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As Managing Director of the company that developed the world's first browser based service management software, Colin Brown of Tesseract is a bit of an expert when it comes to both SM software and the Cloud itself so we asked him to give us some guidance on the SaaS model...

I’ve been asked by our dear editor to look at the SaaS model in delivering a service management application. SaaS or Software as a Service has been around many years but has recently entered the mainstream with the term “cloud”.

There is no doubt that many large software companies ignored SaaS, hoping it would go away, their business models based on big sales and complex, expensive IT infrastructures. Not small monthly amounts that SaaS proffers.

So without certain advancements - cost effective data centres, Internet and predominantly browser based software, SaaS would not exist. The cost would have been simply too high. There is no question that the SaaS model was born out of the right technology.

In 2005, Tesseract was in the vanguard of offering this as another option to deliver its service system. Salesforce.com has made SaaS more mainstream and now we see companies developing application software that is only available on SaaS and have a business model built around it. All of this in a short space of time.

From a service management perspective, the high cost of owning sophisticated software, which is a significant barrier, has been removed by SaaS. Now relatively small companies can now compete with larger rival as they can rent the same standard of software. This renting of the software reflects a huge shift in mind set by the developers. Historically, they would have been terrified of the software being copied and low value recurring revenue threatened their business model. However, most independent service companies have recurring revenue which actually fits neatly with “renting” the software.

SaaS is also a good practical fit with service management as field based technicians can connect with the system, via any web browser anywhere in the world (as long as the application is browser based.) In the old days, the software had to be physically installed onto a PC and required a phone connection to be accessed. Now a mobile workforce can be mobile!

 

In large part, this is thanks to the hosted server a.k.a. The Cloud. SaaS data centres handle all the expensive, complex fire walls and demilitarized zones that keep information safe. We work with Rackspace in the US, the leading hosting and cloud global supplier, and Memset, an award winning UK supplier of hosting and cloud solutions. SaaS is also safer in that there are no systems in the office in case of disaster or power shortages. However, I think it is wise to invest in additional servers as back-up, giving a higher degree of resilience. This is something we offer at Tesseract.

The support offered under SaaS is also advantageous. Since access to the software is controlled by the supplier, all the software upgrades are installed and installed correctly (free of charge at Tesseract). Employees are no longer able to “play” with the data as it is hosted remotely, which reduces system errors.

However, it does not mean businesses are isolated from their systems, Most modern web products support Web services, including Tesseract, allowing connectivity to tracking solutions, accounts/erp packages, post code hosted solutions, hosted customer survey solutions and all new web-based services.

We have found that the service management industry is a diverse bunch with different requirements so we offer the ability to “Pick ‘n’ Mix”. Some customers take the rental and support option but would rather install the software on their own server; other customers require remote hosting and support but they prefer to buy the software and others want the whole SaaS package of hosting, rental and support. With all three options, the internet and/or an intranet are the delivery routes.

SaaS has really taken off in the US, more so than in the UK currently. All of our new business in the US is SaaS and we expect the UK to follow suit.

 

Want to know more? Colin is speaking at this year's Service Management Expo. Click here to register!

 

 

Find out more about Tesseract in the Field Service News directory

 

 

In theory field service would seem to be an industry that could benefit greatly from the cloud. The ability to give remote access to systems for mobile workers is obviously advantageous to an industry that by its very definition has a high percentage of its workforce on the move.

But has the field service industry leapt into the cloud feet first, or is there still some reluctance until the technology proves itself robust enough to be trusted with service management systems?

Across the last few months Field Service News in partnership with Tesseract have undertaken a research project, which aims to take a measure of the appetite for Cloud based software and the Software as a Service distribution model within the field service industry.

Read our executive summary below or download the full white paper for free by registering on this link 

 

On Premise versus Cloud in field service today:

The first major insight from the research is that despite Cloud and SaaS becoming more widely understood as a concept, as far as the headline numbers are concerned currently those companies that have placed there field service management systems in the Cloud remain in the minority. In fact currently 77% of companies are still using an On-Premise solution with just 23% having actually moved their field service software to a Cloud based platform.

