From clipboards to compliance: The positive impact of bespoke software
Managing compliance isn’t easy; regulations can be incredibly tight, the risks high when it goes wrong, and impeccable record-keeping is vital.
So, what happens when you’re running a business where compliance is your bread-and-butter, but your systems make it harder than it needs to be?
It’s a story we hear from many clients who come to Buzz, when they do a job - and do it well - but records and data cause more headaches than needed.
And that’s exactly what happened with Reef Water Solutions, leading specialists in water hygiene and legionella compliance. They came to Buzz when they saw an opportunity to do something different… and the result was a bespoke management system called Orac.
Engineer life before Orac
Five years ago, before Orac, the Reef day looked like this: print the temperature sheets, hope the template was the latest version, fill them in on a clipboard at every job, then spend the evening typing it all up and uploading it.
While they were delivering a high-end service to their clients, and hitting the marks they needed to, the impact was eating into work life balance, with some engineers working after-hours to ensure nothing was getting missed. Yes, the job got delivered to an exceptional standard, but at the expense of additional engineer time and stress.
It was an onerous part of the job that, with some help, really didn’t need to be.
Software built for someone else
The team wasn’t short of software, though. They had an off-the-shelf system covering scheduling, quoting and invoicing. The problem was that it was built in a generic way, that didn’t necessarily fit the needs of the business and how they actually worked as a team.
“We were trying to work around the software rather than the software working for us," says George, Reef's service manager.
Licensing meant only one person from the team could view schedules at a time, while records weren’t centralised, and defects weren’t linked to anything… adding hours of additional admin time that could be better spent on other tasks. Someone had to manually tick a box for a record to be reviewed, otherwise clients might get their results and have no idea what they meant.
Meanwhile, scheduling in visits for engineers was also time-consuming, and it wasn’t so easy to track previous quotes, either.
So, what changed?
Reef needed a system built around how they actually work, and that’s where Orac came in.
With this bespoke portal, engineers no longer print templates, fill in clipboards and type everything up in the evening, because the right job sheet is on a tablet screen in front of them and the data goes straight into the system.
Defects are raised automatically and exist as items in their own right, rather than relying on someone ticking a box, so clients can spot problems even if they don’t understand the technical detail, and George can find any record in moments when they call.
Scheduling’s got better, too. A week for eight engineers now takes minutes rather than hours, quoting is easier (because past quotes are quick to find), and invoicing is simple enough to go out promptly, which helps cash flow.
And because the data is recorded so clearly (and is easier to access than ever before), audits are far less daunting. Clients from small schools to NHS trusts get instant, centralised, time-stamped access to their records and evidence, so audits become a tick-box exercise… instead of a panic-fuelled phone call.
It’s a system that has allowed Reef to scale up into the market leaders they are today, giving them the competitive edge that has seen them innovate over time and land bigger contracts than ever before.
The future with Orac
Even with the original launch of Orac, the work hasn’t stopped and constant improvements are being made all the time.
“We are continuing to push out new features and things that are just ultimately going to make things far easier for people in the business,” says George.
And, from the clients' side? He adds, “I think I really do notice that people engage with it more than they ever would have done.”
There’s a commercial benefit, too. The Reef team is now winning back contracts they’d lost a few years ago to lower-priced competitors, because clients appreciate the high standard of compliance and service Reef offers.
And isn’t that the point? To make running a business as efficient as possible, help staff claim back work-life balance and give clients an even better service than before.
“We could not go back to paper job sheets and paper things and putting so much onus on our staff and our engineers to be getting this right because it has such a heavy weight on what we do,” says George. “If we get this wrong, we are in trouble. And we were relying so much on people to get it right.”
Building operational efficiency with Buzz
If, like Reef, you're thinking about how software could fit how you work (rather than the other way round), get in touch with our team at Buzz. From the benefits of bespoke systems (read about that, here) to what good compliance actually looks like, we can help you bring your vision to reality.
A huge thanks to Reef for sharing their story with us. You can check out the full Orac case study, here.
