Simon Hill
Managing Director, Assential Clean
3 minute read
08/02/2017
Smartphones can be the key to success for small businesses, especially when they improve efficiency by 90%. Watch how Assential Clean experienced the benefits brought by smartphones with Simon Hill, Managing Director.
Assential Clean is a ventilation installation maintenance and hygiene company. We operate across a huge variety of businesses. From schools and universities to theme parks, wherever there’s air movement, you can find us.
As a 24/7 business that operates nationwide, we’ve integrated smartphones into our business and now couldn’t operate as efficiently without them.
Smartphones are fundamental to our day to day operations. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to operate. Our engineers work in very isolated locations meaning information wouldn’t be able to be relayed back to the office. The use of a smartphone allows them to get back to us in real time to get the work signed off, confidently knowing they’ve done it correctly.
Being able to constantly communicate with team members, no matter where they are in the UK, has made it possible to make our business better than ever. The Perspective series report revealed that this isn’t an isolated case - smartphones are changing the way SMEs work. The introduction of new technology and digital channels have been shown to improve communications by 49% and decision making by 43%.
Not only that, 61% of business leaders are saying that new technology makes people happier, smarter and enables growth. Because of this, efficiency gets a 47% boost, something we’ve experienced first-hand.
Smartphones have increased our productivity quite dramatically. We’re making an extra two visits per week, per engineer. We’ve reduced our time on site by 20% and we’ve reduced travel costs by £20-30k a year.
It shows that the right technology used in the right way can have a transformative effect on every aspect of your business. From the phones you use to communicate with, to networks that run your business – empowering employees to work anywhere benefits everyone.
For example, by placing our scheduling system online, our efficiency has improved. If any engineer calls in sick or they’ve got a longer time on site, the system updates in real time and gives an estimated completion time, and reports straight back to the office.
When people aren’t tied to a single, physical location, it allows them to plan their days better. A smartphone isn’t just the key to unlocking productivity, it’s also the key to achieving a better work/life balance.
Simon Hill Managing Director, Assential Clean
But don’t think that technology upgrades are just about efficiency and profit; customers also get a better service as a result of the improvements behind the scenes, in everything from problem-solving to ordering parts.
Being able to send photos and make video calls has improved our customer interactions. A lot of our work is behind the scenes – often in confined spaces – so the ability to send an evidential picture or video straight through to the customer has had an incredible effect. It’s improved our first time resolution by about 90% and dramatically enhanced our customer experience.
Last but by no means least, the impact on the daily lives of my team has been huge. When people aren’t tied to a single, physical location, it allows them to plan their days better. A smartphone isn’t just the key to unlocking productivity, it’s also the key to achieving a better work/life balance.
Digital workflow has improved, which means that team members can now send the reports offsite, they don’t need to come back to the office. They can get on with their lives.
In the following video, Simon Hill explains how crucial smartphones are to his business.