At first glance this may seem somewhat of a surprise. We have been hearing things about the Cloud, good and bad, for quite a while now. Salesforce.Com the Grandaddy of the Cloud who pretty much single handily made a mockery of computing giants such as Oracle and SAP’s dismissive stance towards SaaS as a passing fad, are now a ripe old 15 years old. The cloud’s been around for long enough to take route by now hasn’t it? One argument could be that actually fifteen years isn’t that long, especially when we take into consideration that it took a few extra years for the first browser based service management solution to appear (Tesseract’s Service Centre 4.2 in 2001) and also as all service management software previously had been purchased on a pricey CAPEX model then the life cycles of these systems were understandably relatively long.

The shift to a new, emerging technology will likely be weighted towards a slower start in such an environment. Actually we can find further evidence of this when we look at exactly how long those companies who are currently using an On-Premise system have been using that system for. The vast majority (60%) have been using their current system fro at least three years so this would certainly seem to correlate with this theory. In fact just 18% of On Premise solutions are recent implementations (within one year). A slightly larger amount 22% of systems are between a year and three years old.

However, it is when we look at the next question we asked of those respondents using an On Premise system “Are you likely to consider a SaaS/Cloud solution when you next update your service management system” that we start to see some genuine evidence that the shift to the Cloud is starting to speed up. Of those companies currently using an On-Premise solution just over half 53% have stated that they are considering a move to a Cloud based solution in the future. With 47% stating that they will not consider the Cloud for their next iteration of field service management solution.

If this figure remains true and there is a conversion from those ‘considering’ the Cloud to those adopting the Cloud then within a period of perhaps three to five years, by when most companies will have moved onto next generation platforms, it is highly likely that we will see an almost 180º switch in the ratio of On Premise to Cloud systems being in place with SaaS becoming the dominant model for software distribution within the field service industry. Whilst the shift may be slow initially, it would seem that when it does happen it could be quite dramatic.

 

The benefits of Cloud in field service

So what exactly are the benefits of Cloud based service management software to merit such a dramatic shift? We asked those respondents that were already on a Cloud based system what were the reasons they chose to choose Cloud over an On-Premise solution, asking them to indicate if any of the following reasons were important to them. The benefits we listed were: more affordable pricing model, scalable solution, disaster recovery, easy remote access, speed of going live, less reliant on IT department.

The results were interesting in that perhaps they did not conform to what are often seen to be the key USPs of Cloud based solutions. Of these options easy remote access was the most popular reason cited with 61% of respondents indicating this was an important factor to them. The second most popular benefit was the fact that Cloud solutions are scalable with 54% of those surveyed ticking this option. Often the most heralded benefit of the SaaS distribution model is that it makes expensive solutions more affordable.

However, this was only the joint fourth most popular option tied with another benefit that we regularly see being championed i.e. the speed of going live. With just over a quarter of respondents (28%) indicating that these were important factors to them. When we look just at companies with the smallest category of mobile workforce (under 50 field engineers) we do see an increase to 35% of companies that cite affordability as an important reason for choosing SaaS, yet again it remains only the fourth most popular choice. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that whilst the fact that a SaaS model does of course offer a more affordable payment model, it appears that it is the other benefits that enable improved efficiency in the mobile workforce that mostly attracted these early adopters.

But what about the actual benefits that are being seen by those using a SaaS service management system? Beyond the hyperbole and marketing speak what are the benefits that genuine field service companies are experiencing in the real world?

So as to not to colour the results in anyway around this critical question we opted to leave the response to the question ‘What has been the biggest benefit to your company since moving to the cloud” as a open text response. This has given us a truer understanding of what the key benefits to Cloud based field service software were.

