OAL digitises its operations
In mid-2020, as the UK remained in lockdown due to COVID-19, we were awarded a grant to digitise our operations. As a result of the steps taken, we’re now working smarter, faster and more productively, helping the business to accelerate significantly. James Palmer, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, visited us to see how we got on!
Banishing paper to the recycling
Harry and the team were able to digitise the business thanks to the COVID-19 Capital Grants Scheme from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority. With a grant of around £48,000, OAL was able to make the most of the quieter period at the height of the lockdown to take steps to streamline operations and take advantage of new technologies. This meant an end to old systems generating what amounted to around 14 square metres of paperwork and non-integrated software which made it difficult for our teams to work collaboratively.
“This grant has been extraordinarily important for the future of our business. People are now doing in two hours what it might have take them all day to do before. We’re estimating productivity gains of about 20% within our business.”
State-of-the-art pods
The digitisation comes with 14 new, fully-equipped pods for staff to work in. Building work for the new pods and the setting up of the new equipment has been very cost-effective, using local contractors, prefabricated panels, Amazon Alexa hubs and Microsoft Teams software, for example, to slash the cost of a typical refit and overhaul. This meant we actually achieved double the number of pods than what was originally envisioned with the grant money.
Each pod is self-sufficient with its own ventilation, lights and screens allowing one person to work in a quiet, productive environment, where they can collaborate with colleagues and customers easily through video calls and shared documents, allowing for a more interactive way of working.
The pods also allow people to work in two-metre spaces, adhering to the latest public health guidelines, as beforehand the original open plan office environment provided too many distractions and meetings were not always productive.
“Adversity does create opportunity and COVID-19 has given us time to reflect. We had too much paperwork and our systems held back our potential to work more effectively as a team. The more we have rolled out this technology, the more we wished we had done it sooner.”
We received a ringing endorsement from Mayor Palmer, who was amazed by how much we achieved with the grant and commented that we had created “the most innovative, paperless 21st century office” and “the future of offices”. The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority were exceptionally helpful throughout the application process, offering practical information and even making themselves available at weekends to help support us at what was a difficult time across the world. The transformation that we made wouldn’t have been possible without the grant so a big thank you to Mayor Palmer and the rest of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority team!
