Future-Proof Your Uniform Management System

When speaking with our clients, we encourage them to treat their uniform management system like a car: in its infancy it is brand new, has the latest technology and all you need to do to maintain it is fill it with petrol (in this case, clients, products, orders) to keep it running. With a car, as time goes on and you start to clock up the miles, it needs more care and attention. Regular servicing and, after 3 years, an annual MOT is a legal requirement to ensure it is road safe. A platform is no different – it should be constantly updated by the experts, and evaluated yearly to ensure it’s functioning to the best of its ability.

Why am I telling you this? Because when you select the Smart Red platform, you’re not simply getting the platform – you’re getting the team at Big Red, their full experience and insights on how to use Smart Red to its full potential. We have skin in the game remember; as you use the platform to grow and gain new clients, we grow with you! Here are ways that, after you’ve launched your uniform management system, you can futureproof it.

Your Platform’s Service & MOT

Your Account Management review meetings with your provider are the equivalent of your platform’s service and MOT. Technology is constantly changing and your platform needs to move with the times. I often tell clients that elements that will be core to the platform in a few years are only in their infancy right now! Your digital partner should proactively ensure you are up to date with the latest changes in technology as well as additional functionality that have been game changers in the market. Ultimately this allows you to concentrate on your own business, and delivering an excellent standard of service to your customers.

Encourage Constant Feedback

As part of your Account Management reviews with your provider, you should always bring feedback from all users of the platform. Ultimately, happy users are returning users, therefore uniform wearers and the administrators of the uniform management system should be consistently asked for feedback to feed into the platform’s success. By learning about users' roles and challenges, we have invented and invested in new functionality - much to our clients’ delight. 

Examples include:

• Creating a ‘new starter form’, with automatic prompts to internal users and new starters, to quickly fill in all details required to order uniform accurately. This form, which takes 2 mins to complete, replaced a manual system that took on average 5 working days to capture all information.

• Providing relevant end-users more administrative functionality within the platform to self-serve, rather than waiting for their workwear supplier to update information (e.g. adding staff members, amending wardrobes and products available to staff etc).

• Installing innovative reports and dashboards to allow clients to easily analyse their uniform spend. This has changed the way companies forecast spend and helped to easily expose previously unseen efficiencies across the board.

Connect with External Systems

One of the main benefits our clients have seen by adopting Smart Red is the unlimited potential to connect it with existing/new software. There is no point reinventing the wheel – if you have a piece of software that works for you and is widely used, maximise it by connecting it with your uniform management portal!

A non-exhaustive list of systems we’ve connected with include:

• Single Sign On options (e.g. Microsoft Azure Active Directory)

• ERP Systems (including NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics and SAP)

• Inventory Management Systems

• PunchOut Systems

• Notification Systems (SMS messages, WhatsApp etc)

• Business Intelligence Systems (e.g., PowerBI)

• Payment Gateways (including Stripe, PayPal and SagePay)

These integrations have helped clients reduce admin time (by updating product/stock information in one area), forecast more accurately (by extracting and manipulating data in granular detail) and secure efficiencies across all areas of their business.

User Support

You wouldn’t start fiddling with things under the bonnet of your car without any prior knowledge of car mechanics, so why would you do the same for your platform? Particularly if you rely on it to generate valued revenue. Uniform management software is an evolving entity, that you should be able to update and add to as often as required. With the input of human error, problems will inevitably arise and vital areas such as bug fixes, keeping licences up to date, security patches need to be addressed. A user support contract will ultimately save you time, money and headaches by ensuring your portal is fully functioning.

Security

Probably the most overlooked aspect of a uniform management system is the highest level of security required to operate it. Ultimately, you’re storing personal data about people’s sizes, employment status, place of work and potentially even home addresses. If you are a  supplier, the platform may also form a vital part of your sales process. It is imperative to support yourself against hacking, which can decimate a business in a very short period of time. Here at Big Red Digital, we are subjected to regular penetration testing, with constant feedback, allowing us to recognise any potential area that needs amending and sharing this across our platform immediately. This is in conjunction with our gold-standard hosting services, which offers Digital Denial of Service (DDoS) and Back Up as a Service (BaaS) as standard, to ensure that if the worst happens, we can have you back up and running quickly with minimal disruption.

Future-Proof Your Partnership

Not only do you need a powerful uniform management system, you need an experienced partner to ensure it’s maintained to the highest standard - long into the future. You need Smart Red. Contact us today to get started! You can also watch our latest video to find out more - click on the link below.