Rapid growth enjoyed by Horizon Engineering Solutions in recent years shows every sign of continuing through its Azolla Software collaboration, says operations director Joe Clancy.
When speaking to FM clients in all areas of the FM industry, one of their most important requirements is seeking effective partnerships with reliable service providers able to offer the necessary levels of technical expertise.
While this applies to all aspects of the industry, it becomes even more essential for the delivery of hard services to allow the client to keep pace with existing and emerging legislation, in addition to reducing cost – particularly with the recent increases in energy charges – and guiding customers in their net zero journeys. Service providers and consultants able to assist in these areas are now in great demand and irrefutable evidence of this is provided by Horizon Engineering Solutions.
Rapid development:
The company has enjoyed rapid growth since its launch in 2015 as a provider of mechanical and electrical (M&E) consultancy services. In just eight years it has expanded its operations considerably. Horizon Engineering Solutions operations director Joe Clancy explains its progress to FM Director in a recent exclusive interview.
“We developed our training centre fairly recently, which means we’re the only high voltage/low voltage training academy in Northern Ireland,” he continues. “That means we can offer M&E training, including bespoke training for customers, and offer a one-stopshop for all our clients.”
The well-publicised difficulties experienced by companies in recruiting sufficient numbers of skilled engineers means that Horizon Engineering Solutions’ training courses and services are in high demand and likely to remain so for some time.
To its credit, the company has had the foresight to further extend its offering to include options for clients seeking FM services.
“We pride ourselves on being a best-in-class FM company, and deliver FM services across all business sectors,” says Mr Clancy. “We work with some very well-known companies, predominantly in pharmaceutical, aerospace and on the larger, industrial sites, rather than the traditional, more commercial places.”
Another major strand of Horizon Engineering Solutions delivery of specialist services includes its increasing focus on the provision of carbon management expertise.
“Within that, we’re looking at circular economy solutions, ensuring the best value for clients and their management of waste while embedding zero carbon into an FM offering, so you can see the three main streams of the business work really well for everyone.”
“Having seen the positive response from customers to the company’s expansion, Mr Clancy says this is likely to see further developments and additions to its services in the future. These will be based on the needs of clients and ensure they are as supportive as possible, he states”.
Significant engagement:
One of the most important aspects of the company’s growth has been its engagement with Azolla Software, which has allowed Horizon Engineering Solutions to enjoy its rapid growth in the provision of bestin-class FM services. “We recognised very quickly when we moved into providing FM services that it was really important to get a great maintenance management system,” Mr Clancy continues.
“I’ve worked with quite a few systems over the last 25 years, but I received a recommendation for Azolla from an industry SME service provider, who had worked all their lives in maintenance management and with all the best systems. We conducted a detailed analysis of a number of systems, to make sure we made the right choice in the end, and that saw Azolla identified as our preferred maintenance management system,” he says.
The company’s analysis considered aspects including cost, ease of use, flexibility, cloud-based data input and creation of customised reports, all of which saw Azolla Software identified as the leader in each section. “Their use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology allows you to build in proactive maintenance or efficiencies for clients, which is perfect for longer-term contracts and delivering value over the duration, from long-term, condition-based monitoring through to eliminating repeat failures and the right-first-time approach.”
Mr Clancy further states that two of the company’s most recently mobilised FM contracts have seen very positive response from clients, despite the fact these have only been implemented over the last three months.
In addition to seamless mobilisations, the customers have also responded enthusiastically about how the Azolla system has allowed them to validate invoices, with more appreciation expressed for customised reports, availability of meaningful data and the tracking of tasks.
“Everything is consolidated in a very simple way. We were so impressed with the Azolla system we’ve signed up to be the agreed distributing partner for Northern Ireland,” he continues. “So we’ll be actively promoting the system and supporting the mobilisation for other clients.”
Further proof of the confidence of Horizon Engineering Solutions in the Azolla Software system is that it is planning to use it in more of its contracts, including the management of its electrical maintenance service provision deals. These typically cover essential maintenance of high voltage supplies, including transformers of up to 33kv, down to low voltage equipment and all electrical supplies and equipment in between.
“We’ll also be working more closely with the Azolla Software development team to build in more improvements and can see that this will see our partnership with them become even closer over the next number of years,” says Mr Clancy.
Horizon Engineering Solutions continues to include a major focus on its provision of in-depth electrical services, which provides numerous options for further growth, especially through the application of Azolla Software in a variety of ways. Mr Clancy additionally explains how all clients are seeking to improve their compliance with the relevant legislation as a basic requirement, leading to more wide-ranging aspirations around sustainability, which can easily be managed and measured through the application of the Azolla system and providing benefits to both Horizon and its customers.
“We are the only City and Guilds, High Voltage approved training provider for Northern Ireland. All our courses are CPD accredited. We are also ISO-accredited; 9001, 14001 & 45001. If you add our partnership with Azolla Software to that mix, you can see we’re well on the way to becoming even more important to our clients around the UK through providing them with the best services and levels of expertise,” Mr Clancy concludes.
“We’re looking at circular economy solutions, ensuring the best value for clients and their management of waste while embedding zero carbon into an FM offering”.
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