How long have you been at Shamrock? How long in your current role?
I am currently in my sixth year with Shamrock. I was a contractor for around three months, then I was hired full time for the position I’m in now.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
First and foremost, helping people work more efficiently. My team has helped people solve a lot of problems and make their work easier by pioneering custom software in-house. It is especially rewarding when the new software I develop gets to be compelling for other employees. For example, we developed software for Shamrock that pulls data from our equipment and vehicles, such as mileage, using telematics, electronic log data (ELDs) or GPS that’s then automatically entered into our fleet maintenance system so that payments can be scheduled. All of that used to be a manual process involving lots of personnel hours going back and forth over the phone.
How would you explain your job to someone outside of your field?
We build systems that help the company operate more efficiently, digitally transform manual processes and integrate systems to operate more seamlessly.
What’s your favorite thing about Shamrock?
In addition to leading Shamrock’s technology development efforts, I am able to find time to do hands-on software development, in particular native iOS mobile app development.
What kind of technology does Shamrock use on a daily basis?
We use a Microsoft development stack for most of our applications, and Apple’s native iOS development platform for mobile apps. We also use a combination of on-site servers as well as Microsoft Cloud servers and applications. We have three different systems we use to pull data from our fleet, including ELDs, telematics on heavy equipment like bull dozers, and GPS systems on service trucks. At any given time, we know the mileage and location of every vehicle in our fleet. In fact, our system can even be used to detect nearby equipment, which is useful for our construction supervisors.
How have you seen technology change since you began your role at Shamrock?
The biggest change I’ve noticed and one that helps us significantly is the integration of different systems with developer application programming interfaces (APIs). When I first came to Shamrock many of our systems couldn’t do that. Now most software companies offer developer APIs so that our applications can communicate with each other and there’s no longer a need for us to manually export and import files between operating systems. Overall, we’ve changed programs to make Shamrock’s operations more efficient, especially by developing our own programs.
How does technology help connect Shamrock’s headquarters with your other locations?
Almost everyone at Shamrock worked remotely during the first year of COVID, except the people out in the field, and we had just fully rolled out a virtual meeting software system. That more than anything is what helps us work across geographies. We also use an internet-based, voiceover IP telephone system. This means I can pick up my phone, dial an extension and be talking to someone in New Bern or Lakeland the same as if they were in the office here with me. The systems we’ve built internally are internet-based, so all the scheduling, invoice processing, contract signing, job costing, etc. is centralized and accessible from anywhere via VPN. It’s as if everyone is here in the office, which was very helpful during the pandemic. Overall, we continue to make advances towards real-time data.
How does Shamrock use technology to support company operations and provide customers with time-sensitive and high-quality service?
We leverage telematics, GPS and ELDs so that we know where our equipment and personnel are at any given time, which is helpful to dispatchers and site supervisors for resource allocation. We are very diligent about on time arrivals because we know exactly where the equipment is and can predict arrival. In fact, we track on time arrivals and send reports to drivers and managers on how they rank comparatively.
Furthermore, over the years we’ve developed sophisticated checks and balances and business intelligence in the system to ensure waste disposal is processed where and how it should be. Shamrock has the state-of-the-art non-hazardous waste tracking, treatment and disposal system. We use technology to run wastewater treatment plants using telematics, monitors and sensors on equipment so that regulations are being met.
Shamrock has also implemented a customer portal, which now allows our customers to access invoices and invoice related documents from anywhere. It used to be a mail-based system, so this has been a huge improvement. We do things that large companies like UPS and FedEx can do, but we are the only company in our size range with these capabilities.
How has the internal development of customized software allowed Shamrock to grow into new geographic markets?
We built our systems to be flexible and extensible so that we’re prepared for almost any use case. And when we do encounter a new use case, we can easily modify the system to accommodate it.
Why does technology make Shamrock a leader in the field?
Having our own systems gives us a level of agility than we would not have with an off-the-shelf system. You might be able to put in a request for a change with a canned system, but it might be six months or more before they make the change, if at all. Having our own systems means that as events, regulations, and emerging contaminant statuses quickly change, we can adapt with them and move just as quickly. And since they’re our systems, everything is our data. Some third-party applications and systems control every piece of data; they might let the user have access to certain parts of it, but with our systems we have access to all data. This gives us the ability to make decisions with sophisticated business intelligence. And because all our systems are so tightly integrated, it reduces errors that could impact customers.
Our technology also allows us to have room for future growth and acquisitions. As Shamrock advances, we’re able to pull other companies we acquire into our programs and have them be a part of our technology management system.
Can you give an example of when work you’ve done has prevented problems or accidents?
We have integrated our ELD system in such a way that we are able to view drivers’ hours. They are limited to the number of hours they can drive per day and per week, and our system is able to pull their active hours into our scheduling program. Then as the dispatcher is scheduling drivers, he has that information right in front of him. Having drivers’ hours so easily available prevents both Shamrock and the drivers from getting in trouble with the state and DOT, as well as ensuring drivers get more than enough rest to avoid falling asleep and causing an accident. This makes everything much more reliable, efficient and safe for customers.