Ensuring operational efficiency through IT for GN Construction
Mitchell Blunden of GN Construction
GN Construction is an Auckland-based commercial contractor, focusing on the delivery of residential apartment projects, commercial, multi-residential and aged care developments throughout Aotearoa.
Growth of GN Constructions’ New Zealand operations began in Christchurch, with significant projects in the post-earthquake recovery, before the company moved their head office to Auckland.
We’ve been working alongside the GN Construction team for around two years. To help keep their construction projects running smoothly, the Brightly team takes care of GN’s IT support requirements, as well as assisting with larger operational requirements that come up, including their recent website migration, implementing Office 365, integrating a new purchase order application, device purchasing and management, security, team training and new work site set ups.
GN Construction head of People & Culture, Vicky Smith, said that prior to working with Brightly, they hadn’t been getting the standard of support they needed from their IT supplier, but says that the responsive support GN Construction now receives from our team is in contrast to this experience.
“For me, the difference is now that I can pick up the phone and get the right person to fix urgent issues. Whereas our previous supplier was predominantly a call centre; you just didn’t know who you were going to get. We found Brightly were more interested in understanding what our business needs were first, helping to plan for the future, and offering solutions where they could see there was waste or cost that wasn’t necessary”, Vicky says.
For GN Construction’s Managing Director, Mitchell Blunden, ease of connectivity is everything. “A priority for me is speed; if things aren't working on site, and if it’s not easy to use our system then we lose time - and lost time comes with a cost,” he says.
“I find it very easy to just pick up the phone and ask any questions. They understand how our business is run, and the need to be cost-conscious. They’re personable and very easy to deal with. Nothing's ever really an issue, they are always willing to find the right solution”.
Mitchell says there is value in being able to leverage the high-level knowledge of Brightly founders, Mike and Andy, which is resource they might otherwise not have access to if hiring in-house.
“We've just had a big undertaking of migrating everything onto the cloud, and then changing our domain name. Next step is to look at how to further streamline and then use more applications, and we know that the Brightly team can offer some advanced input as to what we should be looking at to automate our business and make it more efficient”.
Vicky says GN Construction also appreciates having a team who is always looking for ways to improve. “Brightly will look at how things are working and question why we are doing things the way we are and come up with better solutions.
“I feel confident that they’re giving us the best solution for our IT support”.