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I’ll admit, I was asked to write this back in August when it was exactly one year on, but the world of Rossells is a very busy place and this has sadly had to wait.
This year has been the craziest year since my time in the company, and we haven’t stopped once to catch our breath. It’s been both exhausting and fantastic all at the same time; the whole team should be so proud of what we’ve achieved. For those of you who haven’t had time to follow our journey with us (and let’s face it, who has these days?!), I’ll offer you some insight into what’s been going on…
Pre-August of 2016, Rossells landed one of our largest installation projects, consisting of over 60 doors, kitted out with some very clever access control and CCTV integrations. Our team worked incredibly hard to make sure the project completed on schedule, and within budget. It did however come at the most awkward time for us, when a lot of our resources were focusing on the planned opportunity to relocate the company to the new larger premises.
When the 22nd of August arrived, we managed to get everything relocated to the new Heanor Street premises with the help of many of the team’s friends and family. Our initial setup was a very barebones operational hub for us continue serving our customers, consisting of our office staff operating out of a small box room on a limited number of phones, and the workshop staff using boxes stacked around the warehouse. We worked tirelessly to get the remaining areas of the building complete, and finally put everyone in their own productive space.
Although the following months might have been a good opportunity to sit back and take stock of the changes, I decided to harness our momentum and ask Rob James to join our team as our Business Manager. Rob brought with him experience of the structure required to help us keep Rossells on track with our roadmap of goals. His first project was to overhaul our Health and Safety standards and procedures, along with employing a well-respected body to assess our processes and offer us a recognised mark of approval. It was around December time that we were approved for SafeContractor.
The usual festive season slowdown in December never really happened last year… our team were flat out right up until Christmas eve, where many of us never even got chance to wish each other a happy holiday period.
The first few months of 2017 were committed to offering further reassurance about the quality of our workmanship and processes. After a daunting inspection period, we were finally given our fully accredited membership to the SSAIB, an inspectorate body committed to the security industry. Being SSAIB accredited offers customers, and their insurers the assurance that we’re able to carry out our works to the required EN and UK standards. Not one to do things by halves, we went for full accreditation for CCTV, Access Control and Intruder Alarm systems.
April marked a very big moment for the team… My mother (Darryll), former owner of Rossells, took retirement from her part time admin position and a new member, Amy, joined the accounts team. Everyone held a retirement party at our premises to mark the occasion with much food and drinks enjoyed over games of table tennis and party games.
The word of our increased traction in the security industry spread quickly, and throughout the summer we have found ourselves at the heart of many recommendations throughout Leicestershire, and further. In just the last six months around 300 more businesses and organisations trust us to protect their property, people and assets.
More recently, we have been working to bring a higher level of customer service for our automated Gate and Barrier customers. We previously used other contractors to carry out these works on our behalf, but long works lead times highlighted the need for change. We are now a fully accredited CameSafe Installer, meaning we have proved our ability to meet the clear goals set out by the CameSafe program for making Gate and Barrier safety our primary objective. We’ll be officially launching this vertical in the first quarter or 2017.
Here is the one question that I’ve been asked a lot recently, from customers, suppliers and media outlets: ”Where is Rossells going?”. Truthfully, what I’ve spoken about today is just a small snippet of our progress so far, and this momentum isn’t looking to slow down any time soon. We’re trusted by thousands of customers, built up over years of trading. They drive everything we do, and are the motive behind every decision we make. Here are my commitments:
At the time of writing, we’re Leicestershire’s only Gold Accredited Paxton Installer, as well as being the only Leicester company HIK Vision (CCTV) certified. We’re also one of the Midlands only businesses accredited by both the SSAIB and the MLA. Accreditations are always strong indicators for a customer to judge our ability to provide outstanding service, and we will continue to thrive on these throughout 2018.
One of the most discussed topics of this year, is the miss selling of unsuitable security solutions by various providers. A single type of security solution is not fit for all purposes; Should a locksmith visit your home or business to offer a security survey, he will advise only on the physical security products he can offer, this is also true with a CCTV focused company advising on a surveillance solution; whereas the best solution might be an intruder alarm, but because neither of them can offer this service, it won’t be recommended in the survey report. Rossells are committed to changing this situation, by offering all our services under one detailed survey. We only advise you on the solution (or collection of solutions) that is right for your situation.
The launch of Rossells Connect has already brought hundreds of our customers closer to their security products, and our team. Complete transparency with our customers on billing and servicing through our online portal is bringing a whole new level of excellent service. Our development team are hard at working bring further improvements and features to the platform.
As a responsible company, committed to maintaining standards, our team are already busy working on the new data protection regulations being introduced in May 2018. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) is going to affect most businesses, and some households in varying ways. We’re looking to bring firm guidance to our customers on how they can ensure their security systems comply. We’ll bring you more information in the first quarter of 2018.
In a more general conclusion, Rossells will be working to further our expertise and reputation in Leicestershire as the go to company when it comes to protecting homes, businesses and organisations. The size of our team will be increasing to ensure installation and servicing lead times are kept at an acceptable period, as well as providing the unrivalled support from our staff located within our Leicester office. Our product portfolio will grow as we invest in new innovative concepts that we feel will change the landscape of how our customer interact with, and improve their security.
I’m looking forward to writing a follow up piece next year, and our customers (and readers) can judge for themselves whether we have fulfilled our aspirations.