The post How moving to Okappy Increased Development Output by 20% appeared first on Okappy.
]]>We have a confession.
As workforce management innovators, not all of our job management processes have always been up to par. Whether you call it a case of the “cobbler’s shoes” or “builder’s backyard”, we weren’t taking enough care of job management processes in our own development team to ensure we were reaching our potential.
Giving the best customer care and providing a professional service with minimum disruption are top on our list of priorities. But falling behind schedule on app improvements wasn’t exactly going to put us in the best position to do those things. So, we did some navel gazing.
Realising that if we truly believed in the power of Okappy we’d be using it ourselves, we took the plunge. We followed in the footsteps of our customers and embarked on our very own journey of using Okappy in-house to manage our development team’s activities. Richard Harris, CEO and Founder, and Robin Spinks, Lead Developer share their experiences of the journey so far.
Richard (Director): “We were using a Google Sheet and it was becoming unwieldy and difficult to track what was going on. We realised that we could be using our own product to help manage work streams within the development team. So, we tried it and found that it works really well for issues-tracking and book-tracking.”
Robin (Senior developer): “Google sheets was very slow and inefficient. I was getting frustrated by the amount of dates entered manually with mistakes, a lack of space and flexibility, and the inability to attach documents to issues, such as crash logs or images and videos showing issues in effect. It just seemed much more sensible for us to use our own product which was saving our customers so much time and money!”
Richard: “We do a kind of weekly sprint. We’ll work out what goes into the sprint on a Monday morning and then Robin, our lead developer, will work on those pieces throughout the week. Each morning we’ll revisit what needs to be done, assign the jobs to Robin and mark them by a high, medium, or low priority. Then, Thursday morning, it’ll go into testing with a view to releasing Thursday night. For every update, we can see the status in real-time with time stamps when each job is updated and by whom. It’s just a really easy way to keep track of everything!”
Richard: “The most common issues included:
We ended up having thousands of rows in any one sheet. We could filter things, but then if someone else made a change, it would mess up the view and appear in the wrong order. The cells contained too much text as we’d try to keep the history in each cell. It became overwhelming and hard to navigate.
The Google sheet contained over 3,000 requests and, so, version control also became an issue. It was difficult to see who had made a change. We’d manually put in the initials, date and time. Sometimes we’d forget or accidentally delete information in a cell.
Before we could actually start looking at each feature and issue, we were spending time trying to work out whether we were all accessing the correct data on Google Sheets. With Okappy, this all happens automatically so we don’t need to think about it and can get on with the work that much quicker. ”
Robin: “It was large, slow and felt heavy. I was constantly fiddling with the filters; trying to make it possible to quickly show what I wanted, but I had to check each one every time I used it, which negated any benefit!”
Richard:
“We have a filter called “Jobs for today” and so straight away we have a smaller list which we can all see. We can also filter on words a lot more easily. For example, if we’re talking about Android we just type in “Android” in the filter, and straight away we’ve got a list of all of the outstanding Android jobs.”
“Once the job is completed we can mark it as complete. Straight away, we can see all the issues that are going to be in the current release, so it’s easier to track. Then we can archive them once they have been released. This way, we’re keeping the spreadsheet or the amount of data a lot more focused. With Google Sheets, either we would delete it, in which case it’s lost, or change the status – which means an ever expanding spreadsheet. With Okappy, it only shows the work that’s live.”
“I can add and see jobs on my phone when I’m out and about. Or if I’m not on my computer but have a thought about something. I can quickly open the app, view a job and it’s status, then update it and add videos and screenshots if I need to. With Google Sheets, we’d upload an image into Slack, copy the link to the image and then put that link into Google Sheets. Whereas, with Okappy, you just upload the document straight into the job.”
Richard:
We can empathise better with what the customer is experiencing as we are experiencing it too. It lends weight to the feedback we get and it even gives us new ideas!
Adding tasks for developers is more streamlined – any book that gets highlighted or a feature request, we add it in as a job. We can quickly filter down to the key issues and features that Robin, our lead developer, needs to look at.
This helps us out a tonne with our prioritisation of work. We’re no longer faced with an overwhelming spreadsheet of never ending work. We can group tasks into quick fixes or longer sprints – helping us stay organised overall. ”
Robin:
Okappy jobs keep a changelog, so you can see exactly when an action was performed or an update made – and who by.
Okappy enables multiple job types, so you can list all your work in one place or filter by job type – quickly.
