Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 43 | Page 11

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 11
/NEWS
New Bridgegate Tyres general
manager James Bowman
with Louise Etherington from
Odyssey Systems.
/ADVICE
HOW TO
EMBRACE DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
D
Aycliffe auto firm expands to Gateshead
A
Newton Aycliffe tyre and
autocentre company which
provides 24-hour breakdown cover
has expanded its business.
New Bridgegate Tyres, based in Newton
Aycliffe and Barnard Castle, recently opened
a new depot on Tyneside to maintain its fast
response times throughout the North East.
To assist its aim, the Tees Valley-based
telecommunications and technology
company Odyssey Systems installed a fully
hosted telephone system at its Gateshead
facility.
This delivered all the key features the
company required – including an ability
to divert calls quickly and efficiently to
its technicians’ mobile phones and an
automatic GDPR-compliant call recording
facility – without the need to invest in a
major telephony system.
In addition, the company is also benefiting
from high availability internet access which
guarantees connectivity through multiple
links.
New Bridgegate Tyres operates a fleet of
24/7 response vehicles specialising in truck,
bus, car and agricultural tyres.
Owned by Philip Wilks, it also provides
vehicle servicing, in-house mechanical
repairs and MoT tests.
Corporate clients of the 24-hour
breakdown service include the Ministry of
Defence, Durham Constabulary and a range
of commercial customers.
The business, which was founded in
Barnard Castle five years ago, expanded in
2017 when a second base was established
on Aycliffe Business Park.
The latest Gateshead depot allows it to
respond to emergency call outs in the north
of the region more quickly to maintain its
average 49-minute attendance time.
James Bowman, Bridgegate’s general
manager, said: “We are delighted with this
new telephony system and are considering
extending it to our other two depots.
“This company has built its reputation on
a quality service and fast response times,
so a flexible, efficient and above all reliable
telephony system is key to our success and
future growth.
“Odyssey Systems installed an excellent
product which meets all our requirements.
Furthermore, their technical support gives us
the added reassurance that our customers
can always reach us any time of the day or
night.”
Expansion and new appointments at Aycliffe-based Advance
N
ewton Aycliffe-based conveying
and automated handling specialist,
Advance Automated Systems, is set
to expand its operation by establishing a
satellite projects office in Leicestershire. The
move coincides with the announcement of
two new key appointments.
Operating from a 18,000 sq ft
manufacturing site, Advance provides a
fully integrated single source for the design,
manufacture and installation of conveyors,
conveyor systems and controls.
Alongside existing business and the
addition of new contracts acquired
throughout the UK, the company has taken
a lease on office space in Lutterworth,
primarily to bolster product support during
the design, installation and commissioning
phases of projects in the central and south
of the country.
Ahead of the office becoming operational
in early February 2020, Advance has also
appointed Brian Skelham as a senior project
engineer to head-up the new venture.
Previously employed as a business project
manager at online retailer, Ocado, based in
Tamworth, Staffs, Skelham brings nearly 30
years of materials handling experience to
the role.
igital transformation is a phrase
that has transcended the IT
industry and gone mainstream.
There is a myth surrounding its
implementation, suggesting it can be
daunting and costly. This need not be
the case; it can solve your toughest
business challenges and enable you to
realise significant advantages.
If you are thinking about embracing
the digital age, here are some tips.
1. Sector and size of organisation
Taking advantage of automated
processes is not sector-specific and
is ideal for both large organisations
and fast-growing SMEs. If you have
inefficiencies, rigorous compliance and
regulatory obligations, no systems or
systems that don’t talk, lots of excel
spreadsheets, e-mails, or paper and you
want to future proof your organisation
to enable growth, digital transformation
should be for you.
2. Range of business processes
The idea of digital transformation is to
build agile and cost-effective business
applications to empower change.
Systems are often business-specific
and cover end-to-end processes,
including CRM, planning and resourcing,
manufacturing, compliance, health and
safety, HR and many others – a big bang
rarely works.
3. Reasons to embrace
The introduction of a configurable,
integrated and scalable software
solution will increase efficiency,
improve information quality, enforce
best practice, provide management
visibility and reporting, integrate existing
information, connect remote workers,
eradicate human error, improve data
security and overall improve the
customer experience.
4. Support available
There are several organisations
across the region offering both advice
and funding support for businesses
embracing the digital transformation.
Digital Drive, Digital City, NBSL,
Software City, Teesside University and
many others are working closely with
businesses to enable them to succeed
in their journey to achieve digitisation.
If you are thinking about digitising
your business processes, get in touch
to find out how we can assist you.
Ian Brown
Managing director, Excelpoint