The most prominent benefit that stood out was the general performance of the systems themselves alongside the ease of updates. A quarter of all responses (25%) were grouped around the fact that by having a system that was easy to upgrade respondents found they were essentially getting a regularly improved and refined piece of software so performance levels remained above those that they had experienced previously. The other most significant benefit was in fact the cost which also was listed by 25% of the respondents. So whilst cost may not have been as high as anticipated as a reason to initially opt for a SaaS model, it would appear that once the decision had been made, the more manageable payment methods of SaaS did indeed shine out as a key benefit of the model. This would be particularly relevant for those companies whose service division operates its on P&L of course.

Speed was also a regularly used term word amongst the responses. In the main the reference was to the speed and ease of set up however the speed of information flow between field engineers and head office was also raised as a key benefit. Speed alongside the term ‘ease of use’ was both common terms that appeared in 13% of all responses. Other benefits that are worthy of mention are increased mobility, scalability and flexibility including being able to put multiple countries onto the same operating system easily and the easy accumulation of data via remote access in one source.

However, certainly the greatest acid test of how successful the Cloud has been in terms of delivering field service software to those that have taken this path is whether or not they would recommend a similar move to others. In this instance it would certainly appear that the implementation of Cloud for those field service companies that have made the move has been an overwhelming success with 90% of companies that are currently using a Cloud based field service management solutions stating they would recommend doing so. Such a majority is certainly a powerful statement to the positive impact of the Cloud for those field service companies that have been early adopters and embraced the technology.

 

Yet some many remain unconvinced

So it is evident that those who are working with a Cloud based solution seem to be satisfied having made the change and it also seems that many of those still using an On-Premise solution are actively considering a move to the cloud when the opportunity to upgrade there service management software next arises. Yet there is still a sizeable amount of companies (circa 30%) that are not considering the Cloud at all.

Why exactly is this and what fears do they have? We asked those respondents that indicated they would not be considering a Cloud based solution to identify the key reasons they did not feel comfortable with the cloud. Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly the leading reason cited was Security. Front-page news stories about the lack of security in the Cloud continue to cast doubt it seems as 47% of companies that are not considering the Cloud still cite security as a key fear. Concerns around connectivity and issues integrating issues with existing legacy systems were also both common objectives with 34% and 37% of companies respectively indicating that these issues gave them cause for concern around a move towards the Cloud. What is interesting is when we compare these issues with those that are currently operating a Cloud based service management solution these fears do not necessarily match up to the reality. In fact when looking at the issues that those who are using the Cloud have actually encountered we actually see the reverse of the above.

The most common issue with the Cloud has proven to be connectivity issues, which 60% of companies using a Cloud based system have experienced problems with. The second most common issue is then integration with existing systems, which 40% of companies have faced. Security in fact ranks the lowest of the issues cited by companies using a Cloud system with only a quarter of companies having had any issues in this area whatsoever. Looking further at those companies that are not considering a Cloud solution, it is interesting to note that whilst the large majority (72%) have not implemented Cloud systems in any area of their business, a still sizeable 29% of companies did have at least one element of their business requirements based in the Cloud.

This initially seems odd as with a clear benefit of Cloud being ‘easy remote access’ it would seem a perfect bedfellow for the field service systems and therefore one might assume, one of the first systems to be moved into the Cloud. However, when we look at the reason given for why respondents felt Service Management software in particular should still be held On Premise the majority of respondents (70%) identify integration with existing systems as the main reason why they believe they need to keep their systems out of the Cloud. Essentially as service management systems are so core to company’s operational efficiencies, for some it simply isn’t worth the risk of moving to a system that cannot be easily integrated into wider business systems.

For those more conservative companies that would prefer to see a technology fully established and road tested before committing to it, connectivity issues between the Cloud and existing systems to still remain so it could be prudent to hold back for the near future, until these issues are fully resolved. However, of course the longer a company waits to take advantage of the benefits of a new technology, the greater risk they are in terms of falling behind the rest of the market in terms of efficiency and translating this into better service standards.

