Portable Toilets Ltd is one of the UK’s leading providers of mobile sanitation rentals for the events and construction sectors. With a twenty-year track record of supplying and servicing portable sanitation products, it has become a key player in the industry. From its head office in Bridgend, South Wales, and three additional regional depots, the company serves an impressive client list, which includes high-profile musical festivals and major sporting events.
The Challenge
Sales Director Ben Cruise says the search for a replacement hire management solution had become pressing: “We didn’t feel our previous hire software fitted with what we were trying to achieve as a business. We wanted everything we do behind the scenes to be as professional, streamlined and responsive as our customer-facing operations, with a solution that could evolve as we grow.”
Ben and his colleagues therefore researched the market for a new solution and identified MCS-rm as a front-runner. In addition to demonstrating the software, MCS explored exactly what Portable Toilets needed, offering a solution that could be tailored to meet the company’s specific requirements.
The Solution
Portable Toilets took the decision to purchase MCS-rm. Now its entire portable sanitation fleet of over 5,000 items is managed by the MCS-rm system. “Our sales, operation, accounts teams and everybody at head office uses the solution,” says Ben.
The new MCS-rm system co-ordinates and centralises all of Portable Toilets’ hire contract processing, administration and invoicing, as well as product and customer-centric information. Many of the units are assigned to the system with a unique part number to assist asset management and control. In addition, Ben and his colleagues store details of around 900 companies, with 2,500 contact names in the MCS-crm (customer relationship management) solution.
“Our previous system was very text-heavy,” explains Ben. “Being Microsoft Windows-based, MCS-rm was intuitive right from the start, and even non-technical users got to grips with it very quickly.”
The Benefits
Portable Toilets has also been using the Transport Manager functionality from day one. This has proved very useful in planning and coordinating the drivers that deliver/collect/service their fleet of toilets by helping them optimise their route and also assist in providing additional driver knowledge, leading to better use of time and lower fuel costs. It links with Google Maps and Microsoft MapPoint, so maps can be printed with the recommended route and directions. Ben notes, “There was nothing as graphical or as easy to use on our previous system.”
Portable Toilets use the option within MCS-rm to specify the required frequency of servicing of their toilets under the hire contract. In addition, an innovative new feature on the servicing side is the electronic scanning of toilet servicing confirmations. Drivers may have to visit up to twenty sites a day to provide toilet servicing. MCS has developed functionality whereby toilet service receipts are printed with a bar code, and back at the depot the signed services sheets can be scanned and electronically recorded against the relevant hire contract within MCS-rm.
“If there’s any query about whether units on a particular site have been serviced, we want to be able to scan the job confirmation sheet signed by the site manager, so we have it on record to email to the customer,” says Ben.
In addition, the MCS-rm solution has many features that help Portable Toilets maintain control of a diverse business and customer base. Having the daily diary, with the ability to look ahead, is invaluable, as it provides an instant, colour-coded view of the status of your deliveries, collections and returns so you can action where applicable.
Ben praises the improved management reporting within MCS-rm, compared with the previous system: “We now have facts and figures we can trust. Reports include monitoring monthly turnover, and analysing which customers are spending most, in which sector, and at which depot.”
As Sales Director, Ben finds the CRM module indispensable to his work: “MCS-crm supports us in building the strong customer relationships that are at the heart of our business. We exchange so much information with a vast range of customers and CRM helps us to keep track of it all. We log every call on MCS-rm and at a touch of a button it pulls across all the emails into one customer record. Time is saved as any updates to a customer’s details need to be done just once.”
The Future
MCS-rm has untapped potential to help the business further. Workshop and Maintenance and enhanced report capabilities will increase efficiency and improve the tracking of the company’s fleet.
As Ben points out, “It’s good to know we’re far from exhausting the possibilities within MCS-rm, quite the reverse. We will be able to bring new features on stream to support our business as it evolves in the months and years ahead.”
To find out how MCS-rm could help your business, call us on +44 (0)1628 828000 or use our enquiry form.
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