Gavin Jones Ltd

About

Gavin Jones Ltd is a highly successful Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance company. They operate from their head office and 4.5 acre plantation in Surrey.

They work throughout the UK and have a number of high profile clients including being holders of the Royal Warrant since 2008.

The challenge

• Disillusioned with existing accounting solution
• To avoid costly software upgrade

Gavin Jones had previously become disillusioned with their accounting system and the company behind it. Many of the initial promises of what the system could offer had never materialised.

In addition, costs were being levied for every system tweak and small modification which they required.

Ultimately the trigger for Gavin Jones to invest in new software was when they were informed that future development was being ceased on the product and the alternative was a costly upgrade with their current supplier.

With this in mind they decided to look at other available products. Prior to selecting their current system, Martyn Mogford, Managing Director of Gavin Jones had had good experiences of using the successful MICAbuild product for accounting and contract management.

Having been a very satisfied customer, Martyn had followed with interest the progress of personnel from MICAbuild. Consequently, he was aware that many of the team had gone on to develop a new product and company, Mardak Ltd.

The solution

On 1st January 2008 Gavin Jones Ltd went live with a 25 user Evolution M (Mardak) system.

Gavin Jones were clear in their requirements of a new accounting system. Key priorities were that the system needed to operate in a Windows environment and to be extremely user friendly.
In addition the system had to be able to provide straightforward exportation of data and flexible reporting alternatives. Martyn commented, “A real frustration with the Intellect system was that it was difficult enough to enter information into the system, but it was even more difficult to get usable reporting information back out!

It was crucial for us to have a system where other departments’ Managers & staff, not just the accounts team, could easily access and utilise data being held.”

The benefits

The “1-click” export to Excel feature in Evolution M provided Gavin Jones with exactly what they were looking for. The functionality enables the results of every enquiry, drilldown or report to be dropped into excel with only one click.

“The 1-click export to Excel feature in Evolution M (Mardak) is terrific. It is remarkably quick and straightforward to use and enables any user, and particularly those unfamiliar with accounts processing, to work with data in a format they are comfortable and familiar with.” enthused Martyn.

During the selection process Gavin Jones held a series of meetings with Mardak Ltd. Site visits to other clients, Beam Construction Ltd and E G Carters & Co Ltd confirmed that the Mardak (Evolution M) system would meet all of their requirements.
“I could see that the system would provide us with real benefits in terms of business knowledge. The system met with 95% of the functionality that we required, where the functionality was not yet available we had the benefit of being able to get involved and work together with Mardak Ltd (now Integrity Software) to develop the functionality to ensure it meets our exact requirements and importantly without any cost to us.”

The result

“The system is ‘job cost driven’ so we know exactly what profit we are making on every single contract. It is excellent at coping with contract applications, certificates, retentions, etc (as well as CIS Subcontractor payments) but also has a simple billing system for domestic clients and an excellent system for repetitive routine monthly billings for Grounds maintenance clients.”

“Since going live on the system, Evolution M has exceeded our expectations. The system is easy to use and we had a relatively quick learning curve for our accounts department to get up to speed – much easier than it was with Intellect.”
Martyn commented “We have been live for well over a year now; the system has proved extremely reliable and improvements are being added regularly at no cost.”

“The customer care and product support given by Integrity Software is first class. When support requests are logged they are quickly responded to. The support staff are friendly and helpful. The Directors of the company are accessible and always willing to talk – they understand the importance of their customers and provide a service which reflects this.

They are good people to do business with. When you invest in a Evolution construction accounting package you are not just investing in a system but also in the people behind it.”