Portakabin’s biggest-ever IT investment unifies CRM

Construction company Portakabin has unified its customer relationship management (CRM) systems across Europe as part of a transformation that will support customers, staff and suppliers.

Portakabin is working with IT services firm Getronics to harness the Dell Boomi cloud integration software as a service, which supports the transfer of data between cloud and on-premise applications, as well as software from Microsoft. The project is aimed at giving customers a personalised experience, from initial contact with the company to the completion and handover of buildings.

The project is the company’s biggest-ever investment in IT in its 50-year history.

Portakabin, which designs and manufactures modular buildings and provides services for off-site construction, has 1,750 staff across seven European countries.

Staff and suppliers will also benefit from the single information source when the project is complete. So far, more than two million customer records have been transferred from the UK and Ireland businesses.

The cloud-based system will give the company a better understanding of what customers want. “These advanced system capabilities will generate even greater insight for the design, manufacture and delivery of fantastic buildings and meet the precise needs of our customers and building users,” said Portakabin IT director Dominic Ruscillo.

He said IT was playing an increasingly important role for the business. “Technology has become central to the company’s business strategy, helping to propagate dynamic new ways of working,” he added. “We are looking forward to the roll-out of this visionary programme throughout 2017.”

Portakabin has also agreed a five-year IT outsourcing contract with Getronics to streamline its IT infrastructure and services. This will include workspace as a service, in which virtual desktops give employees access to applications from anywhere on any device.