Franks Portlock was established in the North East in 2006, providing asbestos inspection, testing and consultancy services. Since then they’ve expanded significantly and have a nationwide footprint, with regional offices in Rosyth, London and at Sellafield, Cumbria. They have also moved into water hygiene services.

The company began working with a business consultant in 2019 to help them to restructure and put in place a model for scaling up the business, increasing both turnover and profitability. We were recommended to the company through a local funding initiative, and we had a chat with Phil Franks, the Director about the working with us.

How did you begin working with Wubbleyou?

We were using an prominent off-the-shelf solution for our day to day service delivery, however it was very operationally focussed and offered little from a commercial perspective. As such, we ended up with a patchwork quilt of distinct software packages, each operating in their own data silos, to gather the management information we needed. A fully integrated and utilised CRM was an obvious place to start and would allow us to better serve our customers, however it needed to fit in an around our current processes and procedures as efficiently as possible.

Can you give us an example of the pain that you were experiencing?

Wubbleyou worked with us to implement Hubspot as a CRM system. This meant we had accurate customers sales and communications records, which meant we could plan our marketing in a more targeted way. The customer records are easily and instantly accessible, making it easy for anyone answering the phone to be informed of their activity and sales history and act accordingly.

The CRM system actually integrates with phone, so inbound enquiries are linked to the CRM, which is very useful. It also means that if anyone is working remotely, all they need to do is plug their phone into the router, and they are connected.

How did we make the business agile in the pandemic? 

We’re still working through the implementation of all our planned software, but we’re already looking at time and efficiency saving through applications that integrate with our accounting software. That alone will greatly reduce the administrative effort required at the top level of management in the company, and reduce the potential errors generated through the duplication of data.

We were working mainly with Mark, and his ability to absorb and then patiently interrogate our narratives when describing our existing processes and procedures was very impressive! His enthusiasm for the project and the desire to make an impact was apparent throughout. He’s also very clear and concise.

We’ll continue to work through our roadmap to improve procedures through development and off the shelf software integrations at each stage of the company’s operation. There is a definite sea-change in the outlook of the senior team to move away from manual effort toward better automation, wherever practicable to do so.

Reporting- There wasn’t any way of pulling Management Information from the system safely to analyse the profitability of the projects

Processing- Purchase orders, invoices and payments were all done manually, which was inefficient for the business

Current software- we were confident that there was off-the-shelf software that would work better for them

“As an organization, we are very service driven and focused on quality over quantity. The latter often being the downfall of similar companies. As part of this process of working with the business consultant, it became apparent that we were being held back somewhat by the software we were using, both in terms of operational efficiency and the quality of management info it could provide to help us achieve our goals.”

Franks Portlock have a clear ROI driven data strategy, with clear next steps on how MI reports will be generated using data automation

Franks Portlock have an ROI driven technical innovation strategy, with tactical projects and known ROIs for implementing these projects

Franks Portlock now have documentation and process diagrams for the key processes in the business, and an understood ROI for optimising and innovating these with software. Understanding lifecycle of a 'job' from lead to delivery, and make these more profitable.

The changes and suggestion we made have had a measurable impact:

We worked with North Tyneside-based contracting company, Quora Group, to design and create a piece of software known as a ‘portal’ in order to streamline the company’s existing bespoke project management programme.

Quora Group was established in 2005, specialising in providing bespoke services for the supply, installation and maintenance of heating, cooling and ventilation systems to commercial customers, homes and public bodies.

Over the years, Quora Group has rapidly expanded into a team of over 50 staff, and we now offer an unparalleled blend of mechanical building and electrical services and ensure systems always perform safely and efficiently. We currently work with clients such as Wates, Engie and Metnor Construction.

Our ethos is to provide clients with a whole life cycle solution, ensuring that our collaboration and joint learning is utilised fully. We embrace the latest technology available to ensure that our quality, health and safety surpasses client expectations.

We decided to work with Wubbleyou on this project because they have been building custom software to fix unique problems for 10 years. Wubbleyou came highly recommended by all their clients, including North Tyneside Council and Department for Education, and they have a track record of fully understanding the client’s requirements and delivering exactly what is needed. What could have been a complicated and daunting project ended up being enjoyable and educational.

We were struggling to ascertain accurate figures of cost and expenditure on our major project which is an obvious issue for any business. Information was manually inputted into the system which led to discrepancies between Xero and the project management programme, making project forecasting inaccurate. As a contracting company we rely heavily on accurate forecasting of finance and labour to remain productive as a company.

Our solution to this was to streamline the process by consolidating the various programmes we used and ultimately implementing a bespoke portal which allows for a seamless transfer of information. The portal would allow information to be taken from Xero and transferred directly into our bespoke project management programme, massively reducing errors.

As a result, the portal has allowed this process to be streamlined which has reduced errors and improved efficiencies. The portal has saved considerable time by reducing the double handling of information, it has given greater accuracy of information, and it has simplified the entire process. This project has had the greatest influence on our project management division and we are looking at a return on investment (ROI) period on the project via wages which is excellent.

Why were you looking to embark on a technical project?

Their unique combination of specialist business growth knowledge and experience developing new software is a valuable asset in support of our programme requirements. We have worked closely with Wubbleyou over the past five months to come to a cost effective solution that suits our requirements. The project was delivered on time and on budget with regular communication throughout.

My reservation about embarking on a project like this was solely down to our lack of technical expertise. We also initially had concerns about knowing what we wanted this project to turn into and if we were going in the right direction with the software. Wubbleyou were able to guide us through these concerns and helped us determine what it was we were actually trying to achieve.

The original proposal was for a much larger project but with the assistance of Wubbleyou we were able to break the project down into smaller, more manageable components, which alleviated our initial reservations and concerns. This also prevented us from spending large sums of money on software that was not needed, due to our own lack of understanding.

Did you have any reservations about embarking on a technical project?

I found working with Wubbleyou to be a very simple process, which was important due to our lack of expertise in this field

We are starting a new project with Wubbleyou that will combine the project we have just completed, which will form part of the overall larger project we initially looked at. The combination of these smaller projects gives us the flexibility to mould and develop the software in conjunction with a better understanding of what we want and what Wubbleyou are able to offer us.

Discrepancies between the two systems due to the double handling of information

Inaccurate project forecasting which is heavily relied upon within the company

A long-winded process to completing the task, taking up valuable time

Prior to the creation of the portal, Quora Group were faced with the undesirable task of manually taking information from Xero - an online accounting platform - and inputting this into their bespoke project management programme. Until recently, this has caused many issues including:

100% accurate forecasting of finance and labour

Two days per month saved on moving and managing information between Xero and the project management programme

The entire process has been simplified, resulting in an excellent return on investment (ROI) of 2-3 years of salary costs saved. These savings recover the total cost of developing the software

Since incorporating the portal into the project management programme, Quora Group’s project management division has noticed a massive improvement. The system has enabled:

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Franks Portlock

Quora Group