Case study:
How IT Project Management delivered £300K savings
Transport for London, a London-based travel organisation, had over a hundred properties across London, each with its own fire alarm system, comprising detectors, panic buttons and control panels. The client was spending heavily on fire alarm engineers to travel to these sites, either for maintenance or to isolate fire detectors when builders were working on site. These call-out costs had a severe impact on the client’s facilities maintenance budget.
The client engaged Pathfinder to implement an IT project designed to facilitate remote management of all fire safety systems from a centralised control centre. This solution would eliminate the need for on-site visits by fire engineers, resulting in significant cost savings annually.
To deliver the solution, Pathfinder:
- Led the procurement process to identify a supplier aligning with client requirements, including drafting requests for proposals, evaluating tender submissions, and selecting the optimal vendor.
- Established and managed a multidisciplinary design team comprising Facilities Management and IT personnel from the client, as well as representatives from the chosen supplier.
- Oversaw the acquisition of Wide Area Network (WAN) equipment and associated hardware necessary for integrating fire systems into the WAN.
- Supervised the phased installation of IT hardware across all sites, linking fire systems to the control centre while minimising disruption to on-site staff.
- Developed and delivered a comprehensive training programme for control centre personnel, informed by open discussions facilitated between management and end users to address and incorporate staff feedback and concerns.
- Ensured full compliance with relevant certification standards and regulatory requirements.
- Coordinated the pilot and successful ‘go-live’ implementation of the new system.
The implementation impressively reduced the client’s reliance on third-party engineers for site visits, resulting in annual savings of £300,000.
Read our client’s testimonial:
“Pathfinder were great in being able to hit the ground running with what was a complex and safety-critical technology project. They also had a good work ethic, keeping us informed of progress along the way but also coming up with solutions to problems rather than just presenting problems and leaving it to us to solve. Installation and testing of the equipment across the estate was a thorny issue which I was relieved Pathfinder managed especially well. I’d have no problem in recommending them to anyone looking to deliver technology into their business.”
Peter Wilson, Head of Asset Management, Transport for London
