DPD UK Asset Management Statistics
- £2.5bn turnover business
- 22 000 employees
- ~50 000 pieces of equipment (phones, laptops, printers etc)
Value added by Performa IT
- Asset Management Project begun April 2021
- Customisation and Bespoke Development
- Asset Management system launched in October 2021
Background
Since 2016 Performa IT have been supporting DPD UK in their Salesforce implementations, gradually touching 38 organisational departments with integrated enterprise management technology and business capability.
In summer 2022, Adam Hooper, Head of Salesforce for DPD UK, gives us this update on their progress:
“Asset Management is the latest large-scale functionality that Performa IT have implemented for us, transforming how we track and manage equipment allocation and deployment across the business.
“This is typically an admin job that gets overlooked because it isn’t our core business – but the impact of handling it well is mind-blowing.”
Asset Management Challenge
Describing the hidden burden of Asset Management within the business Adam says:
“With up to 50 000 pieces of equipment in the business, all carrying a capital cost and on-going depreciation, it’s important to keep tabs on all of it.
“Equipment can go missing. People move jobs and take phones with them; staff go on parental leave and lock laptops in drawers for months. In an organisation the size of DPD UK it’s impossible to manually track the whereabouts of everything,” Adam explains.
“Up until now we were managing our assets entirely on Google spreadsheets. Every administrator had a different spreadsheet, or different versions of the same spreadsheet.
“It was impossible to keep track of where equipment was or how it was being used. This was tying up a huge amount of hidden cost within the business.”
Requirement
“As in many other areas of our business Salesforce has helped us get rid of the horrible spreadsheet approach to process management,” Adam explains.
“We wanted to achieve the same integration and consistent picture of our asset cost-base as we do for example in Sales and Customer Contact.”
Why Performa IT?
“Performa IT have a proven track record with DPD UK, helping us achieve a flagship Call Centre solution as well as establish enterprise management functionality,” says Adam.
“Putting their development expertise to work for Asset Management meant unlocking even more savings and admin efficiencies.
“Since they know our system inside out we knew they would embellish our platform to add extra behind-the-scenes value from a more streamlined process.”
Performa IT’s Solution
Performa IT have delivered an Asset Management suite which is a mix of bespoke and customised development.
Bespoke scanning capability for Asset Tracking
“Performa IT have developed bespoke barcode scanning capability over i-phone or Android, so assets can be tracked using a mobile device,” Adam says.
“This means that we can now identify every piece of equipment in the business and determine where it is and who’s responsible for it at any point in time.
“If a laptop has been scanned into our repair shop we know that it is now the workshop’s responsibility until it’s then returned to its owner,” Adam explains.
“Likewise, at the end of its life a piece of equipment is removed by our trusted ITAD partner, who scans it into their possession on our system. This gives us a clear audit and prevents equipment going AWOL.”
Managing equipment allocation and recall
With this capability there is greater scope for monitoring how equipment is being used.
“We can match a particular asset to an employee, so if the asset is lost, hasn’t been used or if the employee leaves the organisation we can automatically issue a charge or recall their equipment,” says Adam.
Depreciation Calculation
Performa IT have built in the ability to calculate equipment depreciation over its lifetime.
“This helps recoup costs should equipment go missing,” says Adam.
“It also gives a more realistic and timely picture of our equipment liability. These types of calculations used to be carried out manually on a monthly basis. Now the data is available daily.”
‘Missing in Action’ Alerts
“If a laptop hasn’t been switched on for 30 days the system detects its inactivity,” Adam continues.
“The responsible owner is then bombarded with automated messages to clarify the status of the laptop. This results in early resolution and a huge reduction in ‘lost’ assets.”
Asset Portal
Salesforce powerfully enables efficiencies through self-service capabilities, such as on-screen guidance for how to solve problems with particular pieces of equipment, get repairs carried out or order new equipment.
“Since the Asset Management system recognises each asset owner and their equipment profile users can be served with targeted information that suits their needs,” says Adam.
Integration with IT Service Desk
“If a user has an IT problem that they report to the service desk, the system can match the issue with the particular asset. This means problems with equipment can be resolved more quickly and directly,” says Adam.
Benefits
DPD UK are now enjoying Salesforce capability across 38 different departments within the organisation – including sales, Customer Service, IT Support, finance, HR and some operational elements of parcel delivery.
The specific benefits arising from the Asset Management capability include:
Increased efficiency
“Google spreadsheet management is becoming a thing of the past!” Adam declares.
“What used to take weeks now takes minutes as all the information is held in one place, is searchable and traceable, and has automated workflows structured around it.”
True View of Assets
Salesforce provides a single, consistent picture of Assets and their status, responsible owner, value, life-cycle, depreciation and associated support calls.
“This is not only making Asset Management more efficient it is also streamlining the asset’s journey through support, repair and obsolescence, and minimising its Total Cost of Ownership,” says Adam.
Reduction of ‘Missing in Action’ equipment
“Since automating the follow up of equipment that seems to have gone missing, we have significantly reduced the amount of ‘lost’ items,” says Adam.
“All it takes are reminders prompting the owner to confirm the asset is safe, and a workflow to determine what to do if not.
“If the asset is confirmed as missing we can charge the owner and recoup some of the asset costs back into the organisation.”
Improved purchase forecasting
Given all the information associated with a particular asset, such as life-cycle and depreciation, the system is able to generate purchasing schedule reports.
“If we know that an i-phone lasts for 4 years and we know when we bought it and how it’s been used we can predict how many more we need to acquire to replace existing stock on a rolling basis,” Adam explains.
“This gives us a month-by-month shopping list of new equipment while we phase out the old in a controlled manner.”
Enhanced Corporate Social Responsibility
“We have recently donated a number of obsolete laptops to local charities,” Adam says.
“Having looked after the assets under our ownership, we are able to release them to worthy causes more easily and safely. This means our communities benefit and it’s kinder to the planet.”
New Possibilities arising for DPD UK
As usual Adam has a growing list of projects on which he wishes to engage Performa IT as part of his mission to make Salesforce the central enterprise platform for DPD’s UK business.
“Our next plans include a drivers’ portal which they can access from their mobile devices; a new Health and Safety platform and a new pan-European system implementation,” he says.
“We’ll also be refining our Sales process and our Call Centre operation.
“The more our teams use Salesforce the more they want to tailor it. It’s a mark of success that we’ve got to the point where our Sales and Customer Service staff want to make enhancements and improvements. It means they’re using it!”
Recommendation
“We continue to have a great relationship with Performa IT,” says Adam.
“They have proved themselves and their expertise with Salesforce to the extent that the platform has become embedded as the go-to solution for further business improvements.”
Performa IT says
“It’s great to see Adam and his team expanding Salesforce’s reach within DPD UK.
“It’s very satisfying to see the organisation developing a true appreciation of what Salesforce is capable of, and we love adding value to the business through different customisations and embellishments.
“We are excited that Adam continues to call upon Salesforce’s versatility as a whole-of-enterprise platform for very large organisations. And as a team that eat, breathe and sleep Salesforce development we love the challenge of finding more ways to support DPD UK in their Salesforce quest!”
