Extra investment to boost capacity at specialist cleaning company

Quest Waste Management, an Ossett-based domestic and commercial cleaning company specialising in serving the drainage industry, has embarked on an ambitious expansion drive.

The business, which was founded in November 2014 and operates across the UK, plans to double in size over the next three years, expanding its existing team of 26 people to more than 50.

And it has committed to spending almost £800,000 over the next six months on specialist wet waste removal and recycling vehicles to gain extra capacity to meet growing demand for its services.

Its expansion plans rely on its use of JobWatch, BigChange’s mobile workforce management system, which it adopted in 2018. JobWatch combines Customer Relationship Management (CRM), smart job scheduling, vehicle tracking and a series of mobile applications to eliminate paper record keeping and automate many of the manual processes undertaken by mobile workers.

This means Quest can now see the status of its entire fleet in real time and book new jobs within seconds. It expects to double the number of jobs its team can complete without requiring further back office employees to manage its growing waste management operation.

Quest estimates its use of BigChange has already eliminated the need to print, scan and store more than 150,000 pieces of paper a year across its operation.

Ivan Smyth, Managing Director at the business, said: “The insight and agility we gain through using JobWatch means we are winning more business; we are expanding as a result and we are able to offer a level of customer service that is unrivalled in our industry.

“When a customer calls, we can tell them within seconds whether we will be able to do the job and when we can arrive.

“JobWatch has transformed our business. Before, we managed our operations using a daily spreadsheet and a mountain of paper. Each job would require at least 20 pieces of paper – including risk assessments, method statements and maps – as well as the time sheets and vehicle records that mobile workers compile each day.

“We’ve eliminated this paperwork, we can now run our mobile workforce operation 24/7 from anywhere with an Internet connection, and we’ve gained a lot more insight into our operations.”

Martin Port, Founder and CEO of BigChange, said: “Quest is a great example of what happens when ambitious companies start using BigChange, gaining complete visibility of its operations and a scalable, state of the art means of managing its mobile workforce.

“Quest has made huge strides forward in terms of efficiency and customer service with JobWatch, and gained the insight and agility it needs to expand the business with confidence.”