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Grounds Control

Grounds Control has over 30 years of experience in Exterior Facility Services operating primarily on businesses and government facilities. They lead the way in Landscape Maintenance, Snow and Ice Removal, and Parking Lot Maintenance. By combining UtilizeCore and Grounds Control USA, they have been able to completely redefine the way they operate on behalf of their customers - Providing a consistent level of quality and helping reduce overall cost.

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Clients

Grounds Control prides themselves on being able to simplify their clients business with professional exterior facility management services. They are headquartered in Daniel Island, South Carolina but their reach expands throughout the US.

Challenges

Grounds Control was facing several challenges; they had manual, time-consuming, and repetitive processes in place, which made it hard for them to work efficiently. They did not have a robust system to manage their client’s service requests; as a result, their offices were overburdened with unnecessary manual tasks. A lack of organization resulted in a loss of important data. Manual invoice processing consumed a lot of the team member’s time even if it was a single transaction. Furthermore, a notification system was not in place to alert team members about upcoming scheduled maintenance, and without a dedicated client portal, the clients felt a lack of transparency.

  • Manual processes
  • Loss of data
  • Inefficient invoice and payment processing
  • Inability to receive updates about upcoming maintenance
  • Lack of transparency

Goals

Grounds Control’s goal was to have an end-to-end solution to streamline their operation - Focusing on a centralized portal for internal operations, vendor management, and client management. Overall, they wanted to increase the efficiency of their day-to-day operations, enhance transparency for their clients, and increase contractor compliance.

Solution

UtilizeCore’s end-to-end automation solution has helped Grounds Control in achieving its goal to deliver quality service nationally. They were able to integrate all their existing business solutions into the UtilizeCore platform, which helped them automate processes, keep track of service requests, providing a better customer experience leading to increased overall revenue. We also integrated the NOAA weather forecasting system with customized rules to ensure timely execution and implementation of procedures. Data management tools were also introduced to their system so they can handle bulk operations with higher convenience. A vendor portal allowed them to notify and remind vendors about tasks and view progress through defined KPIs. A client portal was also created to increase transparency and enhance the customer experience; clients can now view the progress via real-time dashboards and rate Grounds Control’s services as well. They can also process invoices more smoothly, and payments have become faster than ever. The compliance manager provided Grounds Control with an enhanced ability to keep track of Contractor Compliance so that all TPP, COIs, W9s, and more can be digitally stored and accessible anytime. Overall Grounds Control effectively changed their workflow facilitation expansion while minimizing costs.

  • Increase in productivity
  • Automation
  • Reminders and alerts
  • Weather alerts
  • Enhanced customer experience
  • Transparency and monitoring
  • Faster payments
  • Consistent SOPs
  • Compliance Manager
Us Snow Pros
US Snow Pros, which has been around for 20 years, is a Coast to Coast snow removal organization with 24/7 snow and ice removal services for residents and businesses.
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Clients

US Snow Pros covers the lower 48 states providing services to Commercial & Industrial Properties, Apartment Communities, Office Properties, Retail & Shopping Malls, Healthcare / Hospitals & much more. Their extensive background in snow and ice management allows them to help their clients with preseason planning, snow emergency services, all the while providing round the clock on demand support to ensure everybody's needs are met in real time.

Challenges

US Snow Pros were experiencing many challenges during their snow seasons. Due to the unpredictability of when a snow event was going to occur, they were always very reactive to the event. This made it challenging for them to notify their service providers in time of an event and therefore relied on trust that their partners would go to their client properties on time. Additionally, once their providers arrived on the site, they did not have a system in place to provide them with service verification based on the work that was being performed by the service provider in real time. This led to a lot of additional labor to be performed by the dispatch team - I.e, phone calls & text messages to ensure they were meeting the SLA’s set forth by their clients. Upon a storm completion, sending client receivables and validation vendor payable was another challenging process that took weeks on end to complete.

  • Manual processes
  • Limited visibility
  • No service verification
  • Cumbersome AP/AR processes

Goals

US Snow Pros was looking for a platform that can streamline their operation during a snow event. Ideally, they could be more proactive rather than reactive during the chaos of a snow storm. This would allow for them to provide their customers with a better overall experience which could lead to awarding more locations from that customer. Additionally, they were hoping to cut down the amount of time it takes to invoice their clients & verify their vendor invoices.

