Following our announcement last year that GAP had transformed the business with a BigChange to mobile operations, we have now completed the BigChange roll-out across the business. Over 500 GAP vehicles have been fitted with the system and over 600 staff have been trained on best practice. Called JobWatch, the cloud-based system incorporates a range of mobile apps with live tracking and job scheduling. It also links in real time to GAP’s back office systems, such as our central hiredesk and financial systems.
The mobile apps include electronic signature capture with proof of delivery (POD) and proof of collection (POC) records being automatically uploaded onto GAP’s Smart Office system. This eliminates the need for customers to call depots as all information is available immediately online.
The system has built-in data messaging and satellite navigation that automatically routes vehicles to their destination. GAP’s customer services team is able to see the exact location of every vehicle in real time to keep customers informed of ETAs and coordinate with the driver to ensure the correct drop-off location.
Frank McGrory, GAP’s Head of IT, explained: “Our company is driven to be forward thinking and innovative, with a focus on providing environmentally friendly and efficient hire solutions to our customers. Key aims of the BigChange project include enhancing customer interactions on site, driving delivery efficiency with live scheduling and tracking, and significantly improving back-office processing and administration to make life easier for our customers and employees.”
Frank McGrory continued: “Thanks to this rollout, we envisage that we will see a reduction of 8% in fuel use and a 5% reduction in the overall distance travelled by GAP’s HGV fleet. We also forecast a reduction in paper used from over 3.2 million to around 500,000 sheets. For example, we will be reducing the number of printed copies of despatch notes to a single copy with immediate effect.
“There are several aspects of the system that we are still looking to utilise more and ultimately customers will have the ability to access records of their hires themselves.”
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