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“We log everything we can – every bit of detail that everybody needs to know. That way we all know where we stand. It just seems so simple, but it is an incredibly important part of our business.”
Adam Hill, Just Digital
Helping Just Digital ‘save a fortune’
TeamSeer for a company going places
Just Digital Ltd, based in Huntingdon, was founded by Adam Hill in November 2003. Since then, the company has grown consistently year on year and today employs 30 staff across four departments. With its continuing expansion plans, Just Digital will be moving to larger premises in October 2010.
In January 2010, Just Digital commissioned TeamSeer’s absence management software system. Managing director Adam Hill explained, “Running a small business means there isn’t a lot of time to sort out things like holidays. We had a holiday book and a wall chart, but nobody could see the information they wanted properly. We couldn’t see if there were any clashes of leave in a department or if the staff count was as it should be. We didn’t feel we were running this efficiently and, as other areas of the business are managed electronically, we felt there was a better way of doing it.”
Looking for flexibility
Adam Hill went online and investigated some free or low cost applications for absence management, but none fitted their business model. They needed something flexible, which they could tailor to their business. When he found TeamSeer, Adam’s priority was to establish what the ‘off the shelf’ application could do, and how it could be adapted to exactly meet his company’s needs.
As well as annual leave, Adam Hill particularly wanted to manage his team’s overtime. Under the old system, anyone working late would book time in an overtime book. “We personally think TeamSeer has saved us a fortune” said Adam. “Staff not only have to request holidays now, but also to work overtime. Before, people were finishing work at 6pm instead of 5.30pm several times a week, and booking 2 or 3 hours overtime without permission. They were just accruing overtime whenever they wanted. Now all overtime has to be requested through TeamSeer and only in 2 hour slots at busy times. At the end of any given month I was paying between £2,000 and £4,000 in overtime payments. By using TeamSeer to manage the overtime, that has reduced to between £400 and £500 per month.”
TeamSeer runs in the background and, as well as managing holidays and overtime, it is also used to log lieu time and business meetings. Adam commented, “We log everything we can – every bit of detail that everybody needs to know. That way we all know where we stand. It just seems so simple, but it is an incredibly important part of our business.”
Implementation and training – all in just 3 weeks
Just Digital’s implementation of TeamSeer took only 3 weeks. Adam was sent spreadsheets requesting information on each member of staff and the business structure. The company had access to the online tutorials and open lines of communication with TeamSeer. Adam Hill underwent an online and telephone training session, enabling him to train his line managers in using the application. In turn the line managers trained their teams. “Because TeamSeer’s system has been built to be really simple to use,” said Adam, “our employees had access to it and we let them play with it.”
External HR consultant has access
As part of Just Digital’s ‘growing up from a small to medium-sized business’, the company has engaged the services of an HR Consultant who will have ‘administrative access’ to the TeamSeer system. Once her preliminary work is completed, using TeamSeer will become a major part of her role within the company.
The Just Digital staff have not experienced any difficulties using TeamSeer, but Adam Hill made the following comment. “We thought some of TeamSeer’s explanations could be easier to follow. We went back to them and said we think you should explain things this way … so how about changing it? They are definitely prepared to listen to our input to make their system even better. They have actually changed some things in the way we suggested.”
If Just Digital has any queries, Adam Hill says TeamSeer’s response time is very fast: normally between 10 and 15 minutes. If any modifications are needed, these have been made immediately or by the next working day. Adam Hill’s closing comment was, “You have complete access to someone who knows what the software does and what you are trying to achieve. There are no call centres or long response times. You genuinely feel that you are their only client. I wish TeamSeer every success – they’re excellent!
Gaining control of overtime
Before TeamSeer, people were booking 2 or 3 hours overtime per week without permission. Now all overtime has to be requested through TeamSeer, and only in 2 hour slots at busy times. The overtime bill has gone from between £2,000 and £4,000, to between £400 and £500 per month.