Solution

US Snow Pros partnered with UtilizeCore which helped improve the overall experience from their dispatch / operations team during a snowstorm. They were able to leverage the NOAA integration to forecast out when weather was going to be impacting their client locations. The bulk dispatch functionality created an easy way for the team to notify their providers on when to be on location for the snow event. The field mobile app allowed their service partners to check in / out of the location, providing them with real time visibility & updates on their status. Photos taken from the field also ensured that the provider was performing the work in the proper capacity. Lastly, they received automated Accounts Payable & Accounts Receivable billing by leveraging the rate tables which live at each location. (I.e, TnM, Per Service, Per Task, Equipment TnM, Per Event). The UtilizeCore system allowed for US Snow Pros to get a better handle on their snow and now they can manage more locations with the same headcount.

  • Service verification
  • Geo-fence check in / out
  • Automated AP / AR
  • WeatherWorks integration for per event billing
  • NOAA integration for forecasting
  • Scalability
  • Subcontractor Compliance Monitoring

RAEL National

RAEL National Fire Protection provides inspection, maintenance and repair service to thousands of buildings across the United States. Emergency service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We handle all Fire Department violations including five-year standpipe, sprinkler and residential flow testing. RAEL Fire Extinguisher we test, inspect and maintain fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, exit lighting, AED and first aid kits to NFPA standards at all times. Other services include fire and life safety inspections and risk assessments, fire drills and training. We are fully compliant with all NYFD and NJFD regulations, and many more, and all services are completed by the guidelines set forth in the NFPA 10 Standard.

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Clients

RAEL National is a fourth-generation full-service fire protection company that has been providing uninterrupted design, installation, inspection, maintenance, testing, and repair services for over 80 years. The trusted name in turnkey fire protection installation for the most challenging high-profile commercial, sports, institutional, residential, hotel and infrastructure projects.

Challenges

RAEL National was using multiple on-premise hosted software applications to manage their entire operation. The team members in the back office, the salespersons in the front office and the subcontractors in the field were all disconnected. RAEL National had troubles with managing repair work orders and inspection contracts. The organization was stuck in email communication, manual tasks, and an extremely large amount of paperwork in a technology forward society. Their customers were demanding better reporting which was accessible to them 24/7. Ultimately, RAEL was unable to grow their business at the rate desired.

  • Higher operating costs
  • Manual and time-consuming processes
  • Ineffective team management
  • Lagging behind in the market
  • Lack of Client Transparency
  • Inefficient vendor management
  • Inefficient Technicians
  • Non-existent digital asset management

Goals

RAEL National’s president had a goal to build a single platform for his clients to perform their own monthly, quarterly, semi and annual inspections on and generate deficiency service work and submitted it directly to his multiple fire life safety service companies to accept, execute, report and invoice to allow the business to become a market leader at economies of scale.

Solution

RAEL National partnered with UtilizeCore and received a highly configurable end to end fire life safety platform. RAEL’s National’s clients will have access to subscribe to the platform through their RAEL National account executive or can self-serve through the UtilizeCore client portal. This provides RAEL Nationals clients with dashboards containing key KPIs as well as complete transparency into the inspections and repairs performed on-site by RAEL’s partner network. RAEL National was able to integrate digital asset tags through a UtilizeCore app store partner so they can submit / review service requests directly from the broken asset. RAEL National team members can now work cohesively in one single platform & provide / manage service nationwide. The back office, front office, and subcontractors in the field now operate in sync leading to better operations, enhanced AR/AP, employee satisfaction. Naturally, sales increased and RAEL National was back to winning the most coveted jobs across the US. The optimized dispatch board created better understanding and management of their partners located all around the US. The integrated invoicing module created faster billing and less work for AR/AP. The agreement module allowed team members to automate their work order creation and dispatch, as well as providing automated invoicing shipped directly to their clients inbox. RAEL National is now able to deliver proper automated reporting for NFPA, NYFD, NY Port Authority, and many more. The robust reporting module not only generates reports but UtilizeCore has implemented a configurable HTML builder to allow RAEL National team members to create any type of report they could ever need. Aforementioned partner of UtilizeCore allows subcontractors to also become tagnicians. The NFC + QR Code technology asset tags made equipment more meaningful. Equipment history and equipment analytics gives deep insight into the health of the building, while keeping digital records stored for easy access.

  • Automation
  • Reduced operating cost
  • Single platform for all their work
  • Real-time tracking and monitoring
  • Modernized invoice, work order, and proposal management
  • Client management and transparency
  • Support for remote work
  • Simplified team member and vendor management
  • Digital Asset Management
  • Custom and automated reporting
  • Centralized Dispatch Board increased sales

East End Group

East End Group has over a decade of experience in Exterior Facility Services space. East End Group is a pioneer in the Snow and Ice Removal arena, while also offering services in Landscape Maintenance, Telecom, and Parking Lot Maintenance. By introducing UtilizeCore to East End Group, East End Group has been able to scale their business operations across multiple trades into the greater Northeast - all while providing a consistent level of service.

