<< Case studies

Sol Moves is a European Removals and storage service operating between the UK and Spain. We spoke to Lee, Director of Sol Moves to get his insights on adopting a digital workforce management system and the business growth they are now experiencing.

How did you start out?

“It started when I was going over to Spain to do motorcross and things like that. And then it kind of started because people would ask me while I was out there where I could take their stuff and bring some other items back. It started with me and a van and it just built up from there, from one contact to another. And then it expanded from motorbikes to personal items and furniture. It literally just built up. I was taking full van loads back and forth. 

A friend of mine had been running a removals company for years, so I went to speak to him to pick his brains a little bit. That really was the start of how it all happened. I ended up getting another van and building up the business and it is what it is today. At the moment, we have two vans that we own and then we have access to 10 lorries and 10 other vans. It’s getting pretty big.”

How did you identify the need for better job management? And how did Okappy come about?

“Well I knew as it was getting busier that it’s not the sort of thing that I could keep on managing with paper. Also, because we were using subcontractors and other guys to do runs there was a need to have a platform where I could get information over quickly and easily.

And to be honest, before Okappy I was just using a calendar format and sharing the calendar with the guys. It was very basic and nowhere near the level of what we needed. You need paperwork in place for customs, CMR certificates and all that kind of stuff. So, that’s when I started looking for something online and was talking to other software developers as well to develop our own platform. But it was just way too much money to do something like that and, I think, too big of a task for who we were at the time.

I literally found Okappy on a Google search – it sounded good.  I think I was typing in things like software developers management systems into Google… that kind of thing. I think I found Okappy and one other, but I didn’t’ even speak to the other ones. As soon as I saw what Okappy did I really liked it. I went into it and read a little bit more and then had a demo.  I spoke to a member of the Okappy team and that’s how it all came together.

I got a basic platform in place and then gave Okappy some feedback on how it could best fit our needs. To be honest I didn’t even know that was possible to find a company Okappy where there were templates to build off. We realised that the platform was flexible enough to be tweaked for exactly what we wanted.  It’s absolutely brilliant – love it!”

What has happened since implementation?

“I’ve noticed a massive difference before and after using the Okappy system. It’s just streamlined the business – it’s more organised. It’s easy to be organised whilst on the road because when clients are phoning up and jobs are coming in I can get straight into the system.”

How has it benefited your network?

“Being able to connect with subcontractors is massively beneficial to the way my company works. It keeps things very simple. It saves a lot of paperwork and phone calls. Those guys are also busy but with Okappy I don’t have to unnecessarily communicate with them. It makes it much easier when you can just send the job over to them – they love it because it’s much clearer to them! They don’t have to pick up the phone as the job is all marked out.

Clients love it too because I send them an email link to the actual job sheet. To them, it feels like they are working for a really professional output. Everything is organised, so you’re not turning up to the job and having all these extra other conversations that you don’t need to have it’s all laid out for them.”

How much time has it saved you?

“Hours. Absolute hours. Normally, for the kind of work that we do when we take on a client we’ve got to fill out quite a lot of paperwork for customs because we’re crossing borders. I don’t have to do any of that now, because the actual job sheet acts as a CMR sheet and everything else we need all in one. All I need to do is print that job sheet out. That’s enough to show customers and get across borders and all the rest of it. There a massive time-save there.

Every job can take 15 -20 mins just to sit there filling out the forms, because you’ve got to collate all the information from emails, texts and any other communications you’ve used with that client. You’ve got to backtrack through all of that to find out what the key information is.

We have multiple clients with one van – sometimes up to 20 clients! The last thing you want to be doing is end up sitting in customs writing out 30 or 40 forms (because you have 2 or 3 forms per client). Also, when you’re picking up a job the client can just sign the phone screen and that’s the signature signed off. There’s a lot more security in it. It gives a time and date from when it’s been signed. It’s not something anyone can say ‘oh that wasn’t me.’ So yeah, it saves absolute hours in a week. 

We have been using the extra time to restructure our model and grow the business. I’ve got two other projects in development at the moment. I will be able to use the same system for both those areas as well. Okappy sits as a platform that allows me to do much more within the business.”

What is your favourite feature?

“I love the fact that it keeps all the data and I can go in to see the history and activity of any one client. It keeps everything organised and in one place.

The ability to add documents, photos and videos to a job is absolutely brilliant. On Okappy we can video something or take pictures and add that to the job number. The more evidence that we can show as a driver when we turn up at a job, the better.  We’re dealing with people’s personal possessions and sealed boxes that we have to take from one country to another. When we get across the border and there’s anything missing, it just takes the pressure off us as a company as we have the evidence of how we picked it up or collected it. It’s nice to have that as a security in the background.

When we get to the other end there are clients out there that do try and accuse us of making mistakes with their items, but Okappy has reduced the possibility for human error. These clients might tell us that they had another box, but we will show them the evidence that they didn’t. It helps solidify trust because we’ve got the actual evidence. They can see it’s all been itemised, it’s in the itinerary, it’s on the job sheet, they’ve signed it off and there’s also a photograph showing the boxes.”

What’s your advice on people making the jump from paperwork to digital in your industry?

“There’s quite a few areas that it will benefit you. You will be organised wherever you are. If you’ve got everything written on paper and are 1000 miles away with the paperwork left at home… you’re kind of in a jam. If it’s digital you have got access to it anywhere. You’ve got full access to your complete business model and your client base. Also if a client rings up, you can scan into their job number and you’ve got all the information in front of you. You don’t have to be going through files of paper to find out what job it is, what client it is and all that kind of stuff. It does just streamline everything and make everything a lot easier. 

You’re eliminating the possibilities of human error and mistakes, it’s cutting all of that side of down. You’re protecting yourself as a business for the reasons I was talking about earlier. You look more professional in front of a client, because you look organised as a company. You are not just turning up with bits of paper. It links in with all the communications that you should be using with the client now. It just streamlines that whole process. It makes life a hell of a lot easier. Time-wise it will be saving you a lot of money as it pays for itself.”

How do you see the industry changing and how will you adapt?

“I don’t really know how Brexit will affect the business. It’s a very hard one to answer. If we do exit the EU, it will cause us to have even more paperwork to fill in as we will go back to the old T1 customs forms. There will be more paperwork for those who haven’t digitised. But for me, I will just generate those extra forms within the Okappy app to make life easier. 

No matter what happens, Okappy will act as a platform that gives us the flexibility to modify things to our circumstances. I don’t see changes to the industry as a threat anymore – that’s why it’s such a great system. As the business changes, you can change the model and the management system to align with it. I’ve modified it a couple of times already to add things to make life easier.”