 

Conclusion - SaaS will eventually become the norm in field service

Whilst at the current time Cloud computing has yet to take a firm hold amongst the majority of field service companies, with most companies still using an On-Premise system, it would certainly seem that there is a definite shift towards the Cloud and the SaaS model and that shift is starting to gain momentum. If those companies that are currently considering a move to SaaS do actually make the transition, then within the next few years we could see a complete reversal in the ratio of companies operating On Premise systems versus those operating on Cloud based solutions, with Cloud becoming the dominant platform.

The benefits of Cloud are numerous and well suited to field service, with the ease of remote access being the key factor for companies either considering moving to the Cloud or those that have made the move already. Wider benefits such as the more affordable pricing structure of SaaS, the speed of implementation and less reliance on IT departments also of course are attractive factors to field service companies also. The biggest issue that has slowed the adoption of the Cloud in field service to date is the perception that security is a major issue for Cloud systems.

However, in reality this has not proved to be the case for those field service companies that are actually operating in the Cloud. Yet these doubts still remain and perhaps it is a matter of the technology having to continue to prove itself secure over a longer period of time for these to abate fully. At the same time the biggest issues felt by those using the Cloud are possibly likely to be resolved by surrounding technologies in the near future. Connectivity, which is the largest problem facing companies with a Cloud system for example will ultimately ebb away as serious issue as mobile internet standards continue to increase.

Within the UK for example all of the major providers are required to meet 90% 3G coverage of the UK as part of their contracts with UK Government by this summer. Currently the only provider to have fallen short of this target is Vodafone who offer 3G coverage to 88.5% of the UK. Of course with 4G now being rolled out this situation will only continue to improve.

When we consider that there is a building appetite for the Cloud in Field Service Industry, the key fear around the Cloud (security) is proving in reality a far less common issue than the perception would have us believe and that the most common issue being faced by those currently using the Cloud is potentially going to diminish naturally as internet coverage becomes ever more widespread it would seem that the Cloud is set to become an established platform for field service technology, and even ultimately become the most commonplace method.

 

Want to know more? Download the complete white paper based on this research for free by clicking this link

 

This research was undertaken in partnership with Tesseract. Find out more about Tesseract in the Field Service News Directory here

 

 

 

We are currently conducting a research project in partnership with Tesseract, which aims to establish exactly what you think about SaaS field service solutions. Having now reached the half waypoint of this project there are some interesting results already becoming prominent…

SaaS field service solutions still in the minority

Of the total respondents so far the overwhelming majority (83%) are currently still using an on premise solution as opposed to a SaaS field service solutions. However, of those still using an on-premise solution 62% have stated they were considering moving to a SaaS platform when they next upgrade their field service management software.

The key driver in this shift towards the cloud is the added mobility cloud solutions offer, with 66% of companies citing most easy remote access as a factor in why they are considering SaaS. Other common reasons were the scalability of SaaS solutions and the more affordable pricing structure of SaaS, which 59% and 51% of companies cited respectively.

Mythbuster – security is not an issue for SaaS field service solutions

The biggest fear around moving to a SaaS field service solution was security which 52% cited as a reason they would not choose SaaS. This is largely to be expected due to the often-high profile doubts raised about cloud security.

However, it would seem it is not substantiated by the facts. Of those companies operating a SaaS field service solution none cited security as an issue they had faced.

The biggest issues surrounding cloud based systems were in fact connectivity and communication with existing legacy systems. Exactly half of companies with a cloud solution had suffered from one or both of these issues. However, only 36% of companies cited either of these as a reason why they wouldn’t choose SaaS.

Of those who have chosen SaaS all have identified easy remote access as the key reason why they opted for SaaS. Scalability was the second most popular reason for opting for a SaaS solution which was cited by 75% of companies. A more affordable pricing model and built-in disaster recovery being the joint third popular reasons that 57% of companies listed.

Additional benefits of SaaS provided by respondents included increased functionality and availability, cost, flexibility, ease of upgrades and infrastructure and all countries being moved to the same platform.

