security officers are once again likely to be facing some challenging situations.
Footfall is also going to be extremely hard to predict with research suggesting that people may continue to enjoy shopping online even after lockdown. However, we feel that a lot of people will want to take advantage of the retail and leisure experience our clients offer and we will resource accordingly.
And of course, later in the year we will need to consider further changes from the outcomes from Protect Duty which is likely to include a legal requirement for public places to ensure preparedness for and protection from terrorist attacks. It is part of a Government manifesto commitment to draw on lessons learned from previous terrorist incidents, in particular the Manchester arena attack.
Luckily, we are in a good place. Pre-covid, the strategy for us as a company was to take security across our business to the next level, making sure we provide a best possible service to our clients as trusted advisors and ensuring their premises remain safe and secure. We have and will continue to do this and address any new challenges along the way.
SmartTask saves nearly a day a week on staff related management and administration at newly established Facilities Management business
SmartTask, a UK-based developer of cloud workforce management solutions, has been selected by Momentum Facilities Management to provide its cleaning service management software. The SmartTask solution provides workforce management including staff scheduling and rostering, a mobile app which also provides real-time visibility of staff location, and time & attendance recording. The new software automatically generates staff hours for payroll, and details of contracted hours and services supplied for rapid and accurate reporting to clients demonstrating adherence to Service Level Agreements.
Sarah Perfect, Operations Manager at Momentum FM said; “As a fairly new business it was important to us to invest in the right software. We see technology as enabling us to provide a more transparent service to our clients with up to the minute reporting, and confirmation of services provided, which in turn gives us a competitive edge. The SmartTask system provides everything we wanted, and more. It is already saving us considerable time, nearly a day every week, and will support our business as we continue to grow.”
The SmartTask solution was selected for its breadth of functionality, ease of use and real-time data capture. The mobile app, which has been enthusiastically adopted by staff, provides safe-guarding for lone workers with its Check Call feature. Rosters and schedules can be created quickly and then sent to staff via the mobile app, and cover for holiday and sickness can be arranged at the touch of a button using group messaging, rather than individual phone calls.
Paul Ridden, CEO of SmartTask said: “Investing early in business software enables forward-thinking companies like Momentum FM to differentiate themselves with superior customer service. Keeping track of staff to ensure that all shifts are covered, and contracted hours fulfilled is the bedrock for a reliable and trustworthy cleaning service as well as meeting Duty of Care obligations. At SmartTask we are committed to providing the software that enables our clients to provide excellent services while growing their businesses.”
Momentum FM has just gone live with the payroll module, where staff hours gathered via the app are automatically input to the payroll system, ensuring that staff are paid accurately for work completed. The next step is to automate the invoicing process for customers, again based on hours collected via the SmartTask mobile app.
Sarah Perfect concluded; “We looked at lots of solutions but the attention and service we have received from SmartTask has been second to none. It is paperless, which is good for the environment, our people like using it and understand the benefits it gives them. SmartTask even helped us win extra business by developing an online Communications Book for a specific client.”
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