It’s so easy to switch the view in Okappy so you can see what’s coming up, or what you just did, or what you have later today.”
Richard: “We raise our invoices in Okappy for our customers which show up in their invoices received. It means we save a lot of time not having to print and manually send invoices. We also use Xero so the integration with that saves duplication and effort.
Okappy also integrates with our CRM and customer facing case management systems which means we don’t also have to update them.
Richard: “We turn around features more quickly. The volume of work (betas and issues) completed has increased by 20%. Using Okappy to manage it all has also improved the quality of work because it’s so much easier to see what’s going on. It allows us to test more effectively and have a more comprehensive understanding of the information we input. We spend less time in meetings. In the past our daily standup would be an hour – now it can be 10 minutes!”
Robin: “Sometimes Richard has meetings in the morning, so he goes through the jobs marking those he feels should be looked at that day. I then pick and choose from that short list. Completed jobs regarding fixes or features that have been released can be archived, which means that, while I can still bring them up if I need to, they’re out of the way, so the only jobs I see are current. The most notable change for me is that I have a less stressful job!”
~
Well, we don’t know about you, but we certainly feel better getting all that off our chest! Ok, confession time is over. Using Okappy in-house has dramatically improved efficiency for our team and meant we were able to better empathise with our own customers. What more could we ask for? Nothing… except perhaps, for you to join us in the journey.
Okappy Portal+ is here to help bridge communications, not only between people within the company but, between your company and it’s subcontractors and external parties. Interested in finding out more about how Okappy could work for you and your team?
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]]>The post Foster Coldstores: Case Study appeared first on Okappy.
]]>Coldstores Limited is the market leading British manufacturer of cold rooms and has been operating out of its factory in King’s Lynn, Norfolk since 1968! They also operate internationally installing cold rooms across Europe and further afield. They supply refrigeration equipment to a variety of markets including restaurants, hotels, sporting venues, government run facilities and more.
We spoke to Adam Daniels, Installation Manager at Foster Coldstores to find out how they’re using Okappy.
Basically, we needed something that was going to streamline and tidy up our way of working. When we do installations, we have installation reports which involve getting photographs of bits of paper and signed sheets. But it wasn’t electronic, and it wasn’t how it should be. The approach to our systems needed to be made more professional. We went to a couple of different companies and chose Okappy as the best option that suited our business.
The way we could essentially design our own forms in our own formats. A few of the others didn’t really give us that option. As well as that it was also due to pricing and how it worked within our business, and the subcontractors that we use. Everybody has a mobile phone or smartphone these days. So the app works an absolute treat with how we operate the business and work with our subcontractors.
We have our admin staff logged on and all are able to connect to our subcontractors on the system. The subcontractors don’t have the same level of access that we have in the office to view the forms – they just have the ability to fill it in and send it back. We see that number of people using Okappy growing as we add more forms. It’s getting positive feedback from the installation teams and everybody that’s using it within the office.
It’s basically tidied up how we work. There’s real-time information in terms of when installations are complete. Previously, we would have a paper form that was signed and filled in, and then it would be issued back to the office either by scanning it in through a printer or photographing it in. Obviously, not everybody’s handwriting is legible, especially over a photo. Basically, what Okappy has done is given us a clearer picture of the installations.
When we run an audit, have a customer come to us for any service problem or any Installation Information, the actual form that we have is a lot more professional. We feel confident they’re not going to look at it and go, “What’s this? This doesn’t make any sense to me, this could have been done by anybody!” It’s really tidied up what we do, basically.
To estimate, it would be difficult, but what it has done is definitely save time where the finances are concerned. It’s saved time for various departments.
For example, the finance department now uses the Okappy system as reference for completed jobs. Before, they would phone a supervisor to find out when a job was finished and what the status of the job is, and from there work out the percentage of completion for invoicing and for paying off invoices to the subcontractors. But the information on Okappy reduces these types of phone calls and reduces errors in the process. The time saved from not having to phone people up is massive.
It’s also saved the office time. Especially due to keeping a real-time log of installations – how they’re progressing and when they’re likely to finish. And it’s now become a lot more streamlined for the guys on site due to using the app, and not having to return to the office as much.
We love the networked element of Okappy Portal+. It means that the system doesn’t just work in-house, but also externally along the whole chain of work. This is especially useful in streamlining the way in which we work with our many subcontractors. It’s not only streamlined the operations, but it’s also improved our professional relationship with them.
