What problems did you have before you partnered with Guardhouse?
Look, one of the things in our business is we were running Guardhouse via Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, paper. Paper was our biggest. So, when we were engaging guards, we’d have employee files. If a customer needed a copy or something or if you needed a piece of compliance, you needed to scan it, emailit, and so forth. You always rely on going back to the office to get the information that you needed, but one thing with Guardhouse is everything is in-house. Everything is in one system, so the customer can look at the compliance. Who’s on duty? Do they have a valid license and relevant accreditation to do the job?
What benefits have you experienced as a result of Guardhouse?
Look, the most positive is productivity and accuracy in our compliance. From the get-go, anyone that comes on board, they’re in Guardhouse to make sure that all their accreditation is in Guardhouse. It’s valid, the customer has access, the schedules are in there, the rostering is all in one system. We don’t have to be fixed at a desk, in an office, in one location. We can be traveling nationally to visit all of our clients or prospects. And at the same time, we can do rosters, compliance, and so forth using one app or on our laptops.
What feature made you choose Guardhouse?
The one thing is everything in the one piece of software. So, whether it is compliance hiring a guard, compliance on our labor hire partners, our schedules, our budgeting. We know how much the customer is paying, how much we’re spending. Everything is all in one app. The reporting is in there. I guess the benefit is, with you guys at Guardhouse is that, as this software evolves and grows, it’s more beneficial to us. Everything that is customized, everything that is in the app has been created from the feedback of the people currently using it.
If you were to recommend Guardhouse to your best friend, what would you say?
Look, there’s a lot of software out there. There’s a lot of people out there selling your product that they say will do A, B, C. The one thing with Guardhouse is the guys understand the industry, the guys understand their product, the guys listen to our feedback, and it’s just an easy product from the get-go. Look, whether you’re technically savvy or not, it’s a product that you can log in and start using. You can’t make mistakes. Click a button; it’ll put a shift in there. Click a button; it’ll add a guard in there, publish a shift. If you make a mistake by deleting a shift, it’s simple as just re-enter the shift.
What surprised or satisfied you the most about Guardhouse?
I will say two things. Number one is ease of use. It is very, very simple to use. You don’t need IT degree in order to use the app. Secondly is every time you need to ask a question from a technical support point of view, a lot of products out there every time you ask a question, it comes with an invoice or a quote. The one thing with Guardhouse is you ask a question, and most of the time you find out it’s in development because somebody else has made the same suggestion as you. It’s just the support and ease of use.
Anything else you want to add?
I think there’s a couple of things. Firstly, from Guardhouse, you guys, it doesn’t matter what time of the day or evening, of course. It doesn’t matter what time of the day. It doesn’t matter what the request is. Because they’re always thereto listen, always there to offer advice. Sometimes a question may pop up that we’ve never thought of before. It’s just quite easy just to give you guys a call or send you guys an email. Just go, “Hey, guys. I’ve been asked thisq uestion. What do you think?”
There’s always another option where you guys can support us. Our business, we have a lot of ad hoc work, a last-minute work, which are not long-term clients. Go back five years ago, you get through a credit application form, you have to do reference checks, you have to speak to people that dealt with, to see that these guys a reliable customers.
Now, within Guardhouse and its partners, you can get online credit card payments. You get your payment before you do the service, which means you’re getting paid. Everything is in front of you in one app or in one feature.
