Nestled in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales are award-winning workplace fit-out and furniture specialists, Ultimate (Commercial Interiors) Ltd.
They have a large and impressive portfolio of clients including CEG, Savills, PepsiCo, Skipton Building Society, National Trust, Arup, Holiday Inn and Marriot, for whom they have helped optimise the value and return on their project investment, inspiring creative design with sustainable interiors, products and delivering environments that embrace collaboration, connectivity and wellbeing.
To inspire their clients, they have created a unique experience with a specifically designed, workplace experience centre that offers insights, inspiration, and ideas for those looking to create their own modern and vibrant workspaces in the office, hotel, leisure, education, and healthcare sectors – The Hive.
Looking to grow the business even more and make further operational improvements, Ultimate embarked on a digital transformation as part of a five-year strategy to make them a more efficient and truly customer-centric organisation, turning to Cheetah Transformation and our market-leading Smartsheet expertise to help them achieve their vision.
Aligning people, priorities and purpose
Strategy transformation is one of Smartsheet’s key pillars and as a Smartsheet Platinum Partner – the highest echelon of Smartsheet partners worldwide – we are perfectly positioned to implement transformational change. By aligning people, priorities and purpose, we enable an organisation to unleash its combined potential.
In this case, Ultimate, wanted a system that would benefit clients and delivery partners; not just themselves.
They wanted to reconfigure their systems and ways of working to improve the client and partner experience with an easier, more streamlined process that makes quoting quicker, and provides live project reporting and easy access to all project documentation, thus enabling full collaboration and consequential efficiency.
In doing so, they wanted to create the following internal benefits that would ultimately benefit the customer too:
- A more efficient organisation.
- Consistent ways of working.
- Live updates reducing the need for meetings.
- Communicate more effectively.
- Significant reduction in manual duplication in the transfer of information.
- Identify trends and convert to opportunities for improvement.
- The parameters had been set and Vision+, Ultimate’s Smartsheet solution, was begun.
Bringing Project Vision+ to life
Our consultant, Youssef Mejri, took the lead on Vision+, having previous experience of working in fixtures and fittings.
He set about designing a solution that would indeed satisfy Ultimate’s vision – to be the UK’s most recommended partner for interior fit out and furniture. To do this means putting the customer experience at the heart of the solution.
The solution has two linked main modules, both of which contribute to a better customer experience:
- Opportunity and estimating intake
- Fit-out or furniture delivery
Quoting and estimating intake: A high degree of automation and information handling expedites the creation and approval process. It also means reducing data handling and reducing the chance of mistakes or information going missing and/or getting stuck in an email inbox. So, the client receives their quote quicker, and with confidence that everything has been considered.
Fit-out or furniture delivery: Project/site managers load all the related information, details of deliveries, permits and who is on site each day, into the solution so that the customer, Ultimate and everyone in the supply chain has a real time view of the information.
The solution delivers to the needs of three audiences – internally, the Ultimate team (project managers, site managers and senior team), and externally, clients and the supply chain, thus enabling a collaborative and clear view of each project.
The solution has two other significant benefits. It contributes to Ultimate’s ISO certification and captures project-related mileage and car sharing that enables the company to build sustainability into its project planning and execution – an increasingly popular feature with clients.
Benefits for the customer
Every project has a customer dashboard, so clients have the most up-to-date information about their project at their fingertips.
This includes updates from the project manager/site manager; the programme of works, including milestones and delays; live completion dates; health and safety information; a client task tracker; project drawings and approvals, weekly reporting, and so much more.
The benefits of having all this information in one place means:
- No need to seek out updates, or to find information, drawings etc.
- Reduced inbox traffic, saving time on tracking down details.
- Easy and instant project updates within the client’s business.
- Improve focus on risks, actions and assigned responsibilities.
Benefits for Ultimate
Our solution holds all the information that project and site managers need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively to delight the client.
The PM/site manager dashboard provides details of deliveries, permits and who is on site each day, and includes provision to record accidents, near misses and incidents to meet Health and Safety requirements.