The job is generated in the office, the individual installation is generated in the office, it goes into a file and then we have basically a labour book. The job is obviously given an allocated installation date. Once that job is allocated to a labour slot, the individual or team doing the installing is then issued the Okappy link to the job. It’s initially done via our admin team in the installations department, they generate it. In the near future, this process will be a lot more automated.
Going digital has meant that we’ve had a lot less contact with customers. Whereas before, you would always run through the installation completion file or commissioning sheet with the customer. As it is now, all this can be done away from site. It can then be digitally issued to the installation team on site. We have less face-to-face interactions which has improved the safety of our workforce.
We have a better file management and better information within the actual individual job files. Basically, it’s just tidied up everything we have.
The only thing that we have found super useful is the radar. It’s really, really good because if you have a phone call from a customer, you can get them some real-time information as to where the individual service engineer, technician or installation team is.
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]]>The post 3 Steps to Recession Proof Your Organisation appeared first on Okappy.
]]>It’s official. We’re in a recession. UK economic growth has been in the negative, dropping by 20.4% between April and June 2020. It’s worth remembering that most of the damage was done in April, during peak lockdown. GDP growth has been creeping up since May and if you have a look at the Okappy business activity index page it shows that work has been bouncing back.
But, in these uncertain times, there are things you can do to help your workplace get in the best possible position to ride it through. Here are our 3 steps:
Chances are, the plan you had at the start of 2020 for your company or department has gone out of the window. In the chaos of lockdown, you may not have had a chance to properly revisit it. Have a look at some of the key targets you set at the beginning of the year and see how they can fit in now. If they’re no longer applicable, scrap them and work out what they should be for the rest of Q3 and Q4, moving into 2021.
The most important things to consider are the key risks to your area of the business. Work out whether the risk is too high for certain aspects and respond by spreading the risk. This could include taking steps to reducing debt or moving some of your business operations to a different location.
Following on from assessing risk, scenario analysis can be a helpful way to test different models to help mitigate future loss. Start by defining the objective and gathering data. Identify the key factors, trends, and uncertainties that may affect your plan when it comes to operations and finances.
It might be helpful to do a PEST analysis to help you analyse the political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological changes in your business environment. You can develop potential scenarios by separating certainties from uncertainties to understand the risks to your workplace in the short, medium and long term.
Having a large volume of jobs doesn’t necessarily mean your workplace will come out top – the real defining factor is cash. A review of your business finances will be a big part of recession-proofing your organisation. Take a long hard look at the state of your cash flow within your department. What you have coming in and out – and when – will have a knock on effect on whether your workplace is in a fit state to ride this out.
Work out if there are any unnecessary expenditures that your team can permanently or temporarily cut. Have a look at what sorts of clientele are bringing in cash and paying invoices on time. Can you focus efforts on helping to secure more of the same?
If you’ve done all of this, but capital is holding your department back or you’re not able to cover the costs to pay the suppliers and team – a business loan could be a backup option. For businesses affected by Covid-19, many banks are offering special rates and application criteria, so it’s worth looking around at what is on offer for your organisation. Have a look at what government support is on offer too, as there may be a particular grant or scheme that you’re eligible for that will give your workplace the boost it needs.
Staying connected with industry stakeholders is paramount for business longevity. This relies on healthy channels of communication between departments, employees, managers, customers and subcontractors.
Having one platform where communication takes place and is documented means that key details involving all aspects of the work are readily available and can be tracked if required. If your current channels of communication are fragmented and broken, it’s worth considering changing your methods. This way you will have all your information at your fingertips and your business will be ready to jump into action, instead of being caught up trying to trace what happened in the past.
Okappy can help. It saves you time, minimises mistakes, streamlines jobs and invoicing, and by integrating with Xero and other accounting packages, it offers tidy balance sheets you can show to your bank when you need a loan.
Ready to make your life easier with Okappy? Check out our free trial or request a demo to see Okappy in action!
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]]>The post How to Rebuild Trust In the FM Industry appeared first on Okappy.
]]>The construction and FM industry is crying out for change. Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, productivity in the UK has flatlined – and the construction industry has been one of the worst affected sectors. With the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 and the UK in recession once more, the industry will have to adapt or face the consequences.
Trust is paramount if companies are going to work together successfully. Construction projects are the backbone of economic growth for many countries. Each year a magnitude of funds is funnelled into infrastructure projects – think HS2 and Crossrail in the UK.