It is interesting that for both companies either already on a SaaS field service solution or considering a SaaS field service solution that less reliance on the IT department was the least common factor in choosing the cloud.

Only 28% of companies already using a SaaS field service solution identified this as a reason for choosing SaaS whilst only 10% of companies considering a SaaS field service solution cited it as a reason for consideration.

Who’s in the DMU

Whilst it is certainly true that SaaS will reduce the strain on the IT department, it is clearly not a factor that most field service managers take into consideration.

However, what is clear is that when the CIO/IT Director etc is involved within the decision making process there is more likelihood of the company opting for a SaaS field service solution.

In fact the CIO or equivalent was involved in the decision making process in 71% of companies who had opted for SaaS field service solution and was the most common figure within the decision making unit (DMU) of such companies.

However, for companies who were still operating on an on premise solution the CIO or equivalent was only involved in 46% of cases with the CFO/FD being more prominent and being involved in the DMU in 56% of cases.

As you would expect in both instances the Field Service Manager was a prominent figure in the DMU being the second most common member in companies with SaaS and most common within those companies still operating an on premise solution.

Bringing in the mobile workforce

However it appears that there are two groups that are largely being omitted from the DMU yet who strategically could have a massive impact on the success of the implementation of any new platform whether it be on-premise or a SaaS field service solution.

One of the biggest obstacles often highlighted to a successful implementation of the technology is getting the buy–in of the mobile workforce.

It is a topic we have discussed on field service news a number of times and one regular suggestion by industry experts is to get representatives of the field staff to be part of the DMU for the latest field service solution you intend to deploy. However, in both groups (SaaS or on premise) less than 15% of companies sought to include representatives of their field staff in the process.

Also with the trend to move service departments away from being cost centres and towards profit centres it would surely be sensible to include a senior figure from the sales division into the conversation also. However, again the inclusion of a sales director or equivalent was a rare occurrence with no more than 7% of companies bringing the sales director into the process.

How does this shape up to your own situation? Is your company operating a SaaS field service solution? Are you considering a move to the cloud  or do you think that you would always rather a platform that remains on premise instead of a SaaS field service solution?

If you haven’t taken part in the survey as yet then please do and help us build up a complete picture of the industry today.

As a thank you all respondents who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers!

The survey is designed to only take about 2 to 3 minutes to complete and will be no more than 12 questions maximum. Enter the survey now by clicking here.

Who are Watling Hope? 

Watling Hope are market leaders in the field of wastewater engineering services and are seen as such not only because they are national specialists but also because they demonstrate a keen desire to innovate when it comes to service delivery. They pride themselves on operating with flexibility and having a truly 'customer-first' attitude. How have they achieved this?

“We've made the service department the business, moving it from an after-sales function to the front end of the customer relationship,” says Edward Palin, managing director of Watling Hope.

In fact, Watling Hope’s development into service leaders in their field has not been a straight line. They have grown into a service business from originally being a ground works company. That is, they were a company which made its revenue from installing pumping stations and mechanical drainage devices but made the transition as they realised the commercial sense in also maintaining those devices, before taking the leap to maintaining devices that other people had installed as well.

Such a change in company emphasis has seen Watling Hope expand from 50  contracts 20 years ago to around 2,500 contracts today. “We provided a unique professional approach in what wasn’t a customer service orientated industry,” says Palin.

“Before us it was guys in overalls handing over dirty bits of paper. “Watling Hope’s unique attraction was a service company which put together usable reports and relationships which effectively looked after the customers’ interests from a commercial perspective, as opposed to on a job by job basis."

 

Ongoing Service Innovation

Like any good service business, Watling Hope are restless innovators, always looking to evolve better ways of delivering.

The latest stage of this evolution involved 18 months sizing up service solutions options, saying goodbye to the previous ERP platform in the process. When the step was made they went with Tesseract Service Centre, and got their mobile engineering team online with Motorola’s ES400 PDAs, although not simultaneously.

“I remember at the time saying to Tesseract that when we get the new system we want to recognise the benefits straight away,” says Palin.

