NZ Matrix Sdn Bhd, based in Malacca, has been in the construction sector since 2017 and provides maintenance services for roads such as cabling and street lighting upgrades and repairs.
Before the pandemic, the owner and managing director of the electrical contracting business, Pn Hjh. Nor Zafrini said that she had to monitor and keep track of all her staff manually these past couple of years.
With work zones covering the state of Negeri Sembilan and Kuala Pilah, Bahau, Port Dickson, Kuala Kelawang and Rembau, to name a few, she had to monitor all 60 workers as well as charge men, drivers, and project managers. It kept her busy as she had to travel back and forth between sites daily, covering all 7 to 8 zones within their business purview in a week.
“Traveling from Malacca to Negeri Sembilan to visit sites and check on my staff has made my schedule very hectic because as the managing director, I am also the Head of Administration, where I manage all my staff,” she said.
When she first established her firm as an enterprise in 2017, she was focused on municipal local town council maintenance repairs. Within a year, she had expanded to become a vendor under Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) for street maintenance work in the Negeri Sembilan zones. It allowed NZ Matrix to move up in the industry, handling bigger projects.
Finding A Solution During The Pandemic
With all TNB projects happening outside of Malacca, Pn Zafrini and her staff saw daily journeys across state lines as a usual aspect of their business until the pandemic struck with the imposition of movement restrictions.
“The pandemic brought about restrictions to move. Even though we were essential services and had permission to work and travel, we still had to limit capacity and couldn’t go about as usual with all the various lockdowns happening.
“It was hard to monitor project managers with the maintenance jobs they had to do, and I had to trust that they did not slack off during work hours or submit additional claims for the hours they kept”, she says.
Seeking a better way to implement her business during the restrictions, she engaged an online tracking system to assist her remotely in monitoring staff. Providing essential services required for road light and street light repairs within these zones has never been easier since she made the inspired decision to upgrade her business using a digital fleet management system, she said.
Now, with the digital system and devices provided, Pn Zafrini can easily digitally track her staff from anywhere they may be, whether it be on a sky-lift vehicle six meters up in the sky or driving along the Negeri Sembilan routes to breakdown sites.
Benefits Of Adapting To The New Normal
Being able to perform mobile monitoring from her phone has been a game-changer for her business, offering many possibilities that she didn’t know existed before.
The software system comes with a dashboard that allows her to view data in real-time with live tracking of workers and vehicles that enables her to manage overtime allowances and incentive payments precisely and reliably. This data supplies proof of her staff’s whereabouts and work check-ins.
In addition, during time-sensitive emergencies for maintenance situations that require immediate attention, she can use data from the tracking system to locate and direct the nearest staff to emergency areas to have the job effectively looked into promptly.
Although having 20 to 30 maintenance crew who use heavy machinery such as sky-lift vehicles, Puan Zafrini does not have to physically visit sites anymore. She can communicate efficiently with the project managers using a staff tracking system even within the most remote areas that they enter.
“I don’t need to go to sites anymore, I can just monitor projects using the system from my mobile phone,” she says.
With business procedures becoming more fluid, and she can now see how productive and successful her company is, and she can finally enjoy the work-life balance she now has with more time to spend with family.
Reflecting on the old ways of doing things — when she was managing everything manually — she says life was beyond hectic. There was lower productivity, lack of control in operational costs, zero data to analyse for decision-making and exhausting physical site visits.
Tips On How to Overcome Challenges
Now, Pn Zafrini urges business owners to seek better and more convenient ways to do things and to never fear technology as she never expected to have such a positive 360-degree life-changing experience during the most challenging of times, especially during this pandemic.
“Stay positive and know that there is always a solution for even the most difficult of problems, and it all starts with your mindset to change and explore new things,” she advises.
Support NZ Matrix Sdn Bhd by contacting them at [email protected]
A homegrown business highlight by Celcom Business.
Looking to digitalise your business? Discover the Celcom Business range of solutions and enjoy three months of free access at https://business.celcom.com.my/sme/business-suite
