Let's talk about your WorkLife before AroFlo
With a focus on providing high-quality refrigeration and air conditioning in Central Australia, Emperor Refrigeration Alice Springs-based team provides an essential service in tough parts of the country, from the NT to WA and SA. It’s one thing if the work site is a few streets away and another when it’s in another state. Travelling in the outback is tough enough, and providing flexible services with hundreds of km in the mix is rough going for the business.
Before, all paperwork was paper-based and had to be manually completed and handled. Paper-based documentation + remote locations = a long, drawn-out process each day to find, allocate and scan necessary information for each job. A misplaced job card or missed call hurt the process and made it harder to keep clients accurately informed.
With everything on paper and the crew spread across states, job progress and transparency suffered. Communicating quality completed work to customers was difficult, with details locked up in paperwork that could be a state away. Urgent calls meant every minute was at a premium, so returning to the Alice Springs office after every job ate away the hours. Essential admin took even more time and slowed down invoices and timesheets.
General Manager Joe Pollitt knew that Emperor Refrigeration was always searching for ways to be more prepared and efficient in developing the company. It had the team, the values and the potential, but it needed that competitive edge and a way to keep its customers in the loop at every step.
Turning to the team for what they needed in the field, Joe took their feedback and needs and searched for job management software that could provide all the right features. Deciding on AroFlo in 2021, it was time for Emperor Refrigeration to take that next step.
What's been the major impact on your business?
Implementation, Joe says, was immediate. As soon as Emperor Refrigeration engaged with AroFlo, the process kicked off and the team was ready to go. And Joe saw the results right away as the team quickly adapted, with help at every step from AroFlo’s Australian-based support team.
“No question or concern is too big or too small, and the benefits to the business, its staff and the clients are incredible and immediate.”
Paper-based work processes meant everything had to be filled out and tracked manually, eating into valuable time. It took up to 3 hours a day for everything to be processed; now, with AroFlo’s in-field reporting and centralised communication, the team can submit documents right away. Joe says this team effort through AroFlo means finalising daily documents went from 3 hours to 2 minutes.
“The system is well structured, comprehensive, easy to use and can be tailored to your business needs (even as your business expands).”
Before AroFlo, timesheets could take between 4-5 hours a week, and invoices took an entire day to process, needing to organise manual paperwork and costs for customers. Now, invoices and timesheets take minutes. Thanks to AroFlo, Emperor Refrigeration have a consistent revenue stream that accurately reflects costs and profits.
The team can upload everything to AroFlo’s cloud-based system, raise purchase orders directly with clients, accurately quote on the go and complete notes to close jobs as soon as they’re done. This means more accurate quotes for customers and transparent reporting on how the job is going.
After connecting with AroFlo, the team no longer needs to go back to base after every job, saving hours of travel and taking the stress off the crew to get job cards and timesheets back. As Joe puts it:
“Every minute of the day is now productive time spent on site, which is a huge reduction in lost productivity.”
Many businesses might be able to rely on consistent fuel usage and prices, but that’s a luxury for remote businesses like Emperor Refrigeration. Fuel costs can be significant, and AroFlo’s software has allowed Joe and the team to allocate these costs accurately, meaning accurate quotes for clients and efficient fuel use. They even save on paper, going green thanks to AroFlo’s digital features.
And all these major improvements, insights and savings means significant customer satisfaction. With AroFlo, Emperor Refrigeration has an all-in-one solution and reference for the business and their clients.
Documents and in-progress reports are accurate, quotes and invoices have been streamlined, and Joe has seen the impact of AroFlo on customer relationships and satisfaction, especially with stakeholders in large projects:
“Revenue tracking and accurate allocation has been significant in our projects in particular. Large works are able to be divided into stages and to include clear quoting, financial expectations and invoicing against the same stage.”
How are things going now you're up & running?
Emperor Refrigeration needed a sustainable solution that would grow with the business, and found it in AroFlo, finally able to streamline all those stressful hours and inefficient parts holding back their growth. What’s improved thanks to AroFlo?
“All areas. From staff timesheets, to project management on our grandest scale, there isn't an area of business that hasn't moved forward in leaps and bounds because of the system.”
Emperor Refrigeration doesn’t rest on its laurels. It performs monthly reviews to see what’s working and what can be improved. Joe saw that AroFlo had a feature to match whatever needs their business had. From the initial stages to now, progress doesn’t stop for Joe and the rest of the team. Team productivity has surged and Emperor Refrigeration goes from strength to strength.
According to Joe, AroFlo “dramatically improved efficiency, transparency and competitive advantage,” giving Emperor Refrigeration the edge it needed, winning them large contracts and expanding its reputation throughout Central Australia. The greater detail, productivity and flexibility means the team is always prepared to engage with clients and stakeholders in large projects.
Here’s to Emperor Refrigeration’s future growth and success with AroFlo!
