Expansive FM is thrilled to announce our latest CAFM partnership with Busy Bees, the UK's number one childcare provider.
Introducing Busy Bees
Busy Bees is the leading and largest early-years childcare provider in the United Kingdom. The company operates over 360 nurseries across the UK, providing care for tens of thousands of children. Founded in 1983, Busy Bees has grown significantly over the years, not only within the UK but also expanding internationally with locations in Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond.
A nationwide FM challenge needs an innovative solution
For companies like Busy Bees, Facilities management is always a challenge. Creating safe, welcoming and comfortable environments where children and their carers can thrive is a top priority.
But with a huge UK real estate stretching from Aberdeen to Jersey, plus a large network of contractors to work with, managing repairs and maintenance in a timely and cost-effective way can be hard.
Managing FM operations was a manual task
Until now, Busy Bees’s work order management was a manual process, with a legacy help desk taking hundreds of calls every day. The team were struggling to handle the volume of requests and track completion of tasks. Much of their time was spent with follow-up enquiries from nurseries, who were checking up on the status of their requests.
Busy Bees look for CAFM system
The team at Busy Bees wanted to move to a CAFM system that could digitise and automate their help desk. Above all, they needed access to the budgetary and operational data that could be used to optimise the way they work.
Expansive wins tender process
Busy Bees went through a formal tender process to find a CAFM provider, and Expansive was the clear winner:
Mark Kirkby, Head of Construction & Facilities at Busy Bees Nurseries, told us:
After evaluating several options, Expansive FM stood out for its simplicity, intuitive user experience, and, most importantly, its strategic fit with our long-term vision. It's not just streamlining our helpdesk; it's giving us all the budgetary and operational data we need to optimise our spend, efficiency, and the quality of our delivery.
A new level of control and insight
Nurseries will be able to raise work requests on the app and track completion of their tasks in real-time. Contractors will access their portal to give quotes, ask questions, and log time and attendance.
This level of visibility and control is going to reduce the volume of calls to the help desk. Automation will save us time and money while speeding up the way we work, Mark says.
But the real game changer will be access to data:
This system will give us real-time financial and strategic insights, enabling us to make informed decisions quickly. It'll change how we manage contractors and plan budgets and Capex.
Mark added:
The bespoke reporting dashboards will deliver our data in ways that we can share with all our teams, helping us all optimise performance together.
Smooth onboarding and future prospects
The system configuration and onboarding process, now in its fifth week, has gone smoothly. With a test area soon to be launched, Busy Bees is on the fast track to experiencing the full benefits of the Expansive FM system.
This partnership holds the promise of global expansion, with Busy Bees able to roll out Expansive FM's solutions to its international operations, thanks to the system's ability to handle multiple currencies and languages.
A partnership for the future
Josh Greibach, co-founder and CEO of Expansive FM told us:
It’s been a great pleasure working with the amazing team at Busy Bees. This partnership underscores our commitment to delivering cutting-edge facility management solutions that meet the unique needs of our clients. We’re all about driving efficiency and fostering strategic growth.
