This case study was written by the client.
Project Overview: SOTS took over Lee Marley’s IT contract in 2016 because its requirements had outgrown the capabilities of the previous IT supplier. Owing to the nature of the business, considerable support was required for the numerous project teams working out in the field, both in terms of hardware and software.
In November 2016, pending a company reorganisation, SOTS was called upon to manage the IT transfer process.
SOTS are a vast improvement from what we had before, this change was essential because of how fast we were growing as a company.
Company Background
Lee Marley Brickwork was formed in 1997, and has grown organically to become one of the UK’s leading integrated facade subcontractors specialising in brickwork, scaffolding, stonework and system facades.
Onsite connectivity is critical
We were recommended SOTS by one of our payroll systems contacts, having outgrown our previous IT supplier. We knew that we needed to move to a ‘cloud basis’ so that all our surveyors and onsite teams could remotely access up-to-the-minute plans.
We currently have around 600 bricklayers and 300 scaffolders working on up to 40 jobs around the country at any one point in time, with a dedicated foreman for every job. With our previous supplier, it had become extremely awkward to continually transfer kit between head office and the various sites, either for repairs, updates, or data transfer.
Downtime is very expensive in our business, if there are any revisions to building plans, our foremen need to be able to access them straight away and in real-time. Furthermore, because we are generally sub-contracted, we have to work seamlessly alongside a number of other companies. For example, on a large project everybody has to be able to access and feed into a ‘live team viewer’ in order to co-ordinate
works and provide a live audit trail.
This is virtually impossible without first-class onsite connectivity and standardised systems.
SOTS‘ remote support is a life saver!
Because the majority of our employees are working onsite, remote access plus support is vital.
Having standardised the equipment and operating systems across the workforce and having cloud-based servers, in the event of a malfunction, SOTS are now able to send out a fully set-up laptop to our teams around the country, preloaded with all the up-to-date information required.
We have complete confidence in SOTS to be able to support all our employees’ needs, both at head office and out in the field.
Because SOTS have access to all server data, everything our onsite teams require can be pre-loaded onto the PC’s, meaning there is no downtime or disruption to their working practices. I cannot fault the customer service from SOTS. Their willingness to be on hand to help has been first-class whenever I’ve had a problem.
SOTS have foreseen everything from an IT perspective!
Michael Small, Associate Director of Finance – Lee Marley
