Case StudyUnloading potential - The Oak Tree approach

Oak Tree: Devanning and social enterprise

Oak Tree is a pioneering professional devanning and labour-hire company and a leader in the social enterprise space. Since 2002, Oak Tree has provided container unloading and labour services to customers in the shipping and logistics industry while offering opportunities for those who face barriers to employment. An advocate for innovation and social good, Oak Tree has leveraged technology to revolutionise its business and grow its impact. As a client of Devart for over three years, we spoke with Murray Kennedy, CEO of Oak Tree (Pathway Charitable group) to share their story.

"To get the wages done every week used to take two days"

Before partnering with Devart, Oak Tree grappled with inefficiencies.

• Time-consuming tasks: like tracking completed work, invoicing clients, and processing payroll were hindered by paper-based systems, leading to significant time and resource drains.

• Paper-based recruitment: in the labour-hire sector, known for its frequent turnover of casual workers, managing employee onboarding and contracts placed a heavy burden on the back-office team.

• Manual phone-based work scheduling: further added to the teams' administrative workload, exacerbating stress among back-office staff.

“ProDevan has revolutionised our business”

When Oak Tree began building and using ProDevan, everything changed. Today, with ProDevan as an end-to-end web and mobile application, they can now keep track of everything online.

• Office staff can pay workers and send invoices with just a few clicks

• Onboarding and employment processes are managed digitally with employees able to fill out their paperwork and sign documentation from their smartphone.

• Clients can schedule and track their jobs through the online customer portal.

Oak Tree’s administrative processes were transformed, significantly reducing operational stress and opening up new opportunities for Oak Tree to grow.

Securing success with Devart

Before teaming up with Devart, Oak Tree had begun building ProDevan in-house. However, as the platform and its importance grew, Oak Tree saw a need for specialised technical discipline to ensure its success. Oak Tree initially approached Devart, who had proven expertise in custom web application, hosting, data management and Laravel development, to audit the platform. Devart has worked alongside Oak Tree ever since, meeting new business goals and ensuring the long-term security and maintainability of ProDevan's infrastructure. Our partnership operates as a team effort, with everyone pulling in the same direction, which makes a big difference for Oak Tree.

Beyond efficiency

The impact of ProDevan goes beyond making processes run smoother. Recently, Devart worked with Oaktree to build a new bonus system in ProDevan to tackle the problem of workers not showing up for their shifts. So far, this feature has led to fewer 'no-shows,' encouraging reliability in the team, supporting employee recognition and improving customer service levels. Also, because ProDevan can scale with Oak Tree, the business has lately expanded into Auckland and is pursuing opportunities in new markets. By using technology to make their business easier to run, Oak Tree is moving forward while upholding its mission to ensure everyone has a fair shot at a job.

“Just start”

It's never too late to start using technology to make your business run better. But you’ve got to start. That’s the advice Murray shared when we asked his advice for other teams or organisations who are tackling similar problems to the ones Oak Tree experienced. Even though it might seem scary (and costly) at first, the benefits are worth it. So, don't wait—take the leap and see how technology can help your company make a positive impact!