But often because of the sheer scale and complexity of these construction projects (the number of phases and contractual links, and the government involvement), scope for corruption in the industry is high.
According to data from the Insolvency Service, the construction sector remains the second-highest ranking sector for insolvencies in 2017. This lack of trust and transparency, is not only detrimental to the future of the industry, but it is costing lives.
It comes as no surprise that the investigation into the Grenfell fire found out that the main contractor behind the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower offered cheaper, more combustible cladding while misrepresenting the savings the switch would lead to in a bid to “pocket the difference.”
Dealing with large contractors like Rydon, in particular construction, facilities management or housing association organisations can pose big challenges for industry stakeholders. Often, it becomes all about pushing the costs down to the next person in the chain.
Feedback from an anonymous stakeholder working in construction reported how “there’s just no trust there, we have to hide our costs and add in extra costs because we know they’ll come up with any excuse to discount, delay or not pay our invoice.”
Now, with the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 and the UK in recession, having a solid foundation of trust is more critical than ever – not only for the survival of the industry, but for the health and safety of ordinary people living in the UK.
Market Networks connect businesses with their customers and subcontractors. In this respect, they are similar to on-demand smartphone apps such as Uber and Deliveroo that connect their gig workers with customers – except that the users of Market Networks are not anonymous, nor are they particularly disposable to one another either. In fact, Market Networks are used to improve transparency and build long-term relationships.
Market Networks are typically created within a specific industry or around a particular area of expertise. Examples of Market Networks already operating within the UK include Houzz for home designers, Eventerprise for event planners, and for those in the trade industries – Okappy.
While the use of Market Networks is not yet widespread within the Construction industry, there are nevertheless several success stories of companies and individuals implementing Market Network systems already.
Convert Water Ltd offer an all-round service to their customers, providing all elements of treatment and pumping of wastewater and sewage. They provide services as installers, subcontractors or main contractors, offering a total service package. They started using the Okappy Market Network to manage their workforce.
Following implementation, Convert Water Ltd and their customers have a lot more visibility and control over the work they do. Information is updated in real-time and instantly available to all stakeholders, resulting in fewer calls from customers wondering about the status of a job and less chasing for information from their technicians. This extra time enabled Convert Water Ltd to focus on the areas of the business that really needed attention; resulting in growing the company approximately 40% year-on-year.
“It frees up our time and allows me to spend more of it visiting sites and bringing in more work. This wouldn’t have been possible without Okappy! My engineers can add jobs for themselves so, if additional work needs to be done while on site, they can quickly add it on. Alternatively, if they need to go back to do further work, they can schedule it straight away without having to chase me.” – Anthony, Director of Convert Water.
“Covid-19 was the tipping point for us going fully digital. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would have eventually gone down this route, but probably would have introduced it on a smaller scale with one contract at a time.” – Ewen Maclean, Facilities Maintenance Manager at Lewis Builders Ltd.
Covid-19 is causing us to rethink how we work and restructure industries across the board. If the FM and Construction sectors don’t make changes now, it could be too late.
Okappy is designed to streamline your communications and workforce management processes, and is one solution that could help reduce disruption to your business. With Okappy you can communicate with your network, send and receive jobs, manage your workforce remotely, run reports, and raise invoices – all on one platform. You can receive updates to job details as they happen and view all important documents needed for the work in one secure place. To learn more, request a call here.
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]]>The post Case Study: Lewis Builders Ltd appeared first on Okappy.
]]>Lewis Builders Ltd are located in the Western Isles of Scotland and provide Building services, Civils, Plumbing ( gas and oil services) for both commercial and domestic contexts as well as Electrical and Refrigeration.
We interviewed Ewen Maclean, Facilities Maintenance Manager at Lewis Builders Ltd, about how they’ve adapted to Covid-19 and how Okappy is working for them! Read on for more…
We started as a construction company in 1989. Since then we’ve progressed into being a multi-trade organisation. We are involved with plumbing, gas and oil, for both commercial and domestic contexts. We also work in areas of electrical and refrigeration.
Within the building sector we pretty much cover all trades, ranging from scaffolding and joinery, to painting and decorating. We’ve grown quite substantially over the last 10 years or so, and it’s much easier to have everything underneath the one roof! We cover the whole of the Western Isles from the Isle of Barra all the way up to the Isle of Lewis. There are about 70-80 people in the company with about 15 office and management staff, and around 60 engineers.
