ATAL Engineering Group (ATAL)
Company Background
Founded in 1977, ATAL is a leading electrical and mechanical (E&M)
engineering service provider headquartered in Hong Kong. Over the past 45
years, ATAL has provided a wide range of multi-disciplinary and
comprehensive E&M engineering and technology services for customers from
public and private sectors. The business of ATAL encompasses building
services, environmental engineering, information, communications and building
technologies (ICBT), as well as lifts and escalators. ATAL’s operations span
across Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, the United Kingdom and the
United States. ATAL’s parent company, Analogue Holdings Limited, is listed on
the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2019 (Stock Code:
1977).
As one of the leaders of the E&M industry in Hong Kong, ATAL has taken part in many large-scale local projects, including Hong Kong’s
first organic resources recovery centre, the sewage treatment plant in Hong Lok Yuen, the border crossing biometric identification system
for Hong Kong International Airport, intelligent buildings for Hong Kong Science Park, the tunnel access control system for Hong Kong’s
MTR Corporation, the re novation of Central t o Mid-Levels Escalator and Walkway System, the Hong Kong section of the
Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge project, and the like. For this broad scope of
business, ReportNOW provides ATAL a convenient and cost-effective tool for generating e-forms and reports, thus leading to the age of
digital transformation.
From Outsourcing to No-Code Platform: The Magic Key to Save Cost and Time
In order to guarantee the progress and maintain the quality of engineering and maintenance services, ATAL has to regularly conduct site
inspection and collect data for analyses and reports. Traditionally, the making of reports was done manually. The entire procedure was very tedious and involved a great amount of time and human resources. Before introducing ReportNOW, ATAL considered to outsource the
relevant tasks to other local I&T companies. However, after receiving the quotations, the management believed that outsourcing is not
cost-effective in the long run. Eventually, ATAL turned to ISL and adopted ISL’s ReportNOW platform.
Compared to other “low-code” platforms available on the market, ReportNOW is a “no-code” platform where users are not required to be
equipped with any kinds of coding knowledge. To customise a form and report, what they only need to do is to directly drag and drop the
elements to the interface. Even without any professional IT bac kground or assistance from software developers, staff from ATAL can still
easily produce reports with ReportNOW after a three-day trainin g. As for more complex forms and reports, ATAL staff spent only two to
three months acquiring the knowledge and have thus far produced more than 30 forms and reports, which are mostly used for coll ecting
and analysing projects’ data. Practically, ReportNOW is a simpler and more convenient platform than the traditional means or outsourcing
for ATAL to create reports. It can effectively save time and cost, particularly the development cost for hiring developers and IT consultants.
New Reporting System under Work From Home Arrangement: The Pathway to Digital Transformation
In the context of digitalisation and development of smart city, industries including E&M industry have been undergoing digital transformation.
Over the past two years, the uncertain pandemic situations have brought numerous enterprises to focus on digitalisation of their business. For
ATAL, innovation is always one of the core values of the company. Generally, the reports for maintenance services follow the same format
and requirement, in which its repetitiveness paves the way for the digitalisation of the operation process. Since the introduc tion of
ReportNOW, the field technician can submit the report and data directly through mobile device or tablet to the database without the need to
submit the handwritten forms and reports in person.
This reporting system, on the one hand, facilitates the “work from home” arrangement during the hard times under the pandemic. On the
other hand, this remote reporting system also helps management and backend staff acquire the project data and keep up with the project
status and progress timely. Proper decision for management can thus be made easily. In this light, ReportNOW digitalises the entire reporting
process and reduces the repetitive and time-consuming procedure of data inputting. Using ReportNOW, ATAL can optimise its allocation and
use of resources through improving the daily operation, hence enhancing the overall efficiency of their services.
As we shall see, ReportNOW is the newest tool for ATAL’s pathway to innovation. It is not only about time saving and cost saving, but also
fosters the company’s progress towards digital transformation of the business, with a view to catching up with the trend and continuing to
be the leading “smart” E&M company in Hong Kong.
