‘We tried other pieces of field management software over the course of several years,’ said Luke McFadden, commercial manager and director of landscaping’s The Lamorna Group. ‘But they all had limited capabilities and failed to capture every element of our large and varied scope of works.’

Things improved for the Lamorna Group when they signed up to Re-flow in October last year. ‘We’ve been able to use Re-flow as an all-encompassing software package and now utilise it throughout the business,’ Luke said, noting that the group now have 75 active users. ‘It’s the best software we’ve found for data capturing and job management.’

Finding the right software package is difficult when businesses in the commercial landscaping industry have multiple operational challenges affecting productivity and profits:

• struggles with real-time visibility of job activity, documents, and workflow operations
• issues around form filling and HSE compliance
• inefficient communication through WhatsApp and emails
• time-consuming admin processes
• to sum up: issues with communication between field, office, and other parts of the business becoming disjointed and unreliable, jobs extending beyond their finish dates, overheads increasing, and compliance processes being missed

This is why the team at Re-flow have been working closely with landscaping businesses in order to build our software around their very specific needs. We understand the importance in the industry of having real-time visibility of jobs, documents, and workflow operations, and the usefulness of having in-app forms for evidencing work and complying with health and safety.

So join us as we focus on the Re-flow features making landscaping operations better-scheduled, safer, and more streamlined.

Drag-and-drop Scheduling

Inefficient scheduling tools often risk job overlaps and missed deadlines, resulting in costly delays and frustrated clients. This is a huge challenge when coordinating multiple landscaping projects of varying scales across different sites. Re-flow’s simple, drag-and-drop scheduler is perfect for every type of job, from short visits to huge projects. Dashboard users can do a lot:

• create events and tasks against existing digital job packs
• build presets and drag and drop resources directly from the sidebar
• assign operatives and assets against vehicles
• utilise the map view to allocate resources on the fly
• automatically schedule common, recurring tasks
• use icons and colour coding to see which resources are available, conflicted, unavailable or assigned

This gives managers full visibility in real-time of works progress. They can see where operatives and equipment are and what jobs need resources and teams assigned to them, all in a flexible system capable of adapting to changes in circumstances (no matter if they’re caused by the weather, or clients suddenly shifting their ambitions).

These changes can then be instantly communicated across all connected and relevant users.

A cloud-based all-in-one solution

Re-flow’s messaging system is a crucial part of the dashboard’s functionality, enabling administrative users to instantly communicate with operatives in the field without the need for external messaging applications, e-mails or phone calls. This feature benefits from full integration with the rest of the system, enabling file attachments from the knowledge base, image attachments and more.

Landscaping projects require seamless communication and data flow, and fragmented systems not suited to offline working can cause tiresome data clashes and crucial details to slip through the cracks.

Everything operatives need is available on Re-flow (online and offline, with or without signal), from job packs to a comprehensive library of manuals and documents. Also, we have found operatives are more willing to complete their paperwork and even submit more forms, like dynamic risk assessments, because of our simple to use digital forms.

Health and Safety

Landscaping teams face unique hazards, and without proper reporting, small issues can escalate into major safety concerns. Workers are put at risk and the potential for legal ramifications increases.

The Re-flow app makes it easy to build dynamic, configurable forms – for risk assessments, photo uploads, and asset checks. These are so easy to use through the phone app that compliance issues from operatives disappear. The forms are full of quick-fire drop-down menus and autofill features, which speed up the process to such a degree that workers more easily buy into the tasks they’re asked to do. Managers can also mandate certain actions are completed before work can begin. The result is a revolution to compliance and a significant boost to efficiency.

Consequently, managers are better able to identify issues and rectify risks, reducing the chances of serious injuries. Standards increase.

A final word from The Lamorna Group

‘I would recommend Re-flow to any business looking to grow and be competitive,’ Luke McFadden said. ‘I believe Re-flow is a ready-made platform which can be adopted by any business. It’s tailor-made to suit their needs.’