Family-owned construction, civil engineering and property services business Osborne was the very proud recipient of the Institute of Customer Services Best Application of Technology Award, presented 26th February 2013.
To win the award Osborne beat stiff competition to win which included entries from: Prudential, British Gas Electrical Services, RBS and Barclays. Feedback from the judges cited an impressive submission which gave great examples of off the shelf solutions with proven increased efficiency.
Robert Dent
Osborne has an embedded ethos of customer service, which is particularly important within the Property Services sector where repairs, maintenance and planned works are carried out for social housing providers. High levels of customer satisfaction are a requirement of the contracts carried out and one important element of its successful activity is the result of collaboration between Osborne and a consortium of IT partners led by mobile technology market leader 1st Touch and including AccuServe, Opti-Time and Keyfax. The new system, combining technology from the consortium, has already been installed on the 15 year Ascham Homes contract.
Nick Sterling, Managing Director of Osborne’s Property Services team, said: “Maintenance and repairs work requires a strong customer services ethic, backed up by the technology and logistics to deliver it effectively. We are the only company from the social housing sector to be recognised at these awards and are pleased to have stood up to scrutiny against much bigger companies.
“But more important to us is the recognition of our customers themselves. We are pleased to report that as a result of this new way of working our customer satisfaction levels have reached an all-time high, approaching 100%.”
Jo Causon chief executive Institute of Customer Service said; “The Awards have become an integral part of the business calendar. It is important to showcase and celebrate those who have shown that their organisation is committed to their customers at the very highest level. Osborne is differentiating through service, placing customers at the heart of their business strategy and securing a bright future for their employees by doing so.”
Commenting on the award Robert Dent CEO of 1st Touch added, “Osborne property services team’s approach to customer service is widely respected in the industry. Having put together an IT consortium to support its work, we were especially delighted that the Institute of Customer Service’s Award recognised the contribution that the technology investment had played in Osborne increasing its already-high customer service standards.
“Osborne has a well-deserved reputation for setting high standards in the construction industry and its approach to investing heavily in quality and customer satisfaction meant that it needed an IT system configurable enough to meet these high levels of quality in all respects. It also needed a supply side alternative capable of combining and managing a best of breed solution and one that could move swiftly to a managed service delivery. As we have built strong partnerships with market leading organisations such as AccuServ for contract management, Xmbrace for scheduling and Omfax for diagnostics, to deliver complete IT solutions in the UK social housing market, we were in a strong position to put together a consortium of tightly integrated solutions that deliver what Osborne required. As outsourcing becomes more prevalent it’s imperative that the contractors use the best technology in order to deliver better and more economical services for repairs and maintenance to social housing providers. Mobile plays a big part in this because they can manage their workforces so much better.”
