Norfolk firm increases productivity by 40pc by upgrading digital systems

Proeon Systems, which it based at the Hethel Engineering Centre near Wymondham, chose to upgrade its customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Since rolling out the new software the company, which supplies safety and control systems to a range of sectors including the oil and gas, renewable, nuclear and utility industries, has seen a significant increase in its team's productivity.

Dr Dorian Hindmarsh, commercial manager at Proeon Systems, has found productivity has increased by 35pc to 40pc since new systems were installed (Image: Proeon Systems)

Dr Dorian Hindmarsh, commercial manager at Proeon Systems, said: “By being able to streamline our approach to communicating with our customers, we’ve seen a massive increase in productivity and, with that, a rise in profitability due to how we now interact with our customers – exactly what we set out to do.

“We’ve got a lot more freedom to do other things as well, including developing new client opportunities, because we now know where we are at a glance.”

He added: “Before, I’d manually take the data from a spreadsheet and decipher and manipulate it, then collate it all into a digestible report. Now, I can just press a button and our CRM software does it all for us.”

The government launched a Help to Grow: Digital scheme in January which gives eligible businesses up to £5,000 off upgrading their software.

It offers all UK businesses free, impartial support and guidance to help them:

• Identify the digital technology needs of their business
• Make informed decisions about which software products best meet those needs
• Successfully incorporate these products into their business.

In addition to this, the scheme also offers financial discounts on digital systems to UK businesses that have between five and 249 staff, have been trading for more than 12 months and are purchasing the approved software for the first time.