Growth was firmly on the agenda for TLI Group.  The successful business aimed to become the safest and best-in-class critical infrastructure services provider in the utilities sector, but recognised that its business processes were neither scalable nor sustainable for the future.  Operational data was held largely in silos, which hampered the organisation’s ability to respond quickly to new business opportunities.  Meanwhile, engineers relied on printed maps and documents in the field and used paper-based forms to feed information back to the office.  If TLI Group was going to achieve its growth ambitions, it was going to need to become both more agile and more efficient.

Efficient processes from field to client
ArcGIS Online has completely transformed business processes, improving efficiency in the field, in the office and in client communications.  Information doesn’t have to be manually entered into systems, and many time-consuming processes have been completely eliminated through automation.  “ArcGIS lets people focus on the important stuff, where they can add value, and not waste time on tedious, repetitive tasks,” says Sweeney. 

Consistent, high quality project delivery 
Across all four business units, ArcGIS is helping TLI Group to deliver high quality services for clients.  The ArcGIS-based quality assurance process, for instance, plays a pivotal role in ensuring that thousands of installations are completed correctly, to a uniform standard.  The digital process reduces the need for revisits and reworks, ensuring consistency on large-scale contracts and driving the success of high-profiled projects like Ireland’s National Smart Metering Programme. 

Significantly improved health and safety
TLI Group’s ArcGIS app for ‘Near-Misses and Good Catches’ has had a significant impact on the rigour of the organisation’s health and safety processes.  TLI Group now receives and analyses 400-500 reports per week, which gives it the insight to make process changes, update employee training and take other steps to improve safety.  “ArcGIS presents high quality data that the health and safety team can use for monitoring and reporting,” says Sweeney.  “Our moto is ‘Everyone Home Safe, Every Day’, and ArcGIS definitely helps with that.” 

Greater agility to facilitate business growth 
When new business opportunities arise, TLI Group can build mobile, web-based and automated project-specific apps, quickly and easily.  This agility has undoubtedly supported TLI Group’s expansion, enabling the business to double in size in under seven years.  “The ArcGIS Online platform gives us all the functionality we need and the flexibility to spin up solutions for new and bigger projects, on demand,” explains Sweeney.  “After all this time, we haven’t come across anything yet that we can’t do with ArcGIS!”