“They wisely advised us we need our office to understand the system first, because you don’t want 25 engineers phoning up and asking how it works when the people in the office don’t understand it yet. That phased implementation has worked really well for us.”

A phased approach was also applied to the eventual hardware rollout, with two engineers in the team given the ES400s to play with. This approach seems to have negated the expected resistance.

“The other engineers started saying ‘when am I getting my PDA?’” says Palin.

Having an engineering team clamouring for new gear is not a common story; Watling Hope might be on to something with the drip feed of hardware solutions. It has revitalised the mobile team’s approach to work; it represents a feeling of being invested in.

Regardless of industry, service organisations all have a similar set of needs. This played a large part in the process to ditch the ERP solution and side with Tesseract.

“They had 20 years working in service, as opposed to an ERP solution which just adapted to fit service,” says Palin.

“We wanted a service solution for a service organisation.”

“If a pumping station goes down it is business critical, people don’t think about that. If you take a restaurant or a hotel, you can turn the water off and the customers would probably stay there. If they can’t use the drainage, the toilets, you’d have to close the business. So being able to respond quickly and being able to keep the customer informed is a crucial feature of what we do.”

 

Assessing the Service Process

Implementing a new system also gave Watling Hope the chance to reassess other areas of the way they worked.

The previous ERP system contained a legacy of site specific comments, meaning the information needed could only be found by trawling through pages of comments. Instead of dumping this data into the Service Centre, engineers were encouraged to re-inform head office of specific details, which would be entered in useful, context specific spaces.

The new system also encouraged a shift in the way regional teams are organised.

“We have quarterly meetings where we all get together,” says Palin. “For a national business it’s a huge environmental consideration for everyone to drive here. As we reorganised into areas with the roll out of the new system, we are now having area meetings; so management and operations will drive to meet the teams instead.”

Communication has always been a key factor to the mobile engineering teams, with free calls between business mobiles encouraging knowledge sharing. In addition the area meetings impart company updates, but also might feature a supplier who will give a presentation on changes to a product. It also forms itself into something of a training road show, imparting customer service and technical training. Each session finishes on a forum to give engineers a voice, encouraging a friendly peer to peer atmosphere.

Watling Hope have fought hard to develop a professional service offering, and don’t seem to have any plans to stop their progression.

 

What does the future hold?

“Continued growth and consolidation of customers,” concludes Palin. “We’re hoping to provide a more diverse range of services.”

Download a PDF copy of this Case Study containing additional commentary from both Tesseract and Watling Hope here

We’ve talked much about software as a service on field service news over the last few months.

We’ve explored whether the platform will become the great leveller in the field service industry as for the first time smaller, more agile companies are able to afford access to the sophisticated and powerful service management software systems that boast numerous benefits such as increasing efficiency, improving first time fix rates, and of course improving the level of service you can deliver to your customers. Not so long ago these systems were the domain of enterprise size companies solely.

The SaaS revolution changed that.

Then we delved further into the cloud and took with us some of the big questions that for many remained unanswered. The man we sought to give us the answers to these was both a service management software stalwart with over twenty five years experience designing service management software, but also somewhat of a visionary having been the first to develop a browser based service management solution way back in 2004.  Incidentally, he was also the first to develop a system for Windows as well.

In case you missed it you can find this interview here in our first ever podcast, where we spoke to Colin Brown, Managing Director of Tesseract and we tackle the major concerns around SaaS such as connectivity issues, integration problems, security fears, why major companies such as SAP and Oracle were so slow to adopt the model, plus also looking in more detail at the benefits of the cloud and some really fascinating insight into how the industry has changed in the twenty five years Colin has been building service management software.

However, we have realised that to fully get a grip on how the field service industry is reacting to both the cloud in general and software as a service as a delivery model then there is one remaining person we need to hear from. You.

We want to understand how you the field service managers are working, or not working with SaaS. We want to know if it appeals to you or if it doesn’t. We want to know the reasons why and why not.

