Echo Barrier products are used by the UK’s top ten construction companies and the company’s overseas subsidiaries are expanding fast so it soon became clear that a solution was needed.   

General Manager Dave Lindsay said: “It became clear quite quickly that our sound barriers had ‘Rolls Royce’ status and demand was poised to take off in a big way.”
He continues, “We needed to purchase information systems that would handle the growing business, with scalability to accommodate rising international demand. They would also need to track all our assets and effectively manage our sales and hire cycles.” Echo Barrier looked at numerous IT solutions on the market, but only one fitted the bill: the MCS- rmhire management software from MCS.
This system could manage all Echo Barrier’s business activities and more importantly, be rolled out remotely. As the business expanded, all the databases used in the different territories could be hosted on a single, centrally administered cloud-based solution and be accessed remotely by staff over an internet connection.  
The project went forward quickly after the decision was made to purchase MCS- rm and now the Echo Barrier business is going from strength to strength. In the UK, the MCS solution manages all Echo Barrier’s end-to-end business processes and records all itemised products, as well as a host of accessories.

This provides revenue-driven opportunities, as prompts on the system ensure that staff never miss an opportunity to upsell an accessory. The Echo Barrier sales team use MCS CRM to create quotes, track and record calls and analyse the sales figures. Batch invoicing is efficiently performed each week and all financial accounts are kept in order with MCS Financials.

The team also utilise business cubes to interrogate the MCS Financials data and this reveals useful financial insights. Standard customer price grids also make life easier, as each customer’s pricing is automatically set up in the pricing grid facility.
The main benefit of implementing MCS- rm is the tracking of all Echo Barrier’s global assets. Dave says, “Each barrier is security coded, so that by using a scanning device we can see which site the piece of equipment has gone to, and it can assist in calculating its utilisation rate. We can also track depreciation rates for each item and from this we can identify when a hire asset should be sold off. We can access this information by running a combination of my own and customised MCS reports.
From these, we can derive the facts and figures  instantly and accurately.” Because the MCS- rm solution is cloud-based, Dave and the team are on hand to assist in its set up and provide central support for the entire global network of Echo Barrier offices. Dave elaborates, “It was imperative that I had an IT solution that could be easily duplicated and managed with international use in mind. The cloud-based scenario means all the different global databases are stored on the same virtual server and accessed remotely by Mac and PC desktop devices and I can manage the whole process and retain full control!”
Efficiency has greatly increased by being able to scan documents and generate electronically scanned contracts and proof of delivery and collection notes.  Information is instantly to hand and physical files and paper no longer consume office space.

Dave sums up, “The scanning system is fantastic! We scan everything we can. Nothing is paper-based now; it’s all in an electronic format, saving time and enabling us to make the most of our resources.” Dave outlines the company’s growth strategy, “In 2012, we opened new offices in the Middle East, America and Canada, with Singapore and Hong Kong then opening in 2013. We will bring these offices into the fold using the cloud-based solution.”