System visibility and process efficiency: LHL

LHL Property Auditors pursue financial recoveries where businesses have overpaid on their business rates. To do this, they identify businesses with a high likelihood of overpayment, and offer to pursue the recovery on their behalf.

The situation

Founded in 2014, LHL’s operations were first run through Microsoft Access, which met their needs as a small business. However, as the company grew the systems and processes in place were unable to keep up with the increased workload. Manual data entry and multiple spreadsheets were creating inefficiencies within the team, and the disparate systems meant there was no clear visibility for clients, team members or stakeholders. Additionally, the complex calculations required to check business rates slowed the system’s processing and created daily issues with files being deleted and wiped.

The opportunity

LHL came to us looking for a bespoke system that could serve the expanding team, increase efficiencies, and improve workflow visibility. To meet the needs of the scaling company, we implemented our rapid application development platform, enhanced with some bespoke functionality, specifically for LHL. In doing this, we maximised time to value and provided a system that could grow and adapt with the business without a need for new systems or restructuring. The enhanced functionality ensured we still incorporated the tailored requirements key to supporting their business growth.

The solution

A series of useful features were implemented:

• A managed workflow, meaning cases only advanced through the system once actions had been completed by each team. This increased ease of management and also provided better visibility as to the status of each case. 
• Created data that removed the need for manual input into the calculations process, making the claims assessment process entirely automatic. 
• With the calculations now performed automatically, they could also be bulk updated in line with band and rates changes.
• A testimonial function was implemented, allowing the team to search for testimonials based on industry or locality, to ensure they’re sending prospects the most relevant endorsements.
• When mailing, the system will bring up a bank of testimonials with categories ‘tagged’ into categories. This makes it easy for the team to customise messages to each prospect’s area or industry, giving messages a tailored feel.

The outcome

The platform met the needs of the expanding team, increased efficiencies, and improved workflow visibility to create fresh opportunities and revenue. 

The instant value of came from a reliable system built to process large datasets daily, without slowing, crashing, or deleting files. The system was designed to fit within the team’s existing workflow, while providing accountability and visibility as to where cases were and what needed to be actioned. The sales team were able to focus primarily on sales, while the system took over booking appointments and other administrative tasks, improving efficiency.

In automating the calculations required for assessment, removing the burden of manual data entry from the team and improving accuracy. This has allowed LHL to manage more complicated cases more efficiently.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the adaptability offered by the platform was paramount to the success of the company. The ability to flexibly update business rates across the system allowed the team to stay in step alongside the rapid changes announced by the government, while the ability to filter businesses based on specific criteria meant the company could pivot towards targeting appropriate companies.

LHL’s new platform has provided a reliable data hub and workflow management to drive productivity within the team, as well as assisting management with better transparency. This in turn has been essential in enabling LHL’s continued and consistent growth.