We use Okappy for managing smaller jobs that we used to use job cards for. Now we’ve got about 20 different people using tablets to manage these types of jobs.
I started with the company just over 7 years ago and I have always been involved with looking after reactive/facilities maintenance. We started getting quite a lot of work from FM companies looking after the supermarkets up here. That then went to looking after the post and sorting office and various other commercial properties. Then about 2 years ago, we got a substantial size contact with the local council looking after all the council properties on the island.
Often the islands can be slower to uptake to technology, but we knew that on the mainland most of the management was being done digitally with handheld devices. A lot of the FM companies now want to have access to a system that gives them reference points for information around job timings and location, e.g. for when you’re going on-site and sign onto the job etc.
We knew that digital was the way things were going, but we were a bit hesitant to start with because of what the cost may be. In order to keep all the operatives working on facilities maintenance jobs, going fully digital would require us to buy an individual tablet or iPad for each person, on top of buying the software and training program. So we thought it was going to be quite a costly thing.
Then obviously with everything that’s happened with Covid-19, we felt that now was the time to go as paperless as possible. Covid-19 pushed us to make the jump to digital a bit sooner, but it seems to be working pretty well for us so far!
We essentially used paper job cards with an excel-spreadsheet-based system. We logged all the job information that way and did monthly reviews on the system to see what jobs went out, what ones we hadn’t billed for yet, and what ones were on hold etc. It was straightforward, but very time-consuming and there was a lot of paper involved!
A job card would be sent out and when it came back, it would come back with other bits of paper from the different companies who had their own job sheets they wanted signed as well. You were coming back with four sheets of paper! Then there was the invoice to go on top of that! A paperless system seemed to be the best way to avoid this kind of excess movement of paperwork between people. It’s worked out really well for us so far!
We’re still in the very early stages, as we’ve only had the system for 5 or 6 weeks so far [July 2020]. During the first couple of weeks, we were still running a skeleton crew back from reopening after COVID. I’d say we’ve been using it in full swing now for about 4 weeks.
In terms of raising a job, and sending job information out – it’s been a massive time saver. We’re still learning different things and we’ve been really lucky that any question we’ve posed has been answered by the Okappy team pretty quickly as well! I can’t say that there’s anything I’ve asked that we haven’t been able to come to some sort of agreeable solution with. It’s worked very well for us.
We do have some people who are not so used to technology that are slower on the uptake, but even they’ve noticed that there’s a massive difference in the time it takes to set up a job and send them out. It’s definitely for the greater benefit long-term for us – without a doubt! I can only see it getting better and better for us, as soon as we get used to it.
Every different company we work for uses their own system for monitoring jobs, but it’s something that we’re going to possibly think about later. I think getting it working for us first, before we start introducing any of our subcontractors is the best way forward.
Covid-19 was the tipping point for us going fully digital. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would have eventually gone down this route, but probably would have introduced it on a smaller scale with one contract at a time.
We cover pretty much all the trades for the local council. That’s around 200 different sites between all the schools, care homes and places like that. We would have possibly been using it on those contracts first and reviewed how it would’ve worked, before introducing it across more and more of the stakeholders that we work for. When Covid-19 came along it pushed us down the line of going as paperless as possible.
We’ve introduced it across the whole company for every minor contract that we have. It’s probably been a good thing in a way because we’re pushing ourselves into just bringing it across the board, which I think is quite important.
We were at that crossroads as a company anyway. The company was set up by 2 people and one of them actually just retired a few weeks ago. Our company structure was changing and 2 new management people have come in. We had to change quite a lot of the systems and policies that we had. It’s definitely a growth stage for us.
We’re putting money into having new vans and new machinery that’s required. We’ve upgraded a lot of our welfare facilities.
But we have to remember – it’s one step at a time. We’ve got operatives that are not so used to this kind of technology and it takes time to adapt. We’re changing a system that’s been in place for more than a decade and we’ve got to be careful. But, we’re definitely adapting and looking to grow in any way that we can!
I would say the best thing about Okappy is just being able to get instant updates on jobs. I used to get upwards of 15 calls a day asking me for an update on a job and what’s required, so being able to go in and just have all the information there, when they signed on, whenever the job’s complete, photos of any parts that are required and what was done on the job – it’s just brilliant! It’s such a massive, massive time-saver on my side of things.
