News
Re-flow Field Management Review by Intelligent Traffic Systems
Context
- Established in 2014, Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) is a digital surveying company and supplier specialising in Nissen LZA 500 traffic and pedestrian systems, as well as all the equipment a traffic management business would require.
- With over 15 years of experience in the traffic management industry, Intelligent Traffic Systems aims to be the first-choice supplier of equipment to the traffic management industry.
- The company has built a stellar reputation and culture, with an emphasis on health and safety, embracing innovative technologies, and delivering high-quality customer service.
Challenge
Before approaching Re-flow, Intelligent Traffic Systems already had in-depth experience of digital transformations. Established in 2014, the business entered a largely paper-based industry. In an effort to innovate on established processes, ITS began offering digital surveying for TM plans. Through a combination of expertise and mobile software, their processes were already ahead of its time, bringing benefits such as reduced overheads and travel times.
Over time, the processes that ITS had pioneered saw widespread adoption across the industry, becoming the standard in recent years. As such, the company began to expand its endeavours and diversify, becoming the leading supplier for hire of innovative German technology such as the V2 Nissen LZA500 Traffic Lights in addition to standard TM equipment such as barrier systems and cones.
Having seen the benefits of digital transformation first-hand, ITS wanted to adopt a solution that would streamline the increasing workloads brought by their expansion. With staff coming from TM backgrounds, many had experience with field management systems before, but found that alternative offerings weren’t the right fit for numerous reasons – incompatibility with existing devices, price and lack of flexibility.
For Intelligent Traffic System's rapid growth to continue, it needed a solution that was end to end. That could cover everything from quoting, running the job, invoicing, scheduling and HR, asset management, and SHE and compliance.
To ensure smooth and sustainable growth for ITS in the future, their team needed a solution that would streamline tedious administrative tasks and enable their staff to be more productive. This included smart scheduling that would automatically account for holidays and availability, creation of job packs, asset management, quoting and invoicing.
Solution
In addition to a comprehensive suite of features, Re-flow’s flexibility enabled small tweaks that fully brought the software in line with the unique needs of ITS’s business processes. Through a collaborative process between the staff at ITS and the Re-flow team, they had found a system that would be fully compatible not just with their existing devices, but with their operational processes also.
With Re-flow, dashboard users can easily create job packs and attach information directly from the system’s centralised database. These can include plans, drawings, forms and more. Events and tasks can then be scheduled against jobs, assigning individual operatives or teams, as well as plant and equipment. A crucial element of the system is its digital form functionality. Selecting from a catalogue of customizable forms, these can also be attached to events or assigned individually to users.
Once created and scheduled, jobs can be tracked through to completion. Dashboard users have access to granular, real-time information on remote works. Through capture, sign off and tagging capabilities, all forms are equipped with digital signatures that inform the back-office who completed a task, where and when. This then enables advanced features such as live tracking for users, plant and equipment. Using GPS, Google Maps or W3W, users can view their assets on a map, accurate down to a meter and updated in real-time.
A bill of quantities is created automatically alongside jobs, accounting for plant and vehicles, materials and labour, as well as customizable margins. This enables dashboard users to quickly generate exportable quotes that can be instantly forwarded to clients. Once a job is ready for invoicing, Re-flow automatically generates invoices that can be fully customized, including layout, branding and terminology. If users wish to streamline processes even further, built-in connectors for popular accounting packages such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage Business Cloud enable Re-flow to seamlessly integrate as part of a wider ERP system.
Outcome
Using Re-flow, ITS has brought all major operational processes under one system and are reaping the benefits. One of the first major changes the company experienced was the complete elimination of paperwork. With a digital system, printing and paper becomes redundant, enabling the business to cut their waste and become more sustainable in the process.
Team communication capabilities and instant relaying of data from forms has greatly facilitated cross-team communication, bringing an increase of 25%. Whereas previously time was spent chasing phone calls, all communication is now carried out through the app, freeing up an hour of time daily on average. Thanks to the compounding of small optimisations like these, workplace efficiency has achieved an all-time high. The administrative side of the business can now be completed by half the staff, still saving 40% of time across the rest of the business.
Re-flow has also enabled ITS to continue fostering their strong company culture, putting health and safety at the forefront as one of its core pillars. Through easy form completion, strictly enforced compliance and instant communication of data, Re-flow has enabled the business to bolster their health and safety by 50%. With all form data in a centralised system, auditing has become more accessible and organised, bringing a staggering 100% increase in auditability.
In terms of efficiency, I don't personally think there's a better system out there. The team behind it are a massive component. They make the system what it is, and their support network is second to none. It literally does everything that we need from start to finish, and what any other company would need, and their team will always adapt it to suit your business needs as well. We'd 100% recommend it.
Owner
Intelligent Traffic Systems
Intelligent Traffic Systems has now joined a community of business that have embraced digital transformation and set a foundation for sustainable growth for the years to come. Streamlining tedious administrative processes, mastering HSE management and fostering a more communicative working environment. All this, and more, can be achieved with Re-flow’s Field Management Software for Traffic Management.
