When McLeod Cranes was formed in 1995, there was a clear ambition for the company – to build and maintain customer relationships through operational reliability and sincere, personalised customer service. A key element of the drive for greater operational reliability has been the implementation of vWork’s job management software.
For Managing Director Scott McLeod, the vision for the business remains the same – the company aims to earn unrivalled customer respect. It is this ethos that has underpinned the company’s significant growth and expansion.
Today McLeod Cranes has over 160 staff, specialised equipment, and assets valued in the millions of dollars and is servicing a wide range of customers throughout the central and upper North Island of New Zealand.
With over 31 cranes, 50 Hiab truck cranes, and a field team of 120, McLeod sees a number of cranes, trucks, and drivers dispatched daily to multiple locations – often having to respond to ever-changing customer timeframes.
The complexity involved with matching qualified and skilled staff with equipment and customer expectations meant that manual job dispatch was fraught with challenges.
It was as early as 2009 when it became apparent that the existing paper system wasn’t able to scale with the increasing complexities needed to meet customer demands as well as maintaining the high health and safety standards that the business had set for itself.
McLeod explains how he got to the position where he knew the company needed to take a new approach to its scheduling.
“We were at a stress point, and we were asking: What have we forgotten? Have I dropped the ball this morning?” he said.
Having robust business systems is the foundation of McLeod Cranes’ operational reliability.
McLeod’s passion for business improvement meant he had a clear idea of what new processes had to be capable of to succeed in the business.
McLeod and his team decided to adopt vWork job management software to manage the scheduling and dispatching of jobs. 
He could see the team would achieve complete visibility and auditability of each job in real-time. This means the dispatcher knows with 100 per cent confidence the progress of each job and location of field staff, and workers could manage unanticipated changes to their schedule with accuracy.
Bringing transparency to job scheduling and real-time visibility of jobs as they progress was of paramount importance for both field workers and dispatchers. Moving away from an unscalable, cumbersome paper system was a must-have to remove the job scheduling headaches.
As part of the implementation of vWork job management software, McLeod provided all of the crane and Hiab operators with smartphones to use in the field.
Keeping everyone informed via the vWork job management software is pivotal for the McLeod team – as it reduces manual calls to clarify changes to job requirements. Additionally, vWork allows field workers to accurately record time and capture data when completing jobs. This resulted in an increase in billable hours, impacting positively on the bottom line straightaway.
The vWork job management software includes a proof of job completion function, which can be time stamp, photo proof or signature-based.
With the customer portal enabled, McLeod customers take ownership of their own bookings via a McLeod branded portal. vWork’s customised alerts are triggered at various stages as a job progresses, providing customers with vital information about each job.
Customers frequently refer to the photo proof of delivery captured by McLeod’s staff to show the product has arrived safely, as Hiab deliveries are made without the customer being available to sign for it in person.
vWork job management software can be tailored to meet the needs of clients to deliver a system that is simple to use but high quality. vWork is customisable to any company’s process, with templated workflows, tailored health and safety, and branded portals, among many other options. It is simple to schedule with a drag and drop function for jobs, operators, equipment, and sites.
Health and safety processes can be incorporated into every job, from pre-start checks to complex onsite checks. Everyone can be informed of the job requirements, including any site-specific safety policies. Emails and text messages keep everyone informed of job changes and advise when plant operators are due on site.
vWork job scheduling software is designed to grow with businesses as they expand, with updates constantly being developed. Coupled with its capability to be customised, this ensure it can keep up with business’ expansion.
McLeods’ customers are enjoying the increased levels of customer service vWork job scheduling software provides.
“Looking back, I can’t believe what a transformation vWork has created. We now spend more time connecting with our customers and understanding their needs. This new level of connection is really powerful,” McLeod said.
“The communication vWork job management software has provided between our customers, our mobile workers and our dispatch teams is unparalleled.
“Keeping customers and field workers informed at every stage of a job is a breeze and the automation of alerts, texts, and emails means that our dispatchers can almost set and forget routine jobs and focus on managing exceptions. Our customers love this approach,” he said.