Daily Cleaning Services

Andron Manages to Deliver

Background

Managing Agent Capita Symonds has more than 170 properties located across the UK including offices, shopping centres and retail parks. Before Andron was awarded this contract in 2006, the cleaning services were delivered by more than 100 different suppliers ranging from window cleaning, waste and general cleaning companies, based on geographical location.

Challenge

The Capita Symonds cleaning contract was troubled by a lack of standardisation and common approach to cleaning. As such, certain sites received an excellent service that met or exceeded the client's expectations whilst cleaning on other sites was deemed as poor or unacceptable. We welcomed the opportunity to resolve this issue and implemented a plan of action.

Solution

In order to satisfy each site-specific client representative and deliver a unified cleaning service across this large portfolio, we took the following steps:

We carried out a 'voice of the customer' review to understand the client's concerns related to each site. Based on our findings we developed and implemented standard cleaning specifications and productivity rates across the portfolio. In addition we also provided a dedicated Key Account Manager to ensure that specifications were met and consistently maintained. We reviewed and confirmed cleaning requirements for each site and as a result we were able to deliver the majority of the services in-house.

Where we decided to use our supply-chain partners, we engaged with our long-term and trusted suppliers. As such, our supply-chain delivered cohesive and consistent service in line with our cleaning specifications. The geographical spread of our supply-chain partners in relation to specific sites also greatly improved the efficiency of our service delivery. Our overarching approach was based on clustering and integrating the Capita Symonds portfolio so that supply chain partners scheduled planned activities and attended a cluster of sites on the same day, effectively managing the contract's time and resources. Similarly, it enabled sub-contractors to remain flexible to respond to reactive and emergency tasks when needed.

For the purpose of this contract we adopted a different approach to the management of tasks. We typically used our own Helpdesk system to log, schedule, communicate and manage each task that we undertook, providing clients with access to view real-time task progression. Capita Symonds have a system that works in a similar vein, therefore we opted to train our Helpdesk Administrators to utilise their system. This avoided disrupting a process that evidently worked well for Capita Symonds and aided an open and transparent relationship.

We introduced monthly site-specific audits which allow us to monitor the consistency and quality of our cleaning and allow us to pinpoint any improvement areas. We also introduced common Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for ourselves and our sub-contractors. This enabled us to report on our performance using a jointly agreed report layout. Andron's Operations Director, Paul Orru, said: "By reforming and reorganising the cleaning service delivery for Capita Symonds, the client has benefited from a streamlined, efficient and consistent service. We became the 'one stop shop' for all cleaning requirements and established a dedicated Key Account Manager which enabled us to take full ownership of all service delivery issues."

Paul added: "We are dedicated to delivering a consistent service quality to all of our clients through regular monitoring and reporting. We're also able to improve services through step change and meet challenging improvement targets."