QMS

Key benefits

• Professional report generation
  Re-flow produced high-quality reports, enhancing client satisfaction and operational transparency. These received positive feedback from clients, boosting QMS’s reputation for reliability and professionalism.
• Real-time communication tools
  The app improved communication and coordination between office and field staff, ensuring timely updates and better teamwork. Instant data sharing facilitated smoother project management and faster decision-making.
• Streamlined digital workflows
  Re-flow’s app eliminated time-consuming paper-based workflows, greatly enhancing operational efficiency by reducing administrative tasks and errors. The transition to digital forms has also resulted in more accurate data collection and less room for mistakes.

Summary

QMS, a specialist surfacing and line marking business based in Newton Abbot, have significantly enhanced their operational efficiency and communication by adopting Re-flow’s field management software.

This case study explores how Re-flow has transformed QMS’s workflows, improved data accuracy, and facilitated seamless integration with their existing systems, and how the software has supported their growth and enhanced client satisfaction.

Organisation details

Father and son Greg and Ralph Clark formed QMS (Quality Marking Services) in June 2001. They started the business with a single Mercedes Sprinter van, but soon had their first road marking truck built. They quickly began taking on more staff, and in their first year made sales of £350,000. Now they have a fleet of 23 vehicles assigned to different activities, and have an end of year forecast of £4.5 million.

Specialising in line marking and surfacing, QMS employs 17 field users and 11 admin users of Re-flow’s app and dashboard.

Challenges

Before implementing Re-flow, QMS faced several challenges.

The company’s paper-based workflows were time-consuming, leading to inefficiencies and mistakes.

Delays in obtaining completed work sheets from remote crews were common, causing further complications.

Communication between office and field staff was inefficient, and maintaining up-to-date records and timely reporting to clients was challenging.

Putting together dynamic risk assessments for projects was a struggle.

These issues resulted in missed details, mistakes, and delays in returning information to clients. And there were concerns that the older generation of the workforce would be able to adapt to new technology.

‘Prior to introducing Re-flow, having dynamic risk assessments completed for each project was a mammoth task and rarely happened,’ Greg said. ​‘Having crews working remotely, especially if away from home, meant that we couldn’t obtain the completed work sheets from the team. The result was having multiple paper forms returned in large batches to process, which inevitably ended up with things being missed, mistakes in processing and understanding, and returned submissions. All of this led to delays in returning the information to the client.’

And did QMS have a look at any other field management software? ​‘Yes. We were on the road with one company who promised the earth but failed to deliver big time,’ Greg said.

Aims

The primary aim of QMS was to grow the business by enhancing operational efficiency.

The goals included: 

• transitioning from paper-based workflows to a comprehensive digital solution
• reducing administrative time and errors
• improving communication between field and office staff
• enhancing health and safety incident reporting and overall auditability
• streamlining the completion and submission of work documents and risk assessments

Solutions

Re-flow provided an integrated system that addressed QMS’s challenges and supported their ambitions through the following features: 

• The ability to eliminate time-consuming and error-prone paper-based workflows
• Instant updates and seamless data collection from remote crews
• Improved communication between office and field staff on a single unified platform
• An intuitive interface to ease the transition
• Simplified creation and completion of dynamic risk assessments
• Enhanced health and safety incident reporting and overall auditability
• Customisable forms tailored to various workflows
• The ability for remote crews to work efficiently and submit forms even without internet access.
• Thorough training and continuous support to ensure all staff members can effectively use the new digital tools.

Results

Since implementing Re-flow, QMS has experienced several significant improvements:

• Increased efficiency and reduced errors: transitioning from paper-based workflows to a digital solution has streamlined operations and greatly improved data accuracy, reducing administrative time and errors (not to mention ​‘saving a tonne of paperwork’).
• Enhanced communication: the seamless integration of office and field operations has improved communication, ensuring timely updates and better coordination between teams.
• Real-time data collection: instant updates from remote crews have eliminated delays in obtaining completed work sheets, ensuring timely reporting to clients and enhanced operational transparency.
• Professional reporting: the professional appearance of reports generated by Re-flow has received positive feedback from clients, boosting QMS’s reputation for quality and reliability.
• User-friendly interface: the intuitive design of Re-flow’s platform has eased the transition for the older generation of workers, allowing them to adapt quickly and effectively.
• Streamlined risk assessments: dynamic risk assessments can now be completed efficiently for each project, ensuring better compliance and safety standards.
• Comprehensive support and training: the support and training provided by Re-flow has ensured that all staff members can use the new digital tools effectively, contributing to the overall success of the implementation.
• Significant time savings: QMS estimates saving 30 – 50 hours each week. All jobs from the previous week can be processed by Monday afternoon, a feat impossible under the old paper system.

‘After the completion and submission of the very first form, we knew we had hit the jackpot with Re-flow,’ Greg said.

‘Now, due to the easy functionality of the system, dynamic, complicated risk assessments are completed on every job, every time. The reports look so professional. When forwarding them to our clients on completion, we regularly receive compliments on how they appear.’

‘The biggest benefit to us with Re-flow was the amalgamation of the field software with our own in-house back-office database,’ Greg highlighted. ​‘The seamless connection between the two systems is superb.’

Re-flow has had an overall impact on business growth. ​‘The connection between office and field staff has been invaluable and the reports generated are regularly commented on for their content and professionalism by our clients. The crews have all adapted to using the system and it is now just a normal part of our daily lives. Wake up, make the coffee and log into Re-flow!’

Greg also emphasised the quality of support provided by Re-flow. ​‘Re-flow have a great team who really care that you get the system that you want. They adapt the software to fit our processes.’

Overall, Re-flow has been integral to QMS’s enhanced efficiency, by improving communication, providing professional reporting, and making work-life a slick digital affair full of automations and notifications. 

So would Greg recommend Re-flow?

‘Yes, and I do regularly!’ he said. ​‘It’s a fantastic system!’