TotalMobile Solution Helps Council Manage Its Property Portfolio More Efficiently
The London Borough of Newham, formed from Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham within East London, has chosen TotalMobile™ to streamline its property maintenance and management, whilst improving efficiency.
Newham, like other local authorities, has been under extreme pressure to make its organisation leaner, whilst providing value for money for the community it serves. Newham has 16,000 properties under its management, this includes public buildings such as schools and libraries.
Newham first explored the concept of mobile working back in 2007. But it needed to find a solution that would provide off-line capability. After extensive research it found that TotalMobile was the only company that fitted its remit. It now has 170 on-ground and 30 plus back office staff in Housing Repairs and Maintenance, Gas Servicing and Public Building Maintenance using TotalMobile’s solution on Android devices.
The back office integrates with the TotalMobile solution designed to ensure efficient administration of day-to-day response, planned inspection and service based operations, managing the lifecycle of every job from creation to completion. This includes all financial and operational management implications. This system is linked to Northgate Housing, Mayrise, Civica Keystone and Travis Perkins. Newham can now monitor performance against set indicators on an individual basis against all KPIs (key performance indicators), especially customer satisfaction, so it can continually view its achievement ranking.
“There has been a 25% reduction in operational staff costs on top of the non-tangible benefits,” explained Tony Abbs, Operations Director RMS, Community and Environment, The London Borough of Newham. “In a service that handles vast numbers of small jobs combined with large numbers of operatives we needed a system that could cope and adapt to the ever changing demands. Not an easy task, but TotalMobile has achieved this”.
“TotalMobile has been very supportive and reactive to all Newham’s requirements. Key being adaptability and flexibility and that their people have understood every step of the way what we are trying to achieve,” added Abbs.
“We are delighted to be working with The London Borough of Newham to map out and deploy a mobile solution for its property management – today and on into the future,” commented Colin Reid, Chief Executive, TotalMobile. “The Council is forward thinking with enterprise intentions when it comes to looking at the field of mobile working”.
Newham saw the importance of engaging frontline staff from the off-set in the design of the mobile solution, as they were the ones that would use it – and ultimately contribute to its success. Workshops have allowed staff to identify the levels of training required and ensure they are given the right support. Key users have also been identified who could act as mentors to others.
An unexpected benefit of the TotalMobile solution for Newham was that during the 2012 Olympics, some of the authority was locked down for security reasons. But staff in Housing Repairs and Maintenance, Gas Servicing and Public Building Maintenance could carry on working and access the depot despite the restrictions, thanks to TotalMobile’s mobile solution.
Newham has increased turnover from £16 million to £27 million, while staff numbers have reduced. Newham’s TotalMobile deployment has contributed to this dramatic increase, with a rapid return on investment.
The next step for The London Borough of Newham and TotalMobile is to evolve and adapt into other areas, including highways maintenance and new build projects.
About TotalMobile
TotalMobile is a 30-year-old software provider which specialises in innovative mobile-working solutions for public and private sector field workers. Its solutions are especially popular in health, social care and local government, being ideally suited to frontline workers who spend much of their time completing tasks in the community. The fast-growing company has over 25,000 users around the world, with customers spanning the UK, Ireland, Europe and North America.
Crucially, TotalMobile mobile-working solutions are designed from the user’s perspective, and shield frontline workers from technology complexity. The software, now in its 5th generation, supports all major platforms including iOS, Android and Windows and works offline, so workers remain productive without a connection.
TotalMobile has a strong network of partners including Vodafone, Fujitsu, Civica, Capita and Serco, giving customers access to a complete, end-to-end enterprise-class mobile-working solution. More at www.totalmobile.co.uk
