Your association | PPC9 August 2019

The Contract Sharing Network (CSN) was officially launched at PestEx 2017 and since then has been limited to small groups of contracts and pigeon proofing jobs.

In April 2019, a significant step was taken in that L’Occitane agreed to use the CSN to source approved suppliers across the UK.

Led by Beaver Pest Control, the national contract is fulfilled by Beaver Pest Control and ten other local BPCA member companies.

The CSN is a BPCA membership benefit overseen by seven BPCA member volunteers.

It comes complete with a Code of Conduct, a proactive Quality Assurance System and a reactive complaints procedure.

This all means that like-minded member companies will offer an honest, reliable and quality service across the UK.

With this national win, the committee now believes that the network can pick up the pace with the 90 members across the UK and offer a credible alternative to traditional suppliers.

The benefits are numerous, including a single point of contact (primary contractor) with the regional subcontractor delivering a knowledgeable and personalised service.

This will fit in with sustainability policies of larger buyers, while supporting and empowering local economies and communities.

Software to connect the network

Over the last two years it has become apparent that if the CSN is going to offer a national service, then the reporting systems need to be uniform.

For this particular contract ServiceTracker has proved successful, as Radu Asavei at Beaver explains: “The requirement from the CSN was to come up with a centralised portal where service providers can share treatment data with the main contractor, as well as the customer. Essentially we needed to find a way of connecting the three categories of stakeholders to facilitate data exchange on multiple levels and in all directions.

“As with (mostly) everything else nowadays, everybody needed to be connected to everybody, without compromising the security and integrity of the data, and also accounting for the commercial and privacy issues.”

As ServiceTracker is part of the Salesforce cloud and is already used by some members of the CSN, it was relatively easy to identify the common records and fields that needed to be shared.

By creating connections between the members’ Salesforce accounts the members are essentially editing each other’s data while the record owner is keeping total control of what records and fields are shared.

Not all CSN members are using ServiceTracker, and so the members had to design, test and deploy an additional Salesforce Communities Portal. ServiceTracker allowed them to plan treatment visits in advance and essentially create ‘empty’ visit records, ready for the technician to edit and update while on site.

The CSN Communities Portal is a streamlined version of the ServiceTracker system, offering access only on the visits allocated to the logged-in subcontractor, and with a user-friendly interface, making extensive use of pre-filled fields, dropdown lists, and buttons that help technicians enter accurate data effectively and with great ease.

The system also captures client and technician signatures and produces standard treatment reports that are then automatically emailed to clients.

Both office-based staff and field technicians have access to past treatment records to help maintain high service levels and customer satisfaction.

All the standard information required upon completion of a visit is easily captured: pests found, materials used and quantities, recommendations, works carried out as well as pictures taken while on site.

Mike Palmer-Day from ServiceTracker said: “ServiceTracker to ServiceTracker is a simple way for many pest businesses to share jobs with each other and receive updates immediately as they are modified and completed.”

Companies not on this platform can still report in other ways, either through the portal or other CRM systems.

Looking to the future

Robert Harris of Harris Associates said: “At the heart of every expansion plan is the methodology of how you’re going to deliver that growth. The CSN allows contractors to take work, such as through tendering, and service areas in which they don’t currently operate.

“Being a part of the CSN could mean picking up work from companies that don’t service your area. The beauty of this system is that it is under the BPCA umbrella, so you know it’s well thought through and that you’re not going to be let down.

"It also gets contractors working as a team to win bigger contracts.”

The CSN is very excited about the future of the network and continues to look for similarly-minded companies to become members as either primary suppliers or secondary suppliers (subcontractors).

The next step will be to promote the CSN so that potential buyers are aware and to share more success stories with BPCA members.

What CSN members have to say about the network

It’s very exciting to see a project that was developed by the Servicing Committee actually take shape and be implemented. This first national contract is proof that when members work together they are stronger than the sum of their parts. This is great work from the CSN team, well done!

Philip Halpin, Countrywide Environmental Services

At PPC Live and Regional Forums, we try to put aside some time for those in the network so we can meet face-to-face and swap business cards. The network is open to all BPCA servicing members so if you’re interested in working with other like-minded companies, it would be great to have you!

Luke Taylor, LK Pestaway

The CSN has proved to be a fantastic framework, allowing us to connect with like-minded companies where trusted working relationships can be forged. It allows collaboration on bringing together the skills and geographical reach to deliver professional, quality services throughout the UK. This has allowed us to find reliable partners that we can trust to look after the needs of some of our clients. We have also been able to reciprocate by helping other companies in their delivery of quality service. The networking and sharing of ideas have seen many of the companies benefit beyond the scope of shared contracts. It has been a fun learning experience to be part of this group, working and collaborating together.

Chris Cagienard, Pest Solutions

Two years on and the CSN is still proving to be an invaluable resource to us. We currently have four pest management service agreements running with network members. We couldn’t be happier with how the system is running. We have three more in the pipeline and are looking forward to building on the current working relationships we have in place and looking for new partnerships in other areas of the UK.

Martin Rose-King, Bounty Pest Control

Want to learn more?

If you’re a BPCA member, you can learn more about the CSN or join the network now.

Source: PPC96