Modernising health and safety management for major hotel groups and recruitment agencies

Saeker are health and safety consultants whose clients include major hotel groups and restaurant brands. Around ten years ago Saeker developed a system in-house that allowed them to create custom health and safety solutions for clients, to keep on top of all the risk assessments, checks, maintenance, and record-keeping.

The Challenge

Although the system was popular with customers it required substantial time and effort by Saeker’s staff to setup and administer. Over the years it became increasingly difficult to maintain the software and the technologies that it ran on and when the original developer left the company, it became almost impossible to maintain and support.

The directors at Saeker decided to invest in a replacement system, to bring all the functionality onto an up-to-date platform, with additional capabilities and a more intuitive user interface.

Finding a Technical Partner

The directors of Saeker started looking for recommendations of companies who could carry out a custom software development project for them. They recognised that they did not have the expertise or the time to develop a detailed requirements specification, so sought a partner who could collaborate with them to understand and interpret their business needs.

Make IT Simple were recommended to Saeker by an IT specialist who was aware of their reputation and track record. They discussed the project and proposed approaches, before committing to working together.

The Solution

The project team at Make IT Simple identified several ways of reducing the complexity of the system, while delivering the same capabilities. They proposed agile development as a way of rapidly creating, testing and demonstrating new functionality to the client.

To meet the client’s objective, of embedding more of their health and safety expertise in the system, Make IT Simple developed a powerful system of customisable templates, which allowed Saeker’s consultants to design-in best practice for risk assessments, reviews, incident response and more.

The new system was also optimised for working on mobile devices, including sites with patchy network coverage.

Results

Agile Development Delivers Results

Typically for an agile project, the development delivered results faster and with less client input than traditional methods.

Key Features Delivered

📋

Customizable Templates

Powerful template system embedding health and safety best practices

📱

Mobile Optimized

Works seamlessly on mobile devices with patchy network coverage

⚡

Modern Platform

Up-to-date technology stack for easy maintenance and support

👥

Intuitive Interface

Easy for new staff to learn and use effectively

Customer & Staff Impact

• ✨ Initial release to small number of clients for testing and fine-tuning
• 🎯 Very positive feedback from new and existing customers
• 💡 Great first impression and easy for new staff to learn
• ⚡ Quick sign-up for new customers without consultant input
• 🚀 Scalable solution allowing sign-up of many more customers
• 💰 Cost-effective onboarding process

“With agile development we saw results faster than we would otherwise have expected, but it did put pressure on everyone. James [the project manager] was always available; he worked with us to find appropriate management, reporting and feedback processes and resolved issues well.”

- John Biles, Managing Director

Business Transformation

For Saeker’s staff, the new system allows them to sign-up new customers, usually without extra input from a health and safety consultant. Not only does this make it quicker and more cost-effective, but it will also allow them to sign-up many more customers than ever before.

One of their longest-standing clients has started to adopt the new system and commented that it delivers a great first impression and is easy for new staff to learn.