OccuTrace is 6 years old now. What do we have to say?

This interview is by David McKenzie, Founder and Managing Director of OccuTrace. Interviewer - Andrew Logan BA FCIM, Founder at Floww Digital.

Why is June an important month for your business David?

This month we’re celebrating the 6th anniversary to OccuTrace. The company was founded in June 2016, and we had an amazing journey since. We have experienced the choppy waters (as many others have) and had more ups than downs. With the pandemic years and many other significant changes in the market, it has been an adventure!

What would you say was the biggest achievement for OccuTrace during these years?

Back in 2016, the business started off as a kind of one-dimensional service provider. Now it has evolved to a multi-disciplinary services provider for the utilities sector. Not only the quality of what we produce but the variety of service OccuTrace now provides has grown along with the scale and complexity.

We pride ourselves in the quality of our work and the value we have delivered for our growing client base. Our biggest projects have been performed within the water market, however the technology we have as well as the team’s expertise is easily transferrable and scalable for the other utilities market segments, and beyond.

You mentioned how the business grew to a multiple services provider. Which services do you offer now?

Our services offering is all built around the data and accuracy or validation of that data in one way or another.

Over the course of these 6 years, we have established ourselves firmly as an expert in Vacants Management, resolving Long Unread Meters as well as successfully running projects in DMA Excellence, Leakage, Unaccounted For Water. Most recently OccuTrace have become a key delivery partner for the research focused projects for MOSL.

Why do you think the demand for data projects is going to be a thing in the future for the utilities industry?

The answer is simple – we talk to our customers, and we follow the industry trends. As MOSL have highlighted in the Strategy for Enhancing Metering Technology report in April 2022, 'common data output standards will be at least as important as particular technology (ies)'. This statement has also been one of the key points discussed at the key utilities events like Utility Week Live!.

Data should become accurate, attainable, relevant, and transparent for the market to develop enhanced customer service. We are excited to see quality of data and data accuracy standards being promoted and supported by all industry participants.

Tell us 3 facts about OccuTrace not everyone would know.

• 6 years
• 36 people on the team
• Revenues up 70% since last year

From tech start up to 7 figure business with almost 40 staff what are the keys to success?

Let me think… We put our money where our mouth is. You know this phrase ‘out of the box’ which is typically used for creative thinking? Our key differentiation point is in providing ‘out of the box’ quality of the outcomes to our clients. We consistently deliver above their expectations.

Our secret is in being agile and flexible. OccuTrace is open to innovate and create efficient projects to match our customers requirements. We have great working relationships with our customers. We have their back whilst the projects are running and they trust us. In an ever-changing industry sector our clients keep coming back asking if we could design new solutions for their updated challenges.

We’re doing our best to scale up and extend offering in response to the customer updated requirements, or completely new challenges they face. That’s how new OccuTrace projects are born.

On another hand, we are fortunate to have a team that is ready to go above and beyond. We try our best to create a positive culture for the people. They have the job done and at the same time they have fun, it’s a great environment to work at.

OccuTrace is a relatively young company with quite a technical offering. How do you ensure the high quality that you are particularly proud of?

Right people is going to be my answer here. There are professionals on board who were brought from the utilities as well as from other industries so together we have 26 years of combined industry experience that have been poured into OccuTrace.

For example, Alistair Milne, our Operations Coordinator for the DMA Excellence, Leakage, Unaccounted For Water has absolute wealth of experience within the water industry. His knowledge and operations experience has been essential in establishing the projects we run in these areas.

Mark Young, our Operations Lead for Vacants Management has been leading operations for over 12 years. His expertise in data validation is second to none which is much appreciated by our clients who rate our Vacants Management services highly.

We also have people growing from within the business. Our Operation Lead for the Long Unread Meter and VIP Cyclic Reads Natalie Martin started with the company in 2019 and then grew to her current role. She’s instrumental in managing the team, customer relationships as well as making sure that the quality of data is spot on.

OccuTrace is all about data so I also would like to mention our very own and highly qualified Business Improvement Analyst Ben Campbell. Ben is with us from the 2018 and he’s the backbone of our team.

On a customer-facing side, our Client Engagement Manager Gary Kidd brings wealth of knowledge from the IT and business development. The marketing function was established at the end of March this year with the experienced Marketing Manager Tanya Stevenson coming on board as well.

I could talk about our people for ages, there are many other great professional guys working at OccuTrace but I’ll have to stop here before you ‘run out of paper’ ??.

David, thanks so much for ‘talking’ to us, great conversation. Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap up?

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to our customers and partners on behalf of the OccuTrace team. We value your trust and cooperation and will always appreciate your feedback.

We look forward to your next, exciting project and look forward to helping you deliver your objectives and being a key partner in resolving your challenges.

Keep your eyes peeled for the updates on our social media, we’re going to have a great year and we will stay in touch.

If you want to reach out to me feel free to do at David McKenzie.

I'd also like to thank you Andrew for talking to me today and also thank the Floww Digital team for being with OccuTrace all way from the 2016.