Convert Water Ltd was established in early 2015. They offer an all-round service to their customers, providing all elements of treatment and pumping of waste-water and sewage. They provide services as installers, subcontractors or main contractors, offering a total service package using only products from top quality manufacturers.
The company is young, ambitious and open to new ways of working. It has already built a reputation for being consummate experts in turning wastewater of all descriptions into safe, hygienic and clean water. Anthony Peters, Founder and Director of Convert Water, was keen to review the way they managed their day-to-day workload, particularly in relation to jobs received from other members of the Okappy network such as Maclin Pumps Limited.
Anthony wanted to streamline their processes, get rid of paperwork and ensure all his information was in one place, easily accessible wherever he was and updated in real-time. He wanted to be able to receive jobs from his customers without having to re-key information into the system and wanted his customers to be able to instantly see the status of their jobs without having to be chased by them for updates (and then him having to chase his technicians).
Before using Okappy, Convert Water was using spreadsheets, emails and text messages. There was a lot of manual data entry and duplication between different applications. As a result, information was often lost or missed. Since using Okappy’s job management to streamline their systems, the company have seen a business growth of 40% year-on-year!

Why did Convert Water choose Okappy?

Anthony wanted to join a network where he could get jobs from his customers and allocate them to his engineers. He wanted to be able to see the status of the jobs as they’re updated in the field on the engineer’s mobile telephone and wanted for his customers to be able to see their job’s status straight away, without having to ring him. This would save Anthony time and allow him to provide a more professional service to his customers.
Okappy works well for everyone in Convert Water. Their engineers like the calendar view on their mobile device as it allows them to know at a glance how many open jobs they have for a specific day or for the month. The engineers can also add jobs for themselves. When additional work needs to be done whilst on site, they can quickly add the information to an existing job or create a new one and schedule it for a future date without having to wait to be back in the office to then email or chase people to schedule the next appointment.
“Okappy is so flexible that we also use it as a reminder for servicing our vans,” says Anthony. “We added in ‘jobs’ to remind ourselves when each of the vans is due for their quarterly inspection. It’s fantastic.”
“Okappy also works well with QuickBooks which means the office staff can raise invoices through the network and then upload the invoice into Quickbooks,” says Mandy, the account manager. “It’s not just me that can see what’s going on, my customers can also monitor proceedings as they happen. This makes me come across as more professional and reduces the number of people ringing me for updates on each job.”

How did Convert Water use Okappy to streamline their business and reduce costs?

A job typically comes in via the Okappy platform from one of Convert Water’s customers. If the customer is not an Okappy user, the job arrives via email or telephone and can be entered into Okappy by Anthony when he is in the office or when he is out on site.
Once on the system, Anthony can check the job’s details and assign it to the relevant engineer who, in turn, receives an alert on his smartphone or tablet. As soon as the engineer has viewed the job, its status is updated in real-time along with any additional job updates right until the job is marked as ‘Complete.’ Details of the work undertaken are instantly available to the office so no more chasing paperwork, and no more late invoices.
“I particularly like the calendar view in the app. I can quickly see the number of open jobs for each day of the month on my mobile. If I click into a particular day, it will show me the list of jobs. It’s brilliant!” says Anthony, Director of Convert Water. “It’s not just me that can see what’s going on, my customers can also monitor proceedings as they happen” continues Anthony. “This makes me come across as more professional and reduces the number of people ringing me for updates on each job.”
As Convert Water has different types of jobs for different customers, they can configure job sheets for each customer with their own branding.
Once the job is set to complete, Anthony checks what work has been done and makes any changes required. His office staff can then raise an invoice which automatically archives the job. If his customers are on Okappy, they can see the invoice as soon as it is raised. Anthony could otherwise send the invoice via email from within the system. This means invoices get paid quicker, fewer disputes with customers and no excuses for “invoices lost in the post.”

How has this benefited Convert Water?

Convert Water and their customers have a lot more visibility and control over the work they do. Information is updated in real-time and instantly available to all stakeholders, resulting in fewer calls from customers wondering about the status of a job, less chasing for information from their technicians. This extra time enabled Convert Water to focus on the areas of the business that really needed attention; resulting in growing the company approximately 40% year-on-year.
“It frees up our time and allows me to spend more of it visiting sites and bringing in more work. This wouldn’t have been possible without Okappy!” says Anthony. “My engineers can add jobs for themselves so, if additional work needs to be done while on site, they can quickly add it on. Alternatively, if they need to go back to do further work, they can schedule it straight away without having to chase me.”
“To sum up, Okappy provides me with the tools to grow and develop my business.”