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Smith & Byford enjoy progress with ViXEN
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Building services contractor, Smith & Byford, have always been forward-thinking. In a competitive M&E sector, technology delivers advantages which the Surrey-based contractor has been swift to adopt. Now, ten years after first implementing a ViXEN solution, Smith & Byford are looking back on a decade of growth.
“In 1997 we realised our business would benefit from an integrated system and we’ve been keen to get the very most out of it since”, said director Will Smith. “Having the right system in place has helped our performance and the client service improvements have played an important role in us winning new business.”
ViXEN is a specialist building services system developed by leading software provider Vixensoft. “We’ve enjoyed working with Smith & Byford”, said Vixensoft Managing Director, Wayne Rogers, “and appreciated their enthusiasm and involvement in helping us develop a quality building services solution. I’m sure Will would agree that their growth over the last ten years can, in part, be attributed to the time they’ve invested in maximising the potential of their ViXEN system. It’s helped them deliver a superior client service and a level of reporting which clearly sets them apart.”
Smith & Byford use ViXEN across their entire business, with integration playing an important role in avoiding duplicated effort and cutting costs. The modules they employ include Estimating, Job Costing, Purchase Ordering, Financials, Payroll and, most recently, Service & Maintenance. With the introduction of mobile communications and mapping software, Smith & Byford sought to modernise their reactive service operation as well as improve their client service offering.
“Knowing where our engineers are located at any one time and then scheduling jobs accordingly using the ViXEN diary system is proving extremely useful,” said Will Smith. “It means that we can monitor our service operation much more effectively and get real-time information back to create KPI reports for our clients. For our engineers, it’s meant a lot less paperwork too, as they can receive job information on their PDAs and use them for completing forms and timesheets on-site which they then send in electronically. Data can then get posted automatically in the Job Costing and Payroll modules making it easier for us to invoice our clients quickly”.
”This is a particular bonus to the company which, in 2007, moved offices and took the opportunity to review their operations to ensure it was being eco-friendly. “Obviously, over time the digital ‘paperwork’ makes a big difference to storage pressures and our use of paper,” says Will Smith, as they strive to attain the ever-elusive paperless office. “It is also fair to say that improved efficiency in paperwork and systems provided by ViXEN have contributed to steady improvement in our operating profit over the last 3 years”.
Today, Smith & Byford employ 205 staff and are competing for major contracts across their operational area which stretches from Sevenoaks in the east to Basingstoke in the west and incorporates south London. The company’s notable successes include a 7 plus 5 year maintenance contract working alongside Mears plc for The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. The contract is worth approximately £40 million to Smith & Byford over its full term. In April 2007, they also secured a contract with the London Borough of Merton for 7 years valued at around £12 million.
Looking ahead, as Smith & Byford have been so successful at doing, ViXEN continues to help the company drive things forward. Recent developments within the ViXEN portfolio include an onsite procurement facility as an extension of the mobile communications solution. “It’s a two way street. Some of our developments are specifically at the request of our customers and others are conceived by us in reaction to issues we know the industry faces,” said Wayne Rogers. “Either way, we hope our software continues to help Smith & Byford and others achieve even greater success in the future.”
