Our amazing customers doing what they do best
Argos Fire Protection gets more done with less
...using Uptick. A leading fire asset management software purpose-built for the fire protection industry.
Summary
Roi & JZ's Uptick Tour [of the UK] sees our Uptickers meet the team at Argos Fire Protection
In business since 1969, Argos Fire Protection operate from their head office in Exeter, with a network of engineers covering the whole of the South West of England. They provide all aspects of Fire Protection including Fire Alarms, Emergency Lighting, Fire Extinguishers, Domestic Sprinkler Systems, Kitchen Suppression Systems, Fire Suppression Systems, Dry and Wet Risers, Safety Signage (& bespoke signage), Passive Fire Protection, Fire Doors & Intumescent Products, Basic Fire Training & Fire Warden Training.
Like every other fire protection business, Argos Fire were initially wary of the effort that it will take to implement a new software to be the backbone of their business.
Between the Argos team and the Uptick onboarding team putting in the necessary time and effort, the data migration and system configuration went by without a hitch. This lack of friction during implementation is made possible by Uptick's onboarding program, which is broken up into phases to allow Argos Fire to reach adoption success.
"It just seems to be a lot smoother than I was expecting" - Terry Skeggs, Managing Director
Since implementing the system, the increase in efficiency in Argos Fire is evident to see with the software impacting their work in the office, in the warehouse, as well as in the field.
In the office, Argos Fire has been taking advantage of Uptick's integration with Xero which lets them access client billing information and issue invoices with a click of a button from within Uptick - thereby saving them time and stopping duplicate data entry.
The speed in which things are being done and reaching their clients since moving to Uptick also means that invoices are getting paid faster.
The Xero integration even allows invoices and purchase orders to automatically flow into Xero, and for payments information to flow back into Uptick, which enables Argos Fire to have a flow of financial information from these two platforms.
"[The biggest impact is] the fact that the autonomous link between Uptick and Xero is seamless" - Terry Skeggs, Managing Director
Uptick has also helped the Engineering department at Argos Fire in eliminating paper from their tasks - from scheduling field work and tracking engineers' work as soon as they're done to remedial works quotation - allowing all of them to be done online, with the necessary audit trails that comes along with digitisation
In the warehouse, Uptick has allowed Argos to control their inventory through the system directly - this ranges from managing their product catalog and coordinating which products should be taken by which engineers throughout the week, all the way to issuing purchase orders to procure new supply which also takes advantage of the integration with Xero to ensure a seamless flow of financial information.
"All our engineers' stock is controlled through the system as well, which makes our life a lot easier because sometimes we don't see the engineers for a couple of weeks, so we know what they've got in their vans in real time" - Terry Skeggs, Managing Director
In the field, the impact may be greater than anywhere else as engineers are not having to deal with admin and are able to go about their days more efficiently. The Argos engineers has had complaints in the past about other systems they've used where it lags or it's complicated to use, whereas the team feel that the Uptick mobile app has been made to make their lives easier.
This has meant that Argos Fire Protection's field team are able to get one or two more jobs done a day - which will inevitably have an impact to the organisation's bottom line.
"What we like about the system is that it's there to make your life easier. Everything is real-time and they can see the improvement in regards to how quick it is for them." - Terry Skeggs, Managing Director
The entire team at Uptick are absolutely thrilled to see the improvements within Argos Fire in such a short time frame - it's only been less than a year! - and we can't wait to see how far ahead they will be when we next catch up with them.
Ready to chat with us? Reach out to Uptick today.
You'll be in good company
"We were at a point where the operating system was holding us back, and it was time for a major change."
"It shows that Uptick is at the forefront of the industry and are constantly innovating"
"One part-time admin looks after 8 engineers."
"It's helped with our overall customer satisfaction"
"It’s helping us win new business. For us, it’s paid for itself already."
"A system that enables you to get to where you want to be is a great thing"
"We've grown by 50% in terms of winning new customers"
"Some of our staff are getting through one or two more jobs done a day. Just by reducing the paperwork."
"As a company, we always look to see what's out there that's an improvement to what we've got, and Uptick gave us that"
"I like that all the assets are in one place; it's easy to see anything that's on site"
"We've just been growing, so over the last two years has been the most growth we've had financially in our business, and I will bring that down to Uptick"
"Uptick support was incredible, we couldn't have done without it. The response time was fantastic."
"They are by far the best and the easiest app to work your way around, and we looked at, at least, 20 different ones"
"Uptick for us is everything. It manages our whole business from one end to the other."
"We've gone from under 40 staff to over 80 full-time staff. Revenue has increased threefold."
"The evolution to digital testing log books is obvious from outside of the industry bubble. When clients have had a demonstration of the digital log books, they respond enthusiastically. It is always rewarding knowing we are actually making DEM greener."
"We were very good at our technical job, but we were falling short of communicating with our customers."
"Uptick provided a means for AESG to regain control."
"We were at a point where the operating system was holding us back, and it was time for a major change."
"It shows that Uptick is at the forefront of the industry and are constantly innovating"