Business

New-star Obbi secures contract to provide Decora's workplace software

Announcing the contract with Decora Blinds are (from left) Gareth Macklin, managing director Obbi Solutions; David Rankin, health, safety and environment manager at Decora; Barry Hughes, training and development manager at Decora; and JP McCorley, technical director, Obbi Solutions
Announcing the contract with Decora Blinds are (from left) Gareth Macklin, managing director Obbi Solutions; David Rankin, health, safety and environment manager at Decora; Barry Hughes, training and development manager at Decora; and JP McCorley, technic Announcing the contract with Decora Blinds are (from left) Gareth Macklin, managing director Obbi Solutions; David Rankin, health, safety and environment manager at Decora; Barry Hughes, training and development manager at Decora; and JP McCorley, technical director, Obbi Solutions

NEW-start technology firm Obbi Solutions in Belfast has signed a deal to provide a range of workplace solutions for Decora Blind Systems' 1,000-plus staff.

Obbi (www.obbisolutions.com), a finalist in this year's Catalyst Invent competition, will provide a new software platform for all Decora employees to enable them to save training time, drive profits and protect them from risk by integrating key business critical processes on to the cloud.

Its founding director Gareth Macklin, who is also a director of the Macklin Group, launched the business together with a team of senior professionals, following a global inability to find a suitable solution for his own 650-people strong business.

Obbi's overarching goal was to develop a world-class system to cut paperwork and administration time, increase staff retention and productivity and facilitate safer work environments, whilst ultimately creating efficiencies to drive profits.

The solution, which is customisable to any business, is currently helping companies in a range of sectors including manufacturing, engineering, retail, hospitality and healthcare.

Barry Hughes, training and development manager at Decora Blind Systems, said: “Obbi has transformed our processes, slashing the time required for our induction by over 60 per cent and opened up our staff to a new way of thinking.

“We began with a simple task of replicating our internal processes digitally, but what Obbi has actually achieved is to allow our staff to spot potential time savings in their daily jobs and has empowered them to re-examine their processes and make implementable suggestions that will save the company considerable time and money.

“Once we saw our key processes optimised through the Obbi system, our eyes were opened to a new and easier way of doing things. For example, our old induction process used to take from 9am to 1pm and had to be carried out by management. Now the process can be delegated to multiple team members and delivered by 10.30am, simplifying and streamlining the administration of the induction process."

He added: “Obbi has also helped us take control of our on the job training, mentoring, compliance and important checklists on machinery. Now we are exploring further opportunities with the Obbi team to bring even more efficiencies to the company and our staff.”

Gareth Macklin said: “Our vision was to drive productivity by unlocking the value of employees through continuous development and we are delighted to be working with a phenomenal global company like Decora, which is reaping the benefits of our software.

"The software can be accessed on any smart device, anywhere at any time and is completely user friendly regardless of technical capability.”