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Clients

East End Group prides themselves on their clients being able to take advantage of obtaining multiple services under one contract with a single point of contact, making it seamless for the client, without administrative headaches. They are headquartered in Yaphank, New York and service locations from Southern New Jersey through Northern Connecticut.

Challenges

East End Group originally faced numerous challenges. In addition to their grueling manual processes, the ever increasing demand for service verification from their clients was beginning to become overwhelming. Their internal systems were simply not designed to manage their client’s demands leading to over-committed employees who spent their days completing manual tasks. The lack of organization resulted in operational data getting lost in the shuffle. Coupled with the lack of a dedicated client portal, their clients were beginning to grow increasingly frustrated with the lack of transparency.

  • Manual processes
  • Inefficient service verification
  • Inefficient reporting
  • Lack of transparency with their clients

Goals

East End Group’s number one goal was to implement an end to end solution to streamline their own internal operation, but also be able to share updates and completed services with their clients in real time. In short, they wanted to increase the efficiency of their day to day operations and enhance transparency for their clients.

Solution

UtilizeCore’s end to end automation solution has helped East End Group in achieving their goal to deliver increase operational efficiency while providing real time updates to their clients. East End Group was able to insert their workflow into UtilizeCore to help them automate their day-to-day operations which in turn increased the efficiency of their team members, ultimately leading to their expansion into new territories and trades. UtilizeCore’s integration with NOAA weather forecasting system empowered East End’s team to provide quality and timely service at all 1000+ locations of theirs. The client portal enabled real time transparency into the service that was being completed. The real-time client dashboards lead to decreased call volumes during major weather events, freeing up even more time for the operations team. Overall East End Group has positively changed the way they operate their business by using UtilizeCore. The efficiencies gained through UtilizeCore have allowed for expansion opportunities otherwise not thought possible.

  • Increase in productivity
  • Automation
  • Reminders and alerts
  • Weather alerts
  • Enhanced customer experience
  • Transparency and monitoring
  • Consistent SOPs

Cenova

Cenova is an exterior maintenance service provider for clients located throughout the east coast. They are committed to providing and maintaining quality to the highest level when performing their services. Working with Cenova means you can depend on clear communications and true professionalism ensuring a safe and inviting environment.

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Clients

Originating in 2004, their staff has over a century of combined experience in providing exterior services which allows them to deliver quality service time and time again. Their clients include some of the largest commercial, industrial, institutional and retail property owners and managers. They consist of worldwide industrial leaders and Fortune 500 companies with massive sites, leading retailers with multi location portfolios.

Challenges

Cenova was leveraging an outdated technology system which didn’t provide real time visibility into the work being performed by the provider network throughout the course of a storm. This sometimes resulted in unpleasant client experiences as it was challenging for Cenova to understand whether their client location has been serviced in the time in. Additionally, when it came time for invoicing following a storm, the system that Cenova was using required the Vendor to manually input the services that they performed across all the locations that they serviced over the course of the given storm. This was a super manual process for the Vendor & required a lot of time for completion. This delay impacted the amount of time that Cenova could send out their Receivables invoice to their client as they had no visibility into the services performed on their client locations until the Vendor input this information into the system days, weeks, and sometimes months later. This ultimately meant the amount of time it took them to get paid depended on their Vendors - As you could imagine, this was a massive bottleneck & something they wanted to get rid of.

Goals

Cenova was hoping to find a technology partner who could help obtain visibility into the work being performed by service providers in real time so they can continue to deliver their clients with quality experiences. They also wanted to be able to invoice their clients without relying on their vendors input days, weeks, or months after the given snow event.

Solution

With the UtilizeCore solution, Cenova has on-boarded their vendor network into the system, empowering them with a mobile app which they now leverage in the field during their snow events. By providing their vendors with a mobile app, Cenova can more effectively manage their clients  locations across a map view to get a holistic understanding of their sites being impacted by the storm and whether they have been serviced or not. Their providers are not only required to geo-fence check in / out of the location, but it’s mandatory for them to select the services they performed and then to take before / after photos of the services to ensure the provider is living up to the Cenova level of excellence.

For invoicing, because the provider is required to select the services that they are performing out in the field, Cenova no longer needs to wait for their vendor invoice to send out to their clients. This means that they can get paid in a more timely manner & put that money to work! With all the time saved on a storm by storm basis, Cenova has been able to allocate time toward Business Development and expanding their business, while maintaining the existing headcount.

  • Service verification
  • Invoice automation
  • Manage by exception capabilities
  • Weather forecasting with NOAA
  • Enhanced customer experience with a client portal
  • Vendor COI / W-9 management