Better processes and business intelligence: Avonwood

Avonwood Developments is a manufacturing and technology company, established in 1987.

What do Avonwood do?

• Provide Health & Safety hardware and software solutions to help customers reduce risk and make working environments safer.
• Provide active RFID tags on equipment, vehicles and people in order to warn staff in the vicinity about safety hazards.
• Collect data on the interaction of RFID tags on worksites for big data capabilities.

See Avonwood’s ZoneSafe product video:

 

What’s their situation?

• Customers in various industries, including printing, cosmetics, waste & recycling and manufacturing.
• Waste and recycling has increased. The waste sector is 18 times more likely to have incidents than average.
• Customer base is growing worldwide – and therefore Avonwood is competing worldwide.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has made businesses focus on health and safety even more so.
• They have 20 UK-based staff, plus partners that sell in international markets.

What technology do they use?

• .NET
• Azure
• Some PHP

The problem

“We have a growing number of competitors. To retain our leading position, we have to improve our offering.” – David Thomas, General Manager Avonwood Developments

However, Avonwood didn’t feel confident that it had enough internal knowledge and experience to develop a solution themselves. “We wanted to work with a company who understood hosted solutions, Azure and understood our business and customers.”

They saw themselves having these issues:

• Customers weren’t getting enough value. They couldn’t access useful insights and intelligence.
• Avonwood was largely focussed on hardware sales, as opposed to a more scalable software solution.
• “Only 10% of our customers use our software product. We want everyone to use it.”
• Data is the key to understanding and reducing risk. “We want customers to make decisions based on data from our system.”
• “We want to develop the system so that it gives them advance warning and preventative measures – making it truly intelligent.”

The solution

Avonwood partnered up with illumo digital in May 2020. We provided the following:

• Consultancy. We helped them understand their current position, articulate their needs, and clarify their vision.
• Planning. We created and prioritised a roadmap for the evolution of their software.
• Software development. We improved their existing software, maximising its business value.
• User testing. We trialled the new system with a small sample of customers. This uncovered the perceived value, and helped us refine the software.
• System testing. This reduces risk during releases, improving security and stability.
• Improved processes. We’ve introduced new processes to improve the quality, speed and reliability of releases.
• Ensured compliance. Ensure Avonwood is adhering to rules and regulations.

Feedback

David Thomas, General Manager Avonwood Developments:

“It’s refreshing to work with people who really know and understand what they do, and are passionate about what they do. They were very good at guiding us through the process.”

“Helastel (now illumo digital) would explain technical aspects in layman’s terms. We felt comfortable knowing that if we weren’t sure about anything, they’d patiently take their time explaining it to us.”

“We were made to feel like part of the team. We collaborated on the roadmap. And we were able to tap into the knowledge and experience of their developers, business consultants and project managers.”

“Due to Covid-19, we’ve done it all remotely, using collaboration technology. From day one it was a transparent process, seeing things being built in front of us.”