James Frew Ltd is a prominent Scottish company specialising in property solutions and was established in 1911. As one of Scotland's largest privately-owned firms in this sector, it provides a broad spectrum of services, including maintenance, property upgrades, and extensive mechanical installations. The company employs a substantial workforce of over 400 employees, half of whom are field engineers servicing the Scottish region. It collaborates closely with leading private house developers, main contractors, and social housing providers.
James Frew Ltd has integrated Hostcomm's RVX remote visual assistance service into its SimPro field service platform.
This enhancement enables their customer service team to swiftly establish video links with any remote smartphone from the SimPro user interface. Utilising RVX's communication tools, they can now offer assistance, conduct inspections, carry out surveys, and gather data remotely, thereby avoiding the need for site visits and minimising disruption for residents.The incorporation of Hostcomm RVX into the Simpro suite has revolutionised James Frew's customer service. By shifting to digital service provision, they have achieved improved customer satisfaction, cost savings, and expanded their reach across a broader geographic area.
Recent years have presented considerable challenges for UK businesses, and despite the diminishing concerns around Covid-19, lingering and emerging issues continue to impact companies, particularly those in field services that depend heavily on manpower, energy, and travel. James Frew Ltd has encountered several specific difficulties on top of the usual business priorities such as cost reduction and increasing sales.
Key challenges faced by James Frew:
Retaining and recruiting field engineers.
Rising Energy Costs and Salary Expectations:
Enhancing customer service whilst controlling costs
The energy sector faces challenges with recruitment due to the high demand skilled workers in emerging sectors like solar panel installations and air source heat pump systems. With approximately 200 field engineers and extensive geographic operations, fuel and salary expenses constitute significant overheads for James Frew. Although there has been some reduction in energy costs, the general trend for both energy prices and salary expectations is upwards. For an organisation with inherent operational complexity, reducing response times to service requests, triaging, sales enquiries, surveys, and promptly resolving issues, remains a challenge.
Hostcomm’s Remote Visual Assistance software (RVX) enables two people to connect with video so they can jointly work on solving a problem, training, performing an inspection or surveying without the host having to physically be there. This is possible because it provides tools such as a live pointer, a measuring tool, annotations, optical character recognition, image capture and recorded video so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding.
By integrating RVX within the Simpro user interface using a simple browser extension, customer service staff at James Frew needed very little training and could continue with Simpro as their focus for service tasks. By reducing the need to travel to the customer, and the response time, several business challenges are addressed.
Reduced Travel and Time Savings:
By allowing engineers to remotely view a client's property through a smartphone camera, James Frew can diagnose or even resolve issues without the need for an in-person visit. This significantly reduces travel time and costs, enabling technicians to assist more customers in a shorter period.
Improved First-Time Fix Rates:
RVX can increase the likelihood of resolving problems on the first call. Engineers can assess the situation beforehand and arrive on-site (if necessary) with the right tools and parts, reducing the need for follow-up visits.
Enhanced Customer Experience:
RVX can provide faster service and more immediate solutions, which enhances customer satisfaction. It also minimises the inconvenience of scheduling and waiting for a technician.
Cost Efficiency:
By reducing the number of unnecessary site visits, James Frew has cut transportation and labor costs. This efficiency can also lead to a reduction in carbon footprint, which is increasingly important for businesses looking to improve their sustainability practices.
“At the NEC Installer Show, we came across the RVX remote visual assistance service by Hostcomm. Further to our suggestion, Hostcomm decided to integrate their service with Simpro through a browser extension, aligning perfectly with our needs. Following an initial proof of concept, we proceeded to procure subscriptions for our customer service department, who found the software straightforward, primarily due to its integration with the Simpro interface. RVX is predominantly used for initial assessments of maintenance issues and to expedite resolution of customer queries. We anticipate saving approximately £50,000 in the first year, with expectations of reaching £100,000 in savings as our team fully embraces RVX, mainly owing to the decrease in travel requirements.”
Gordon Mack
Operations Manager
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"We anticipate saving approximately £50,000 in the first year, with expectations of reaching £100,000 in savings as our team fully embraces RVX, mainly owing to the decrease in travel requirements." - Gordon Mack Operations Manager