QC Communications case study
Introduction
Installation of new telecommunications infrastructure, whether internal, underground or aerial, creates challenges. As one of Australia’s leading optical fibre and data specialists, QC Communications provides complete turnkey solutions with design, construction, technical and project management services to a wide variety of clients such as Telstra, Optus, Vocus TPG and NBN within the telecommunications industry, covering all pit and pipe installation, cable installation, splicing, testing and commissioning.
QC Communications has grown rapidly since they launched in 1997 as an expert delivery partner in telecommunications infrastructure, including installing internal, underground and aerial telecommunications infrastructure for even the most technically and physically challenging projects.
The Challenge
A few years back, we didn’t have as many people, and as we grew the risk to the company increased. We were running with good people who had a lot of responsibility for a wide range of complex tasks. As the company grew rapidly, we discovered we needed to change to control the risks and create oversight.
When the company was smaller it was easier to manage, but when it grew we realised we needed a different structure, with more centralised information and reporting.
We needed data quickly – without looking through piles of invoices. We needed proper business analysis capability. Managing the controls around the contracting invoicing and payment processes was critical.
Implementing ConSol
We had no system before that and all of our departments ran differently. ConSol brought them together in one process. Implementing ConSol included learning a different mindset for us. We had to implement the change throughout the company across the country. We have a lot of moving parts. We find we still need to keep communicating the importance of the change to people because it requires a different level of transparency and openness.
The ConSol implementation helped us to look at a range of our own internal processes which we changed to become more effective and take advantage of automation. We were able to leverage off the experience of the Yarris team and other ConSol users to create more effective ways of working together.
Finding the time to do it was the hardest. There’s never going to be a good time. We implemented ConSol at the one of the busiest times our business has ever seen, including process changes and organisational restructures.
When you’re trying to implement change when your busy it’s a burden, another thing the team have to do. Either publicly or privately, they’re asking themselves, is the system going to make my life harder? Is it really going to save me time? Do I have the skills to work the system?
Many of the QC Communications staff saw the company growth and realised the need for the changes. Some of them had come from other companies and had used the system before. They were champions for the change. Other people took a little longer to come along on the journey. Some staff thought it probably was never going to happen.
What are you seeing now?
The whole company is using ConSol now. We are a competitive company ready to keep growing – the structures and the systems are still developing. We’ll keep developing our approaches to get the most out of the system.
Most of the pain is over. We’ve changed our internal structures for work, communication and reporting. We’re still changing and updating some of our order and contract details. We’re fine tuning the system now and next we’ll leverage it. Now we can pinpoint issues, bottlenecks and trends immediately. We’re already more productive, with less duplication of effort, an audit trail and better communication with our
sub-contractors.
Summary
We have a lot of information to help us make decisions now, including work in progress, costs forecasts, we can view issued work and associated costs, the GMs can manage supervisor workloads and we can clearly see who’s verifying and reporting on a wide range of work across our clients.
We’re more competitive. ConSol created more onus on each individual to be accountable to manage performance, including the supervisors, coordinators, Project Managers and General Managers. ConSol is providing lead indicators of performance and historical data to make crucial business decisions on our operations.
QC Communications case study
Introduction
Installation of new telecommunications infrastructure, whether internal, underground or aerial, creates challenges. As one of Australia’s leading optical fibre and data specialists, QC Communications provides complete turnkey solutions with design, construction, technical and project management services to a wide variety of clients such as Telstra, Optus, Vocus TPG and NBN within the telecommunications industry, covering all pit and pipe installation, cable installation, splicing, testing and commissioning.
QC Communications has grown rapidly since they launched in 1997 as an expert delivery partner in telecommunications infrastructure, including installing internal, underground and aerial telecommunications infrastructure for even the most technically and physically challenging projects.
The Challenge
A few years back, we didn’t have as many people, and as we grew the risk to the company increased. We were running with good people who had a lot of responsibility for a wide range of complex tasks. As the company grew rapidly, we discovered we needed to change to control the risks and create oversight.
When the company was smaller it was easier to manage, but when it grew we realised we needed a different structure, with more centralised information and reporting.
We needed data quickly – without looking through piles of invoices. We needed proper business analysis capability. Managing the controls around the contracting invoicing and payment processes was critical.
Implementing ConSol
We had no system before that and all of our departments ran differently. ConSol brought them together in one process. Implementing ConSol included learning a different mindset for us. We had to implement the change throughout the company across the country. We have a lot of moving parts. We find we still need to keep communicating the importance of the change to people because it requires a different level of transparency and openness.
The ConSol implementation helped us to look at a range of our own internal processes which we changed to become more effective and take advantage of automation. We were able to leverage off the experience of the Yarris team and other ConSol users to create more effective ways of working together.
Finding the time to do it was the hardest. There’s never going to be a good time. We implemented ConSol at the one of the busiest times our business has ever seen, including process changes and organisational restructures.
When you’re trying to implement change when your busy it’s a burden, another thing the team have to do. Either publicly or privately, they’re asking themselves, is the system going to make my life harder? Is it really going to save me time? Do I have the skills to work the system?
Many of the QC Communications staff saw the company growth and realised the need for the changes. Some of them had come from other companies and had used the system before. They were champions for the change. Other people took a little longer to come along on the journey. Some staff thought it probably was never going to happen.
What are you seeing now?
The whole company is using ConSol now. We are a competitive company ready to keep growing – the structures and the systems are still developing. We’ll keep developing our approaches to get the most out of the system.
Most of the pain is over. We’ve changed our internal structures for work, communication and reporting. We’re still changing and updating some of our order and contract details. We’re fine tuning the system now and next we’ll leverage it. Now we can pinpoint issues, bottlenecks and trends immediately. We’re already more productive, with less duplication of effort, an audit trail and better communication with our
sub-contractors.
Summary
We have a lot of information to help us make decisions now, including work in progress, costs forecasts, we can view issued work and associated costs, the GMs can manage supervisor workloads and we can clearly see who’s verifying and reporting on a wide range of work across our clients.
We’re more competitive. ConSol created more onus on each individual to be accountable to manage performance, including the supervisors, coordinators, Project Managers and General Managers. ConSol is providing lead indicators of performance and historical data to make crucial business decisions on our operations.
