The Challenge
Taxus Ecology is a UK based ecological consultancy who work with a variety of organisations across many ecological disciplines including; protected species surveys, ecological impact assessments, habitat surveys and bat surveys.
Formed by Hannah Haggon and David White in 2020, the team at Taxus Ecology have already worked on some major UK and international projects including NEOM, a development in Saudi Arabia.
Hannah and David have recently returned from Saudi Arabia where they’ve been collecting baseline data for an up and coming conservation project and now they’re back supporting UK based clients with their ecological surveys.
Collecting accurate data is obviously an integral part of the work that Taxus undertakes, and working across countries meant that they needed a streamlined, reliable and simple system to enable them to collect a huge variety of data across various locations.
Like many ecological consultancies, Taxus were using pen and paper before Coreo. In order to ensure they didn’t lose this data, they then took a photo of it and tracked all locations using Google Maps.
These disparate systems created more work for Hannah and David, who constantly had to cross reference across devices and spreadsheets and with the worry of having to repeat surveys if data was lost or illegible.
‘Although using pen and paper worked in theory, it was extremely time consuming and we always had the worry of losing the data in the back of our minds. We even suffered the frustratingly common issue of not being able to read our own handwriting!’
‘Using Coreo has had a genuine, positive impact on the way we work. When using pen and paper, we would spend at minimum a week after a survey transcribing the data into a usable format, but with Coreo that task is removed and the data is already in the system ready for us to get straight to the analysis stage’.
Hannah Haggon – Taxus Ecology
The Solution
Hannah and David recognised there was a need for them to start streamlining their data collection to save them time and also to prevent possible loss of data. Having previously used software in other roles, they realised that switching their entire survey process to a SaaS platform would provide them with significant benefits.
After chatting to the Coreo team at a CIEEM event last Autumn, David and Hannah decided to take the plunge and integrate Coreo into their business.
Since setting up Coreo, the team have been using it both in the UK and in Saudi Arabia, mainly for bat and tree climbing surveys. And they have already seen an improvement in their data and the way they are able to work.
As well as developing and completing full bat surveys using the app, Taxus have also used it to mark points of interest such as specific mammal sites they see whilst out undertaking other surveys. This then means they are able to have the exact location of these areas and add photos instantly on the same device they use to complete their regular surveys.
‘The simplicity of Coreo meant that we were able to get to grips with using the platform straight away. However, when we did have queries the Coreo team were always on hand to provide us with swift and helpful support’.
The Results
Since using Coreo, Taxus have seen improvements across all their data management.
Benefits have included;
- Streamlined data
- Time saved
- Improved data quality
- Reduction in missing data
‘Using Coreo has had a genuine, positive impact on the way we work. When using pen and paper, we would spend at minimum a week after a survey transcribing the data into a usable format, but with Coreo that task is removed and the data is already in the system ready for us to get straight to the analysis stage.
‘As well as time savings, we’ve seen an improvement on data quality as we can add photos and notes to specific records with just the click of a button and the ability to add mandatory fields has meant that we’ve drastically reduced the amount of missing data.’
Moving forwards, the team at Taxus plan to digitise all their surveys using Coreo and trial the UKHab Survey App.