It means information is provided once and can be used twice: by the client and by Ultimate, increasing efficiency all round.
In addition, Ultimate’s senior team can track the progress of quotes/estimates at every stage, providing improved analysis on sales and opportunities.
The clear, concise, real-time overview of all projects assists decision making and provides support as and when it is needed. Overall, everyone has a complete view of the pipeline to help with planning.
Workload management, such as who is on site/on team, creates a huge circle of benefits, helping to provide a better balance of work for the team, site, QS, and contracts managers, which in turn, means they are less stretched so they can give each client more attention and better service.
Benefits for the supply chain
Every external person working on a project has access to a single dashboard. This means they are all interconnected to one another, and all the tasks being done on site.
It enables them to each plan their individual tasks so that each person is on site when the site is ready for them. For example, plumbers know when the sanitaryware will be delivered so they can be available at the first opportunity.
The benefits of this are twofold:
- For the supply chain, there is no wasting time to find out what is going on and when, or turning up before a site is ready for them.
- For the customer, it minimises ‘nothing happening days’ that are a common occurrence on projects when the correct person is not on site to do the next task.
We sum it up with this simple equation: minimised delays = faster completion = reduced business disruption.
“Vision+ by Smartsheet has given us the ability to have a 20/20 view to our horizon, allowing us to dynamically manage our strategic roadmap like never before.
“It’s also, simultaneously, afforded us the opportunity to look in the rear view mirror, take an analytical approach to the lessons learned and capitalise on any opportunities that present themselves.
Paul Alexander, Ultimate’s Director of Sales, Brand and Furniture Lead“This tailor-made solution now connects our team, our partners, and our clients, via one seamless management system and it is a game-changer!”
Why is the solution so good?
Firstly, the Ultimate team have given their unfettered support! Everyone has dedicated proper time to the scoping, building and testing process. And by fully investing in building the solution, they are getting a much higher ROI, because it does exactly what they want it to do.
Secondly, Ultimate chose to purchase Smartsheet Advance Gold package. This package includes all the Smartsheet Premium Apps enabling a more sophisticated solution to be built.
The solution utilises Control Center with Dynamic Scope Reporting and Portfolio Work Apps, plus Data Mesh, Pivot and Data Shuttle. Each of these adds more functionality and reach to the solution, that enables the delivery of the multitude of benefits to the customer, to Ultimate and to their supply chain.
Our consultant, Youssef Mejri says:
“The pace at which the Ultimate team worked throughout the project lifecycle was remarkable.
“From requirements gathering to UAT, the team’s commitment to build was consistent.
“Bobby Murriero, Contracts Director, and Jen Davidson, Project Co-ordinator, had a deep understanding of the business which enabled us to build a bespoke transformational solution.”
Find out more about Ultimate
Ultimate were awarded the Fit-Out/Refurbishment of the Year for their prestigious Portland House development in Newcastle at the Business Insider North-East Property Awards in May 2023 and they have been awarded the ‘Platinum Partner’ certificate of excellence from global office furniture giant Steelcase.
Since the company was founded, it has built on its experience by delivering projects large and small with the aim of inspiring clients with a passion for and commitment to first-class delivery and aftercare.
The Ultimate teams work closely with architects and interior designers to offer a full design service that incorporates site surveys, space appraisals, design schemes, 3D visuals and even 3D walk-throughs of the designs.
They also deliver turnkey design and build fit-out and refurbishment, encompassing all trades including M&E, consultancy, planning and design, project management, loose furniture, bespoke and fixed furniture, move management and audio-visual.
The business is fully compliant with CDM2015 with the ability and insurance to act as Principal Contractor and Principal Designer.
But its USP really is the Hive head office, visit the website to see it and find out more.
Get in touch with Cheetah Transformation
Cheetah’s strategy transformation for Ultimate is paying off to such an extent, the business is now planning a second phase to deliver even more benefits to the company, their clients, and suppliers.
If you have questions about Smartsheet or would like a free and friendly conversation about what Smartsheet and Cheetah Transformation can do to help you drive change in your organisation, get in touch below.
