14 Jun 2018
UK retail giant implements
‘state-of-the art’ software to
streamline maintenance processes
With over 600 employees and 166 stores across the UK,
bathstore is the country’s largest bathroom specialist
retailer. With the showrooms being one of the most
integral elements to the company as they are the
point of call for the customers, the management and
maintenance of the property portfolio is vital.
Addressing the challenges of
managing a large retail portfolio
With the upkeep and compliance of stores being
essential to managing such a large property portfolio,
the bathstore were in need of a software solution
that could centralise all of their property information
and enable them to effectively manage the workflow
that comes from the day to day management in a
streamlined and consistent manner.
Prior to implementing Info Exchange in 2012, their
previous in-house system created a heavy workload
for the property management team, with information
recorded and stored by management, store managers
and third party contractors on different systems and
in different formats. For Sonia and the maintenance
team this meant accessibility and visibility to key
information such as lease information, reactive and
planned maintenance works for both upkeep and
compliance, was time consuming, prone to errors and
often resulted in prolonged resolution timescales.
The Solution
To create a centralised property portfolio database,
the retailer called upon the UK’s leading compliance
and risk management business, Alcumus, in 2012 to
implement its renowned compliance software, Info
Exchange.
The Info Exchange project management team
worked with Sonia and the property management
team to consolidate all of their property
management data onto a single platform, simplifying
their processes and enabling the retailer to store
lease and property information, record and manage
reactive maintenance issues within stores and
proactively manage their compliance obligations
such as electrical testing and fire alarms.
More importantly, the workflow functionality that Info
Exchange provides as part of their solution, enabled
the property maintenance team to automatically
receive email notifications when a maintenance issue
had been raised by a store. “This functionality is
really fantastic”, says Sonia: “The new system sends
us a warning signal if an issue has been raised, again,
reducing the risk of human error. Additionally the
new form provides us with all the necessary details
including contact numbers, the store’s details and the
issue at hand. What’s more it records the details onto
the dashboard, meaning we won’t need to resubmit
all the information if another issue should occur in
the future. In addition, the form has also increased
store manager’s confidence in the support they
receive from head office; they feel assured that any
issues are being dealt with and will be resolved within
a few days. This positively impacts morale.”
Why Alcumus?
As Alcumus’ Info Exchange is a fully integrated
system, each piece of software created needs to be
bespoke to the client in order for it to be successfully
implemented. This was one of the main reasons why
bathstore decided to adopt Info Exchange. Sonia
added: “The bespoke element on the package was
the initial benefit and swayed our overall decision.
It’s refreshing to be able to work with a company
that encourages us to have an input into what the
dashboard was going to show, how it was going to
work and the functionalities, rather than us trying to
fit and adjust to an ‘off-the-self’ system. The flexibility
was key and is the reason why it has worked so well
with the wider team.”
Business Benefits
The main benefits of Info Exchange is the
accessibility and visibility it provides an organisation;
bathstore has certainly felt these benefits, with Sonia
confirming: “The accessibility element had a positive
effect on our time management. It was a solution
to eliminate going back and forth, as the team
could simply update their task so I could easily see
what’s been completed and what still required our
attention.”
Concluding, Sonia commented:
“Info Exchange has completely renovated our
internal systems and made my working life far more
streamlined and effective. It’s fantastic to have a fully
integrated system that’s inclusive of the entire team,
including those in the stores themselves. We have
saved an unquantifiable amount of time, reduced
error and unnecessary workload; I truly couldn’t
recommend this software enough!”
Alan Neill, Senior Vice President of software
Solutions at Alcumus, commented:
“Our software has helped numerous companies
across the UK with a number of issues including
data sharing, streamlining processes and generating
reports from analysed data. It’s always rewarding
to hear from clients who have experienced such
positive effects from our software, and that it has
improved internal processes, particularly when these
improvements extend to increasing staff morale.”
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Alcumus
http://www.alcumusgroup.com
T: 01296 678440
Axys House
Heol Crochendy
Parc Nantgarw
CF15 7TW
Cardiff, South Glamorgan
United Kingdom
Alcumus will be exhibiting on Stand SH4070 at Safety & Health Expo 2019, 18-20 June, ExCeL, London, UK
The Armed Forces veterans who work for Alcumus were introduced to His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales during the official company head office opening on 24th February.
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