I would just say that everyone we’ve dealt with within Okappy has been extremely helpful. It’s maybe a cliched thing to say, but we’ve dealt with Joe and there’ve been a couple of different people that have helped us with technical issues. Joe was especially fantastic, and did a lot at the start. I think it’s a great system. Like I said, we’re still learning and adapting to it, but I see it being very beneficial for us in the future.
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]]>The post Case Study: Discovery Fire Sprinklers Ltd appeared first on Okappy.
]]>Discovery Fire Sprinklers Ltd are located in Dundee and provide commercial fire protection services and domestic fire protection services in Dundee and throughout Scotland. They travel the UK fitting fire suppression systems to schools, care homes, houses and flats. They’ve been trading for 20 years, but only in the last year did they change their name to Discovery Fire Sprinklers – a move that has brought in more business!
We interviewed James Bryceland about how they’ve adapted to Covid-19 and how Okappy is working for them! Read on for more…
We currently have 14 engineers, and 5 in the office.
The amount of work that we had on and the amount of contracts we were juggling was becoming a struggle to manage properly. Right now, we’ve got over 1000 jobs that we’re pricing for and nearly 70 or 80 contracts. Trying to keep on track of all that was becoming a big challenge for me and the people in the office.
We were missing out on loads of work because of it. There were some times that we were forgetting to bill people. There was so much going on that we were forgetting to raise invoices! I needed something that was going to be a bit more user friendly for me, but at the same time, run all the jobs in real-time.
Before, we had a quality management system in place that we used alongside emails and job files. Emails and job files were just saved onto the company server. We had to keep going in and out to get information. This meant duplicating information between systems, which was off-putting and tedious.
With Okappy it’s all in one place, including the client’s paperwork, so it’s much easier to find documents to send off! I tested out three softwares previous to Okappy, but I didn’t get on with them. I thought they were too hard to understand. Okappy is so simple and easy, and that was the decision maker.
Obviously with COVID-19, it’s quite hard to say exactly because I’m working from home. Once we get back properly working on building sites, I’ll have a better idea then.
It has already 100% saved me time on the paperwork side. Before, the guys would come back with the paperwork, then I would then go and type it all out on the computer and then send it to the client. Now, the guys are closing the job off while they’re on the job, so I’ve already saved some time.
Before it could have taken a couple of days, or sometimes up to a week, for me to get that paperwork back. I’m actually doing it the same day that they’re closing the job off. Raising an invoice on Okappy takes 2 seconds. Before, it would sometimes take a week depending on when we got the paperwork, because our guys are all subcontractors. Our clients are now getting that invoice a week earlier, so in the long run we’re going to be getting paid quicker.
We’ve been lucky enough to still be working – concentrating on securing maintenance contracts through this time. We’ve spent quite a bit of money on our PPE, including some branded masks. We’ve got new equipment, and got all our policies in check to make sure that the guys all know what they’re doing when they fully come back, so there’s no issues.
It’s affecting everybody, isn’t it? Even over the next few months it’s probably still going to be affecting people. I think it’s going to be hard for a lot of guys coming back to work because they’ll have to adapt to a whole new way of working. This is a change, isn’t it? Nobody likes change and this is exactly what it is – you’ve got to change the way that you’re doing stuff.
Now that we have Okappy, I feel more equipped to adapt to future changes because of our improved efficiency, but for many businesses – some of them will struggle. Okappy has helped us adapt and it’s probably put us ahead of the curve.
We’ve got a couple of subcontractors that do work for us, and they’ve also got Okappy. I invited them onto it and told them that this was the way. There’s going to be twelve of them altogether, by the time we are done. These are subcontractors that we’ll be working with quite regularly. The networked element to Okappy helps to streamline what we all do along the chain of work. It basically means we don’t have to duplicate job information between different systems!
Yes, we’re on Linkedin and Instagram. I initially set it up on Instagram about three or four year ago, but it’s grown to over 600 followers now. People have actually messaged me for jobs on Instagram. We get messages from individuals and businesses, but normally businesses. Linkedin has probably got me a lot more work.
Efficiency. It’s a lot easier to manage. I’m actually out working again, instead of sitting at a desk just going through all the files. It’s got me back doing the parts of the job that I enjoy! We’re actually keeping on track of everything just now.
With Okappy, when all the guys are on site – I know that they’re on site. When all the guys complete a job – the information comes back to me. I can then easily raise an invoice. It’s so much more efficient now even though it’s early days! I put a lot of work on the system within the first two weeks and I’m really happy with the way it runs. It’s brilliant, I absolutely love it. It’s made my life a lot easier, anyway.
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