“How we interact with our clients and field staff has improved by about 1,000%”

Paul Smithers, Director, Atlantic Plumbing

Atlantic seeks a new solution for office process

Plumbing Contracting

Paul Smithers, Director of Atlantic Plumbing could see that office process was the weakest point in his business. With 46 staff members, most of which were deployed off-site it was imperative that Paul come up with a viable solution.

Exploring many management systems, Paul found the cost of most prohibitive. The outlay required in hardware alone would require significant investment. It appeared that all the options were going to impact the business to such an extent that Paul wondered if it was worth changing and or forge on with the old methodology.

In a last ditch attempt to find a solution to his business management, Paul came across IMS on the internet and was immediately intrigued. No expensive outlay, low subscription and functionality that seemed too good to be true. The decision was made and soon Atlantic Plumbing was well into the implementation of a new system.

The process of implementation included a complex integration of Atlantics existing accounting package and the deployment of iPhones to field staff. The take up for office staff was extremely positive and the benefits could be seen immediately.

The field staff benefited from the ability to track hours, order components and complete necessary compliance forms on-site. Saving hours of paperwork and ensuring that data never gets lost from site to office meant a management process that worked and worked well.

Live updates from the office ensured that staff organisation in the field was maximised. Jobs that were not completed could be rescheduled and billable hours tracked and converted through Atlantic''s accounting package to invoice..

What does Paul have to say about IMS?

How we interact with our clients and field staff has improved by about 1,000% Well that''s not bad is it?

And would you recommend IMS to your competitors?

When we asked Paul would he recommend our product to other plumbing services, he jokingly replied "no, there is no way I am letting my competitors get their hands on this solution!"

Paul has seen such a change in the way that Atlantic Plumbing manage staff and clients, that he believes that IMS is one of the best kept secrets in the industry. Not only was IMS operational within three weeks of his sign up with I-man, his entire 35 in-field staffing team were up and running within a month!

Tracking the success of the implementation, Atlantic Plumbing booked out over 7000 hours in just the first month of IMS being installed.

No longer are the office staff falling behind in the day to day process of invoicing, tracking hours, stock control and compliance. All these tasks are a systematic and logical process within IMS. Is that something Paul wants everyone to know... well yes as long as you''re not in his backyard.

IMS saves Atlantic Plumbing on hardware

One of the best kept secrets of IMS says Paul Smithers is quite simply the cost. After researching the alternatives Paul was convinced that IMS would achieve the best results for his business and would save him a significant amount of money.

IMS does not rely on in-house hardware to run the program or manage the software. This is a unique concept in management tools. The platform for IMS is online. This means that if your hardware is damaged or theft occurs your data will still be accessible, even if you have to go to a local internet cafe, or borrow a laptop! IMS runs day and night and can be accessed in the office, at home or on holidays.

Back up and security of your business information is managed by I-man in a Tier 1 data centre. This guarantees you 99% up time. Can''t ask for more than that.

All you need is a few PDAs to get started.