Eric Wright Facilities Management has launched a digital transformation programme across all areas of its business. The strategy is being implemented by a newly created digital group, led by Head of Business Performance, Bren Peach, which brings together existing members from within the business as well as two recent graduates to bolster the team’s skills base.
Commenting on Eric Wright’s investment into the programme, Bren Peach said: “Without a doubt, the digital era is upon us. We recognise that the facilities management sector needs to adapt to that change in order to make intelligent and informed decisions and to enable us to deliver a more pro-active and efficient service, in line with evolving customer and market demands. With the ever-changing environment within the FM industry, we need to implement flexible, adaptable systems which are fit for a multi-faceted workforce, which meet the requirements of our client base and enable our business to work remotely, even more so now with Covid-19.”
She continued: “With this in mind, over the last twelve months we have undertaken a root and branch review of our business, a process which was driven by our incoming managing director, George Lilley, who joined us last year from VINCI. As part of that review, we undertook a series of roadshows across our operational sites to consult with our teams to find out how we could deliver efficiencies and improve customer service throughout the business while minimising commercial risk.
“It was clear we needed to undertake a total transformation of the business and to invest in market-leading digital tools, to support the business transformation across complex layers of teams.
“Some key information is still collated on paper and so the first stage of our investment was to ensure that this information was captured digitally. Our new interlinked digital systems allow large volumes of data to be collected at source by the introduction of Wrightflow (Appenate) and by the introduction of Wrightview (Sisense), an analytical tool to present and manipulate this data.
“Our Wrighflow software gives us real-time data and the level of detail and insight it provides is invaluable. That is coupled with our Wrightview system which helps us gain business insights from data via drillable dashboard reports, supporting the drive of efficiency savings and allowing us to make informed business decisions via real-time data analysis. Both systems are integrated with our existing financial management system, E-Vision and Planet (CAFM software).
“We also have decision making dashboards which allow a new view of the business from combining multiple data sources such as from CAFM, financial, energy and mobile platforms.”
George Lilley argues that the age of digitisation has already arrived. He said: “Companies without a connected digitisation strategy will find it more difficult to compete as time progresses, so investment in systems and people are essential now as part of the development of our growth platform.
“We have demonstrated in a relatively short period of time that the right use of business tools can improve our operating effectiveness, support employee engagement and most importantly make our customers’ lives easier. Digitisation will become a genuine differentiator in the FM market in the next three to five years and we are investing now to ensure that our business is set to reap the benefits of that differentiation and deliver a market-leading service to our customers.”
Head of Business Performance, Bren Peach