Forestry, Rail, & Civils Ltd. are a vegetation management company based in Droxford, with operations covering the South of England. Set up by director Colin Browne, they started trading three years ago as a two-man team. In a short time, they grew to a staff of almost 80.

Rapid growth led to mounting paperwork, and with their teams operating within highly regulated areas like rail and vegetation management, FRC decided that software could help them manage their processes a lot easier. They looked into other field management options, but found the alternatives lacking and more focused on small businesses.  

They had a number of requirements from their software:

• Powerful scheduling and visibility: to manage multiple contracts from a variety of clients in different parts of the country
• Improving documentation efficiency: to replace paper trails with a digital system that can store and organise documents reliably.
• Ensuring compliance: to meet regulatory requirements by mandating, speeding up, and automating essential compliance checks.
• Eliminating physical archives: to store past records and to make them easily accessible.
• Real-time data access: to provide operatives and managers with up-to-date project details, ensuring accurate tracking and reporting directly from job sites.
• Easy adoption: to find a system that would be user-friendly and intuitive, especially for team members less comfortable with technology.

On discovering Re-flow, FRC found a field-management option capable of scaling up with the business. Re-flow ticked a number of boxes:

• Centralised information: Re-flow offers a unified platform where all job-related information is readily accessible, streamlining communication and ensuring visibility of job progress.
• Intuitive user experience: The software’s simple app-based interface allows every team member to use the software to its fullest.
• Customisable forms: The form builder enables the creation of forms tailored to specific needs, ensuring that all necessary data is captured quickly and accurately.
• Fleet management: With features for managing equipment and logistics, Re-flow helps track the status of tools and machinery, allowing for effective scheduling and monitoring of resources without the hassle of paperwork.
• Qualification knowledge base: Re-flow’s adaptable knowledge base allows the company to store and display team competencies for clients, enhancing transparency and trust.

Colin Brown, FRC’s director, summarised life with Re-flow well: ‘I’ve got a good team around me, some of them that I’ve worked with for probably 15 to 20 years. Re-flow forms part of the overall package, which is good for approaching potential clients and customers.’

Contracts manager, Danny Freeman, added, ‘I think Re-flow has enabled us to grow mostly from the aspect of efficiency. We weren’t able to deal with as much paperwork as we can deal with now. It allows us to look after significantly more contracts at a time and keep it all in the same place.’