So we are undertaking a dedicated research project into SaaS and Field Service. The survey itself is intelligently designed to ask only the questions relevant to you specifically and will therefore take you no less than two minutes to complete.

We will be using this data to compile an exclusive white paper based on the results which will be sent to all respondents before it is published to the general public. Also as a means of thanking you for taking the time to give us you insight we are offering three £50(or local equivalent) Amazon vouchers which are provided by our partner in this project Tesseract Software. The winners of these vouchers will be picked at random when the survey closes.

So why not take two minutes out of your day, help us understand the industry better and give yourself a chance to win! Take the survey here

 

 

Field Service News is pleased to bring you the first in our new monthly series of podcasts. In this first instalment we speak to Colin Brown Managing Director of  Tesseract Software. We ask Colin how the industry has changed since he first started Tesseract over a quarter of a century ago, how service management software has evolved and how the needs of service managers has changed dramatically over time as well.

With Tesseract having been one of the first Field Service companies to fully embrace a SaaS solution we also take the opportunity to put some big questions about the suitability of the cloud for field service software to him, including:

• Is the cloud/SaaS secure enough?
• How can I make sure that this new SaaS provider is legitimate?
• What about areas where there is no mobile internet?
• Is SaaS suitable for all types of company?

To hear the full interview and see how colin responds to these questions plus many more click the button below and complete the brief registration to download the podcast for free!

Download the full podcast now!

Contact information for Asolvi:

Key Contact: Tony Milford
Phone: +44 (0)1494 465066

email:  sales@asolvi.com
web: https://www.asolvi.com

 

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Services provided:

• Contract & Asset Management
• Service call scheduling and optimisation
• Stock & Logistics
• Quotations
• Internal Repair Centre & CRM
• Customer Web portal
• Mobile Data

 

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All about Asolvi:

The world’s favourite field service management software

Tesseract is Asolvi’s longest-standing field service management solution, with over 7,500 users across 25 countries. It brings its host of benefits to service directors, managers, engineers and CEOs alike by automating and optimising all phases of the field service operation, from logistics to SLAs.

Why choose Asolvi?

Optimises operations: Better utilises field resources as well as office employees. You’re able to do more work with the same number of workers.

Increases revenue and cost control: You’re able to invoice more hours and more materials, at the same time making sure you have full control of the cost to deliver services.

Automates and streamlines your processes: Automating processes and aligning your service delivery to match is crucial to stay ahead of competitors.

Change management: Enables your organisation to change as the market does.

Contract management: Gives you far better control over your current and future contracts, enabling you to calculate contract prices correctly and monitor profitability.  

All the functionality you expect from Asolvi is standard:

• Asset tracking and configuration control with serial/asset numbers and full audit trail.
• Contract administration with SLA, billing, warranty control and third-party support.
• Call logging with diary, SLA escalation and full audit trail. Engineer dispatch with job updates, parts usage and job invoicing.
• Logistics control for warehouse and van, for both repairable and disposal parts.
• Full workshop repair module including a booking in/out wizard and full audit.
• Generation of sales and contract quotations using a simple wizard.
• Further works / job quotations.
• Meter billing: usage, minimum and block together with consumables.

Asolvi’s singular commitment to field service management software ensures that we are in touch with the requirements of our customers not only for today but for the future. Our development within the field of service management leads the way for the next generation of service operations.

Providing a service management system is only part of the solution. Asolvi also offers training and consultancy to help you achieve the best possible results from your investment immediately.

 

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Client Testimonies for Asolvi:

“We wanted to streamline the system, we wanted faster invoicing, faster ordering of parts, better visibility, and we wanted to be able to see jobs through to completion directly and with all the relevant information to hand. Tesseract’s REA has totally delivered on all those counts.” - David Monteith, Tecalemit

“With over 195,000 sites to look after, managing our data and service work would be a real challenge if it wasn’t for Tesseract.”- Richard Spencer, IT Consultant, SCCI Alphatrack 

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