JBC Industrial Services, the industrial boiler and burner service and maintenance provider, has rolled-out an integrated mobile workforce and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
JBC’s engineers have been equipped with tablets as part of digital transformation of field services using a system from BigChange. Now full integration between BigChange and SAP B1 has eliminated manual data entry work, saving JBC 8-man days a week.
Specialists in combustion equipment, boilers and plantroom, the Yorkshire-based JBC has been established since 1978. Operating across the UK with 5 service delivery teams, JBC provides emergency call out services 24/7, 365 days a year, all within a 4-hour response time.
As JBC’s business expanded so did the amount of paper and it was becoming an increasing burden on staff having to handle the paper records. With more extensive reporting needs, often relating to health and safety procedures and compliance, JBC service delivery coordinators were facing processing bottlenecks. A fundamental process involved manually entering engineer timesheet data into JBC’s ERP system, SAP B1.
JBC began looking for a solution and had heard good things about BigChange. However, it was only when JBC’s IT supplier, APH Solutions, mentioned that BigChange was planning to integrate with SAP B1, that JBC realised they had found a solution fit for purpose.
“We had 4 coordinators working in the office and every week around 8 man-days were being spent dealing with engineer paperwork and the manual entering of data into SAP B1,” says Lee Smythe, JBC’s Group Finance Director. “With the BigChange integration with SAP B1, we’ve eliminated all that laborious data entry work and that has led to significant business savings. In fact, it’s fair to say that for this transformation alone, BigChange pays for itself.”
According to JBC these savings are just part of the story. Previously, engineer gas compliance paper reports were sent into the office to be entered into SAP. It often took a week or more for information for PO’s and billings to be available impacting billings and customer service.
“In accounts we now get everything we need immediately so we can raise the necessary PO’s straight away and get much quicker decisions on any remedial work,” Smythe comments. “This means sign-off is much quicker and we can invoice up to two weeks earlier which has a big positive impact on cash-flow. In addition, with quicker and improved customer communication, together with accurate and easily-accessible job reports, there are less invoice disputes to deal with.”
“We’ve been able to grow the business by leveraging on the benefits and maximising utilisation of the platform over the last 12 months. And with BigChange and the SAP B1 integration, we’ve done this without needing additional resources and good productivity gains are already being realised,” Smythe adds.
JBC previously relied entirely on paper reporting and spreadsheets for planning jobs. With BigChange JBC now have a single system incorporating a mobile workforce app, customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, and live tracking. JBC’s 40-plus multi-disciplined field service engineers receive jobs on their mobile devices with the BigChange app providing electronic versions of all their previous paper reports, from job reports and timesheets, to risk assessments and vehicle inspections.
“For the first time JBC has company-wide visibility, in real-time, of the service operations,” says Sonny Barnes, JBC’s General Manager. “BigChange integrated to SAP B1 means we can be more proactive, more responsive. It puts us on the front foot and allows us to support our customers’ needs and compliance obligations more effectively.”
JBC engineers are located across the UK, with a head office at Normanton and regional sites at Hull and Deeside. The system allows centralised visibility and operations with a centralised Service Delivery Team.
“With BigChange combined with SAP B1 we’ve really got something that is transformational for the business. The field service operation is now seamlessly integrated into the business, in real-time. It makes us more dynamic, more efficient and clearly differentiates us from our competitors. And for our customers and ourselves, compliance is paramount, the systems created rigid methodology to allow even greater control and visibility,” Barnes explains.
“Through strong relationships, communication and a clear project plan, we were able to work collaboratively with both APH and BigChange to drive and deliver the single most important IT transformation to hit JBC since establishment over 45 years ago!,” Smythe adds.
These strong relationships allowed the business to deliver the project on time, and importantly, to budget. Cross over on go live day was supported incredibly well and both APH and BigChange mitigated our risk by having dedicated resources and site presence. After care service and support also remains strong and both are credited with ensuing a seamless transition.”
About BigChange
Launched in 2013 and based in Leeds, UK, BigChange is a leading Field Service Management Software Provider trusted by more than 2,150 field-based organisations around the world. BigChange employs over 220 people and is recognised as an outstanding employer with a 2 Star Accreditation from Best Companies.
In 2020 BigChange was awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation, one of the highest business honours in the UK awarded for the company’s contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity. The company has also featured in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and was named in the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50.
BigChange is the complete Job Management system that’s helping field service businesses across the UK to win more work, take control of their operations and deliver winning customer experiences. Bringing customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, job finance, business intelligence into one simple to use and easy to integrate system, BigChange liberates customers from inefficient paper-based processes and the complexity of multiple different technology systems that hold their businesses back.
For more information, please visit www.bigchange.com.
