Cleaning solutions from cyberspace

Contract cleaners face numerous challenges in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, but by making the most of advances in technology they can give themselves an edge. Alan Loukes, technical director of CleanLink, reveals how his company’s software solutions are helping two contract cleaners deliver the highest standards of service to their clients.

We live in an age where computer-led technology is most definitely king. Developments happen at a seemingly dizzying pace: we’ve moved inexorably from the home computer, to the laptop, to the netbook, to the smart phone in what seems to be the blink of an eye. Add cloud computing to the mix and it’s clear that this pace is not slowing down, in fact it is more likely to speed up! The advent of the internet and email has brought many benefits to businesses across the board, with tailored programmes and products, incorporating the best technological solutions for individual industry sectors, fast becoming a growth industry.

Developed specially for the contract cleaning industry and its complex range of issues and needs, CleanLink’s software solutions include all the functions needed to operate a cleaning company including: payroll, invoicing, worksheets, stores, quality control, budgets, risk assessments, actions, machinery, documents and contacts. The data is held by each of Cleanlink’s clients on their own computers, for office-based staff to access; but to add even more responsiveness and functionality, it is also now available to workers ‘on the ground’ via an app that works on iPhones, iPads, iPods, Android tablets and smart phones.

Linked back to CleanLink’s own web servers, the application comes loaded with all the information relevant to the client company so managers can pick up their tasks, complete reports on site in real time, and immediately update clients, improving satisfaction rates.

Managers are able to carry out site audits, ‘scoring’ everything at the touch of a screen, knowing that the information will be captured by the app and reports will be compiled and saved – and if a client is present while the audit is being undertaken they can sign it off, there and then, on-screen. Staff management is made easier because the software already holds details of everyone that is employed on individual sites and recruitment is also speeded up – simply tap in the person’s name, address and NI number, take a photo of them and their ID, and it’s stored and sent back to head office in a matter of minutes.

Hi-tech app helps High Street cleaning

When you’re taking a break from your high street shopping, maybe having a bite to eat or something to drink, chances are that you will be doing so in an outlet that’s cleaned by Fluid Options.

The company, which started in 1992, currently cleans over 400 sites a day, predominantly for some of the best known retail outlets and bar/restaurant chains in the UK, such as Carluccio’s, Cote Restaurants,  Giraffe Restaurants and, high street pubs and bars from companies such as Fullers, Marstons, Youngs and Greene King. As the preferred contract cleaning supplier to several multi-national blue-chip organisations Fluid Options needs to provide the most responsive and effective service possible.

Fluid Options has been using Site Manager software for several years, and has worked with CleanLink to help it add more features and functionality along the way. Before this, Fluid Options used various software packages for different functions but these didn’t link up in the way the company wanted. Site Manager provided a solution that let Fluid Options do pretty much everything through one package, enabling it to see immediately how each site is operating, not only in terms of cost against budgets, but also logistically.

“Now we have the mobile app it’s even better,” explains Alister Gregson, Managing Director of Fluid Options. “All our managers have iPads so they can link back to base straight away. Audits, stock orders – all the information entered on site is accessible by our base office immediately.”

Control is the key benefit that Site Manager gives to Fluid Options and its managers. “It allows us to do audits on site and share these with head office, which could be many miles away from the location in question, in an instant,” continues Alister Gregson. “It’s so easy, letting you walk a site with a client, complete an audit and have them sign it off on screen there and then. It’s also great for record keeping. Data that’s entered via the mobile app is stored instantly, keeping our files updated to provide a comprehensive history of client feedback and actions that can be used to produce reports quickly.”

Computerised solution gives cleaners control

Cleaning is most definitely something that runs in the genes for The Carroll Cleaning Company. Inspired by their late father, who had been involved in contract cleaning all his working life, four brothers and sisters founded the firm in 1987, starting from humble beginnings in a windowless office on an industrial park in Halifax. The company quickly thrived and prospered, moving to its own small Yorkshire mill in 1994. It now provides cleaning services to around 450 clients throughout the north of England; from Liverpool in the west, to Hull in the east, and as far south as Nottinghamshire.

As a strictly business to business cleaning contractor, the company has established a firm footing in three key areas: the legal sector – providing cleaning services to many top law firms; FM – working in partnership with firms such as Adair Paxton, McDonald Partnership, Savills and Lambert Smith Hampton; and education – cleaning in both independent and state schools.

As companies grow and develop, in direct response to the demands of clients and the wider market in general, ways of doing business also have to change. Where once we travelled miles to face-to-face meetings, or faxed over requests for orders, video conferencing and the internet have speeded up these processes.  CleanLink is working hard with its clients to ensure that its software solutions keep on developing to help companies manage their contracts more easily, wherever they are.

Two key priorities were the catalysts that made The Carroll Cleaning Company review their management systems.  Payroll was one. Having the ability to accurately track wage expenditure for numerous operatives over multiple sites is a big challenge – with most software programmes tracking payroll expenditure on a site by site basis but restricting operatives to working at only one or two sites. The advent of the Working Time Directive regulations also revealed the need for a package that could track operatives’ holiday entitlements.

In order to cover all the different management aspects, The Carroll Cleaning Company found itself having to use a number of individual systems to cover payroll, manage stock, raise invoices, etc. but it really wanted something to unify all of these functions in one package.

Nicholas Carroll, managing director of The Carroll Cleaning Company, explains: “The CleanLink system allowed us to radically streamline all of these functions into a single, unified system. With Site Manager now in place, we know we are in control.”

One of the advantages of the system is that it identifies over or under spends quickly, making sure that contracts run to cost, while its ‘traffic light’ system has also proved invaluable. This alerts users to deadlines for activities such as audits and staff appraisals, also helping to improve compliance with all areas of employment and health and safety law.

With so many different demands on contract cleaners, finding systems that enable managers to be more efficient, providing a smoother-running, more modernised way to oversee their contracts, is essential. CleanLink’s Site Manager does just that, helping contract cleaning companies to ‘upgrade’ the service they deliver to their clients.

For more information about CleanLink’s software solutions call 0844 804 2007, email   sales@cleanlink.co.uk  or visit  www.cleanlink.co.uk

This article was published in Cleaning Hygiene Today – July 2012