HOW ARE HIGHWAYS FIRMS USING FIELD MANAGEMENT

How are Highways firms using field management software to prepare for the future?

By Mike Saunders

Managing Director Re-flow

As highways businesses come under increased pressure to meet stricter deadlines and ensure high standards for HSE while facing shrinking margins and growing workloads, many are abandoning traditional systems in favour of digital field management solutions that can provide the breathing room to enable sustainable business growth.

As the highways industry ventures further into the future, the move away from tried-and-true paper systems and legacy spreadsheet software grows increasingly inevitable. The past several years have seen the rise of many alternatives pitching themselves as the next step for the industry, yet one has stood out, and continues to gain massive traction to this day – field management software. An all-in-one system that aims to unite all major operational processes digitally, it’s no secret that its popularity is only set to increase as more businesses take the plunge, and the benefits become increasingly evident. As more companies move into the market, business owners and managers may find themselves either spoiled for choice or daunted by the selection. Picking the wrong software can cause more problems than it promises to solve. Off-the-shelf packages can often be lacking and flexibility, and businesses may find themselves quickly outgrowing their capabilities. This was the case for Tony Baysford, Managing Director of Fenton TM, who was looking for a solution to improve the slow communication that was hurting his HSE compliance and audit trails. After investing into a solution that failed to meet their needs, him and his team felt burnt from the experience – “We were concerned about moving to another solution, because of the limitations of the system we were using”.

So how can highways firms ensure they’re making the right choice?

In these cases, the words of their industry peers can hold their weight in gold. That’s why companies such as Re-flow, an Exeter-based field management software provider, have found it crucial to be guided by the feedback of their users, and showcase their achievements. With over 80 clients in the highways industry, including heavyweights such as Highway Traffic Management and Premier Traffic Management, users report an average 90% reduction in paperwork thanks to digitised forms and cloud-based record keeping that can store masses of information, including equipment, vehicles, qualifications, jobs and more. Digitised information also brings the massive benefit of enabling instant communication. In Re-flow’s case, all data is communicated between operatives using their mobile app on-site, and staff at the office using their desktop dashboard. The streamlining of these processes has shown incredible results – when phone calls, e-mails and physical documents don’t need chasing, users have shown an average 50% increase in time saved, and up to 75% gains in efficiency. Such time savings enable teams to truly focus on the work that matters. For Mat Field, Managing Director at City TM, this has meant greatly increasing the capabilities of his staff, without needing to grow his team. Since adopting Re-flow, “the back office are now performing three or four different roles in the business, compared to only having the time to handle one previously”. In a time where workers are more valuable than ever, providing them the right tools to complete their work efficiently

We were concerned about moving to another solution, because of the limitations of the system we were using.

and to a high standard is crucial to sustainable business growth. While it’s important to enable your team to be more efficient, what’s more important is to keep them safe. It’s no secret that working in the highways sector can be an occupation fraught with serious risks. The industry’s workplace injury rate remains well above the average, and traffic management workers are recognised as having one of the most hazardous occupations. Implementing processes that can make submission of forms, reporting of incidents and creating robust audit trails as frictionless as possible are now crucial to building a safer on-site environment. This is one of the greatest benefits reported by Re-flow’s users. Strictly enforced, instantly communicated digital forms that leave no room for mistakes or cut corners, have lead to an average 100% accuracy on completed forms. With a wide catalogue of customisable forms, including near-miss reports, dynamic risk assessments and incident reports, the inconvenience of manually filling out paper forms is eliminated and operatives are more incentivised to take safety into their own hands – leading to an average 50% increase in HSE reporting. When Health & Safety Managers are provided high quality and current data, auditability can see increases of up to 80%, and sites can remain safer than ever before. Barry Greenwood, Managing Director of Chapter 8 Traffic Management has seen his HSE management transform before his eyes after implementing Re-flow, “through field staff interaction and completion of electronic forms our staff can report any health and safety issues in real time. As the specific forms are e-mailed to key office staff our reaction times are reduced. Also, with site photos being completed, the operations team are able to advise site staff on any non-compliance which has led to superb rectification times.” Companies including Highway Traffic Management, Premier Traffic Management, City TM and many more have been taking full advantage of Re-flow’s digital forms, scheduling, asset management, automated workflows and instant communication to revolutionise their businesses. Using these features, they have experienced an average 70% increase in cross-team communication, 75% increase in efficiency and paperwork reduction of 90%. Tangible results that prove field management software has the potential to build a more sustainable, productive and resilient highways industry. To learn more about Re-flow and Field Management Software visit www.re-flow.co.uk

Average 50%

increase in HSE reporting

Field management software that puts you in control, and your team to work

Make chasing emails, paper trails and endless phone calls a thing of the past.

With 40 + forms, including: defect reports, near miss, risk assessments and more…

• Jobs and Tasks • Scheduling • Forms and Workflows • Form Builder • Automation • Notifications and Messaging • Live User Tracking • Client Portal

Iain Johnston, Managing Quantity Surveyor, Breedon Group

After the first few weeks the feedback from our supervisors, foremen and operatives on site was extremely positive, something not expected as we moved from a tried and tested paper based system to a digital workflow.