Hostcomm + James Frew

The Facts

James Frew Now Enjoys:

Live remote visual assistance powered by Simpro Partner, Hostcomm, embedded directly in Simpro and fully aligned with their existing service workflows.

James Frew Now Can:

Reduce travel costs, speed up triage, improve first-time fix rates, and deliver a faster, more flexible customer experience.

James Frew Now Has:

A seamless Simpro-integrated RVX solution that supports operational efficiency, lowers overheads, and helps overcome the challenges of a stretched field workforce.

The Figures

• £50,000+ in projected savings within the first year
• Expected to reach £100,000 in savings as adoption scales
• Over 200 field engineers supported by remote-first diagnostics
• Remote assistance capabilities embedded directly in Simpro within 1 hour
• Reduced travel and faster resolution for service, survey, and inspection calls

The Story

Who They Are — James Frew

Formed in 1911, James Frew Ltd is a leading provider of building services and integrated property solutions, including plumbing, heating, and electrical services for both the public and private sectors. With more than 200 field engineers and a wide-reaching customer base, the business uses Simpro to manage complex service operations across thousands of sites.

In recent years, the business has faced increased operational pressure. Recruiting and retaining engineers has become more difficult, while rising fuel costs and customer expectations have added to the challenge. To stay competitive, James Frew needed to serve more customers with the same resources, while improving response times and controlling costs.

The team looked for a solution that could reduce travel, speed up issue resolution and integrate seamlessly with the tools they already used.

The Challenge — High Costs and Limited Capacity

Field engineers were frequently sent to site for issues that could have been diagnosed remotely. Even simple faults required travel, time and manual reporting. With so much demand on the helpdesk and field teams, James Frew needed to increase efficiency without adding headcount or disrupting core systems.

Rising energy and salary costs were placing further pressure on the business. To continue meeting customer expectations, they needed a smarter way to triage requests, reduce site visits and improve engineer productivity.

The Solution — Remote Visual Assistance Inside Simpro

Hostcomm introduced RVX, a remote visual assistance tool that enables customer service staff to see what the customer sees using their smartphone camera. Through a browser-based video connection, the agent can guide the customer using live pointers, image annotations, measurements and even remote flashlight control.

Crucially, RVX was embedded directly into Simpro using a lightweight browser extension. This allowed James Frew’s team to launch and manage sessions from within the familiar Simpro Jobs screen. All media, notes and session data were automatically uploaded back to Simpro, creating a full service history without added admin.

Setup took less than an hour, and the team required minimal training. The technology was easy to use and designed specifically for field service environments.

“The integration with Simpro meant our team could adopt RVX without changing the way they work. That’s been a major factor in how quickly we’ve seen results.”

With RVX, engineers can now assess jobs remotely, ensuring they arrive on-site with the right tools or resolve the issue without travelling at all. This has improved first-time fix rates, reduced unnecessary trips and freed up field staff to handle more complex tasks.

Where To Next — Expanding Remote Support and Cost Savings

James Frew is on track to save over £50,000 in its first year using RVX, with projected savings reaching £100,000 as adoption grows. These results have been achieved by reducing engineer travel, improving triage accuracy and enabling faster service without increasing pressure on the team.

The Hostcomm partnership has shown that advanced visual assistance tools can be embedded quickly and effectively inside Simpro. By removing unnecessary steps and delivering instant insight, RVX has become a valuable part of James Frew’s service model.

With a strong foundation in place, James Frew plans to expand the use of RVX to further reduce costs, support sustainability goals and deliver an even better experience for their customers.