HSS Groundcare says that new mobile technology from BigChange has boosted field engineer productivity by 40%. 

Providing visibility of operations nationwide, the new system supplied by Leeds based BigChange connects back office cloud software with mobile devices and vehicle trackers as part of a paperless, real-time system.

HSS Groundcare is part of the HSS Hire Group which employs almost 3,000 people across 250 UK locations. 

The specialist groundcare and landscaping service operates from 12 locations nationwide and looks after 21,000 individual assets.

Although HSS Groundcare supply and hire equipment, such as lawnmowers, chippers and strimmers, the primary activity is the servicing and maintenance of equipment and the company provides a same day call out service.  

HSS field engineers are equipped with tablets running JobWatch, an app that replaces all paperwork. As well as digital job cards, the devices allow access to a library of useful documents such as procedures and equipment manuals with technical diagrams.

On the move the tablets sit in dashboard cradles and provide navigation and BigChange GPS trackers keep customer services up to date on the whereabouts of each engineer.

Colin Newton, HSS groundcare director, said: “Utilisation is the key for us and since implementing the BigChange system this is where we have seen enormous benefits. 

“We need to keep our engineers as busy as possible and with this system we have increased utilisation from around 50% to 90%.

“Gone are all those idle hours sitting around the depot and our engineers are much happier busy doing their job.”

With clients including local authorities, sports grounds and golf courses, HSS Groundcare provides services that include repairs, servicing, fault monitoring and operator training.

With BigChange, job sheets and reports can be easily tailored and managing business has become a lot easier, it said. 

The system is also proving invaluable for meeting KPI obligations. With contract performance typically assessed on response times, time taken to fix equipment and the first time fix rates, HSS Groundcare says JobWatch provides instant and accurate data on all jobs.

“BigChange has given us a massive improvement in efficiency and as well as the improvement in resource utilisation – more or less doubling the number of jobs we do a day,” said Newton. “Previously we couldn’t keep track of the work and reporting to customers was particularly difficult. JobWatch now gives us all the information we need and that is vital for customer service.”

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