A leading commercial landlord based in the UK had the goal to remain one of the top two providers of quality property as well as be the innovator in their marketplace. Their challenge was to balance this ambition in a climate of increasing pressure on costs without comprising the safety or customer satisfaction levels they prided themselves on providing. One department identified to be crucial in reaching these aims was responsible for maintenance.
Previous reviews of IT solutions for managing their maintenance had not been pursued due to the costs involved in investment with respect to the technical infrastructure required plus what was perceived as a loss of control. However, the Ostara maintenance management solution was able to demonstrate support across their business plus an increase in visibility and measurement of maintenance activity and spend and therefore increased control. They were now able to only pay for what they got and what’s more measure the quality and satisfaction of the work carried out!
The hosted solution meant that there was a zero requirement for investment in, and maintenance of, any IT infrastructure – all they required was a PC and connection to the Internet in order to access and use the solution irrespective of where they were in the world. In addition, the fact that there were no hidden costs for licences for the integrated reporting module or any limits on the number of users and computers able to access the solution gave the decision-makers peace of mind when selecting the system.
The powerful reporting functionality benefited many areas of the business. The Finance and the Maintenance teams now had the cost of maintenance per building and could instantly see any extraordinary costs. ‘Problem’ buildings were highlighted and the teams were able to take steps to identify reasons for these anomalies. From a compliance point of view, they could instantly check if there were instances of non-compliance and have the means to remedy it.
The collaborative approach with their contractor base could be further enhanced as the contractor performance to SLA report facilitated the impartial setting and measurement of KPIs and targets for any improvements. The devolvement of responsibility for uploading certificates and logging on and off jobs via the contractor portal reduced the workload on the internal resources.
As Ostara puts more control, regarding logging jobs and monitoring their progress, in the hands of on-site personnel the central team was equipped and empowered to deal with client issues and improve communication in relation to when solutions would be provided. In effect, they could spend more time with their clients and gaining additional business rather than updating spreadsheets and chasing jobs.
The quality data collected meant that a true picture of an asset’s reliability and life cycle could be seen leading to more informed and intelligent decision making regarding often costly capital investment plus a better planned preventative maintenance schedule which in turn results in less downtime of important assets such as lifts.
The audit/ RFI function meant that customer satisfaction levels could be measured as well as the adherence to safety standards.
The authorisation rules put in place alongside the dissemination of administrative responsibility to both a local level and their contractor base was estimated to have freed up 30% of the central team’s time to carry out their core activities concentrate on best practice procurement and improving the overall compliance level of the business.
They saved 10% on their reactive spend in the first year which paid for the Ostara solution plus their customer satisfaction rating increased by 10% over the first six months and a further 5% to the end of the year. This was partly attributable to the onsite staff having more time to spend with their clients and real-time information on the jobs they required doing at their fingertips.
The ability to better plan preventative maintenance and measure the following remedial works required led to a decrease in the next years’ budget of an initial £20,000 plus analysis of the data is showing evidence that this trend will continue into the following year.
The use of the notifications function meant that senior management were informed when there was a serious incident but not subjected to information overload. This led to the onsite teams gaining high-level support when they crucially required it.
If you’re working within the commercial sector here in the UK, and are currently looking for an effective maintenance management system solution like the commercial client in our case study, then look no further than Ostara Systems Ltd. We can help provide innovative software to suit your individual business needs and requirements. Call us today on +44 (0)844 880 2582, alternatively, you can fill out our online enquiry form, and we’ll be in touch.
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