Centre for Enterprise Research and Innovation (CERI)
Enhance IT systems - Nationwide Hire Ltd
Company profile
Nationwide Hire, based in Fareham, provide a one call service for tools, plant and building equipment hire anywhere in the UK. With a vast network of approved suppliers they are the largest single hire company in the UK.
Key to their success is the ability to source the right equipment, at the right price, in the right place to suit their customers. Key to this ability is their comprehensive database of suppliers and their in-house experience and technical knowledge.
Company challenge
Rapid growth in terms of both customers and suppliers produced a requirement to increase staff productivity and customer response times. In addition to the basic cost of tool hire the distance between the supplier and the customer is also a contributor to the final cost. Instant access to customer history/location and supplier costings/location would allow more consistent and accurate pricing.
The solution
Through a consultancy project with the University's Business School, to create a new supplier database to include a customer and supplier price history. Produce an automated mapping front end to the database allowing distances between supplier and customer to be calculated and included within the quote, in addition the nearest suppliers can be located visually. Supplier information/costs will be displayed along side the map markers for each supplier.
The benefits
The new database and mapping system has allowed us to:
- Respond significantly faster to customer requests
- Increase the accuracy and consistency of our pricing.
"Not only did the University fulfil our specification, they did so within budget, we didn't have to compromise on anything. I imagined they'd be a bunch of theorists who couldn't run a hamburger stall, but the work they've done for us has given a major boost to our profitability" Howard Piper, Managing Director, Nationwide Hire Ltd.
Next steps
Following the success of this project we are exploring the opportunity of working with the University to extend the functionality of the mapping system to incorporating tracking of skips and their contents.
University contact
Dr Mark Jaques, Portsmouth Business School