Problem: Hudson needed £65,000 to spend on new software and computers for a major MOD contract, which was starting in three weeks.

Solution: They included the upgrade into their existing Rental Exchange® agreement - for the same monthly payment.

Moving quickly to help Hudson Electrical meet the demands of a new contract
Hudson Electrical plc. is a leading provider of responsive maintenance services for local authorities, housing associations and private clients. A long established 'all trades contractor', Hudson is well known for its responsive repair and maintenance work, and efficient project management from planning to completion. The company employs over 150 staff and tradesmen from a wide range of building and maintenance disciplines.

In December 2000, Hudson found out they'd won a large contract with the MOD, to provide maintenance services for their married quarters across several sites. Worth around £15 million over three years, it was one of the company's most significant contracts in recent years. They had just three weeks to get everything in place - including recruiting more than 50 staff, renting 50 vehicles, buying new computers and upgrading their contract software. Thankfully sorting out the IT finance wasn't a problem.

The technology to do the job
Hudson's Finance Director Neil Williams explains why upgrading their software was crucial. "As it was such a large contract, we needed an efficient way of keeping track of all aspects of the project. We also had to ensure we could meet the MOD's high service expectations and response times. This meant upgrading our existing contract software to incorporate extra functionality, like an Engineers' Diary, which allows us to see exactly where each engineer is at any given time. Thanks to CCL, paying for it was easy."

An easy upgrade path
Hudson had originally acquired their software using a Rental Exchange® agreement with CCL. So it made sense to finance the upgrade using rental too. "The upgrade, the new computers and the training we needed cost £65,000. We didn't want to take that sort of money out of our cashflow, so we turned to CCL."

Since their original Rental Exchange® agreement, Hudson had accrued an allowance so that they could pay for the upgrade without increasing their monthly payments. "We had a credit line open with them - and it was a very cost efficient way of doing things."

Time was the essence
According to Neil, the fact CCL could move quickly on the finance was crucial. "With just three weeks to get everything in place, we had to move fast. CCL pulled out all the stops. They got the funding approved very quickly and worked with our software and hardware suppliers to sort out all the paperwork. We were able to get everything installed and our engineers trained well within the agreed timeframe."

Click here to view AremisSoft/ViXEN case study - Hudson Electrical technology provider