Sentinel Risk Transforms Operations and Accelerates Growth Using SmartTask

Business benefits

• Accurate and automated invoicing and payroll, saves 42 days per year
• More efficient processes and structures for growth help to win more business
• Full control and oversight of wages and budgets for planning
• Easy for staff to clock on/off and book holidays
• Customer portal provides immediate visibility of service delivery

“We've gone from being a start-up business into the growth phase, and having efficient systems and structures in place is a crucial requirement in enabling our expansion. SmartTask has helped us to achieve this.”

Conor Mulhall, Group COO at Sentinel Risk

Sentinel Risk – a growing business on strong foundations

Sentinel Risk provides bespoke services delivered in accordance with internationally recognised security industry best practices, that meet the individual requirements of clients. With offices in both Dublin and Belfast, Sentinel Risk provides services across the whole of Ireland and beyond, including manned guarding, K9 services, executive protection, as well as risk assessments, security audits and critical incident response.

Over the last eighteen months the business has seen significant growth, which has been supported by the company’s use of SmartTask software to manage daily operations, from rosters and clocking in, to the back-end payroll and invoice administration.

Functionality that supports all operations

Sentinel Risk had been using traditional spreadsheets to manually prepare officer rosters and track working hours. However, as the business grew, the management team realised that this was no longer an efficient way to manage the operations and that it needed to implement systems that could also scale up. They trialled several software solutions, choosing SmartTask for its rich functionality and ability to support different business processes.

“What really made a difference for us was that SmartTask goes right across the whole gamut of our business, from when you give a guard a uniform, and log that, to the basics of clocking in, clocking out and the complexities of complying with HR regulations,” said Conor Mulhall, Group COO at Sentinel Risk.

Managing operations and staff

Sentinel Risk uses SmartTask across the business in operations, payroll and billing, as well as for tracking and managing assets. Rosters are prepared and delivered to officers that meet HR compliance requirements and SmartTask is used by officers to check in and out. The geo-location feature ensures managers always have sight of where officers are, both to meet customer service agreements and to ensure staff safety and welfare.

The flexibility of SmartTask’s software means that it supports Sentinel’s different services. from providing security to a high net worth individual, where shifts may be ad-hoc or require unusual hours, to more traditional manned guarding of construction sites or healthcare buildings with standard shifts. As well as sending details of shifts to staff,  SmartTask also helps manage holiday allowances, making it easy for people to request holiday and for managers to approve. No lost forms and everything documented centrally.

People can be allocated to shifts based on professional qualifications and certifications.  SmartTask sends alerts of approaching renewals so that they can be managed in plenty of time, avoiding last minute situations where someone cannot work due to a lapsed certification.

Systemised processes increase efficiencies

Introducing SmartTask has increased efficiencies for Sentinel Risk with routine processes and systems. Working hours from subcontractors and invoices are reconciled every Monday, enabling weekly billing and payroll to be processed.

“The whole thing just flows. The back-end integration with SmartTask’s easy interface helps us make sure that our payroll and billing is automated. The billing at the end of the month would have taken two or three days, now it’s carried out in one day, while we save a day a month on payroll,” said Conor Mulhall.

Customer confidence from portal

SmartTask provides Sentinel Risk with the visibility and assurance that its services are being provided according to plan. Officers scan tags on customer sites, providing time and date of their attendance, which gives customers confirmation of services delivered.

The customer portal enables clients to check rosters, patrols and incidents on their sites at any time of the day or night and from any location, capability that Sentinel includes in its tenders and which has helped to win more business.

“The certainty of knowing the roster is up and running is great. Our reports are really useful for providing evidence to our customers that we were on site, which gives them confidence in our services. SmartTask gives us management certainty of our business operations and we are proud of that,” explained Conor Mulhall.

Scalable software supports growth

The company is currently in the process of applying for British Standard in Key Holding (BS 7984:2008), the primary standard governing keyholding practices in the UK which outlines the requirements for secure storage of keys, procedures for access, and response to alarms. Use of SmartTask will help Sentinel comply with this standard.

Conor attributes the streamlined business and operational processes that SmartTask supports as a significant factor in the company’s successful growth. The attentive support provided by the SmartTask team has enabled Sentinel to maximise its use of the software for optimal business benefit.

“SmartTask has brought discipline and process to our business. It is at the centre of our business and as we grow I am confident that our use of SmartTask will increase. A lot of that success is also down how responsive the SmartTask team have been throughout our journey,” concludes Conor Mulhall.