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Fast Lean Smart (FLS) customer, British Engineering Services (BES), have been crowned winners of The Forum's ‘Innovation award for Enterprise Planning’ at The Customer Strategy & Planning 2019 event. BES, who use FLS' scheduling and route planning software FLS VISITOUR also scooped the award for overall Innovation of the Year 2019.

The Forum is an an independent body supporting the contact centre industry since early 2000 and is a supplier-independent and work across all industry sectors to provide specialist support for contact centre and planning professionals.

Widely recognised as the ‘go-to place’ for support teams and business leaders, the team of independent experts offers advice, support and training, helping many organisations develop the capability of their support functions through bespoke learning and development, accreditation, qualifications and standards benchmarking.

Each year applications are submitted to the body's for industry awards in specific categories. Aftter FLS introduced BES to The Forum and the company submitted an application directly for the ‘Innovation award for Enterprise Planning’, which you can read below.

The winners were selected by a team which included 12 experienced industry practitioners, many of them previous winners or finalists. Judges visited each of the shortlisted organisations, and then assessed them against a strict set of criteria.

The BES submission: “The power of planning”

How flexible resourcing and strategic use of planning helped them stand out from competitors on service and create a new, one team culture that’s doubled sales and raised month-end service by 50%.

The catalyst for transformation at British Engineering Services was creating a new company, separate from RSA, seizing the chance to stand  out in the market and deliver on ‘making Britain a safer place’. Capacity planning was fundamental, alongside outside expertise with VISITOUR scheduler from FLS. Reliability comes from effective end-to-end planning, delivering the highest quality inspections, on time, every time – an exceptional customer experience. Engineer surveyors remain a key part of the planning process and lifestyle flexibility has been a massive win too. It’s created a customer-driven and flexible mindset and removed traditional territorial boundaries. This is a human organisation that everyone feels part of. Three years on and the evidence is clear – sales up 100%, customer retention up 15%, huge cost savings and delivering the best service in the market.

Key Results

• Customer retention up by 15%
• Cost savings c10-15%
• 50% reduction in wasted downtime in 2018
• 74% improvement for ‘on or before’ SLA for the largest clients
• 100% rise in sales performance in 2018
• The best service in the market

British Engineering Services is the UK’s biggest independent engineering inspection, testing and certification company. 450 highly qualified Engineer Surveyors perform 2.8 million inspections each year, supported by Planning Team members using online reporting systems and FLS VISITOUR scheduler.

You can download the slides here and watch a video of the case study here.

FLS, FAST LEAN SMART, a leader in field force appointment, schedule and route optimisation solutions, is pleased to announce the results of its 2018 UK customer satisfaction survey undertaken in December 2018.

Jeremy Squire, FLS UK Managing Director comments “FLS is proud of our reputation for customers achieving excellent benefits from our scheduling solutions, however I believe it equally important for ongoing success that customers are also delighted with the support received and feeling of partnership we enjoy together.”

In this survey, every live user that is supported by FLS UK, ranging from Aqualisa with 50 engineers through to Royal Mail PFS with 500, answered the following questions:

• Question 1: On a scale of zero to ten, how likely are you to recommend FLS VISITOUR to a friend who has a similar scheduling requirement? Average Score 9.2, NPS=90
• Question 2: How do you rate the service you receive from FLS support? Average Score 9.4
• Question 3: How would you rate FLS for the partnership we have established together? Average Score 9.4

 Best in class

Jeremy Squire reflects “This is another year with very high rating for FLS performance and I believe at the pinnacle of our field. The best innovation combined with the best service means FLS scheduling software users are fully equipped to achieve the best results!”

Service as a differentiator 

“Good ratings lead to business success in many industries and I am sure it is no coincidence our UK recurring revenue has increased by more than 50% for the third year running. This was helped significantly by recommendation from these customers and the providers of CRM and service management software that we plug into, for example Dynamics 365. FLS is experiencing exciting growth but the results and satisfaction of existing customers will always remain at the heart of our business strategy.” reassures Jeremy.

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The blend of GPS, real-time traffic information and latest workforce scheduling can yield previously unknown levels of efficiency for field service delivery. Jeremy Squire, Managing Directo, FLS, Fast Lean Smart explains how... 

The convergence between field force scheduling and vehicle tracking is not something on the horizon, it has already arrived - and with precise arrival times now offered by private car hire and delivery companies such as Uber, DPD, IKEA and Amazon, customers are already expecting the same for field service appointments and anything less may be perceived as poor service. It is fast becoming a necessity for field service companies to both realise and embrace this as essential to achieve.

At FLS, Fast Lean Smart, we specialise in scheduling and route optimisation solutions and our customers are increasingly interested in this convergence of technologies. I believe it is vital for most field service companies to consider this and let’s take a moment to look at both how and why you should be doing likewise.

If live GPS location coordinates are provided to FLS VISITOUR, our leading scheduling technology, we can re-plan your engineer job schedules based on exactly where they are in their current route rather than wait until a confirmation of arrival from their mobile app.

The system could be configured to automatically re-optimise the rest of the day ‘real-time’ for engineers based on the location updates. This might enable additional jobs, highlight where an SLA or appointment slot will be missed and optionally remove lower priority jobs from the schedule unless overtime is approved.

[quote float="left"]With the convergence of these technologies and capabilities, there really has been no better opportunity to enrich the profitability of your business whilst achieving happier engineers and happier customers[/quote]Many service operations, however, decide against this level of fluidity for their engineer’s day and therefore might choose to lock the next jobs or even the whole day and only make changes in exceptional circumstances and under the control of a planner. This is particularly true for tasks which require the engineer to have parts or for appointments that require preparation.

What is certain, however, is that knowing issues with the current plan in the back office is key for customer service and engineer welfare, therefore the more accurate this is the better. The driving durations used by the scheduling algorithm are also very important to achieve this objective and at FLS we use actual average drive speeds for each road segment according to time of day for pre-planning. Variable traffic congestion is a severe issue in some areas, therefore, we also use a real-time feed of current traffic to optimise during the day. With this combination, drive durations are as accurate as we have all become accustomed to when using TomTom Live or Google Navigation on our smartphones.

It requires this high level of accuracy to enable reliable automated messaging to customers with the refined time of arrival for engineers. However, combining GPS location data in the FLS VISITOUR scheduling system also enables our FLS Customer Portal which can be accessed via a URL in the arrival time message and for your customers to track the arrival of the engineer from the previous job on a map, Uber style! (no more ’Where’s my engineer?’ calls.)

This capability has now become the goal of almost every field service provider we speak with, not just  B2C, and whilst currently a USP we can expect it will increasingly become the norm.

Of course, all this has terrific benefits for the service provider as well as the customer.

Maximising productivity and minimising cost in the field whilst giving good service (right engineer with the right parts etc) is a standard desire for everyone, however, with the convergence of these technologies and capabilities, there really has been no better opportunity to enrich the profitability of your business whilst achieving happier engineers and happier customers.

To deliver this level of performance and customer excellence, integrating engineer tracking is essential and there is an answer for every circumstance; a vehicle telematics system, a low-cost GPS cigarette lighter tracker or a phone/tablet app such as FLS MOBILE.

The days of customers waiting blindly for an engineer to arrive are on the way out and field service companies must adapt to these new expectations swiftly to avoid being seen as outdated and uncompetitive. The good news is that the solutions are already available - it is just a case of connecting the dots - and FLS VISITOUR is a solution that allows you to do just that.

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Fast Lean Smart (FLS) is helping to cut down travel and admin time for British Engineering Services, enabling field engineers to be more productive by up to 15% each day.

Paul Hirst, Managing Director Engineering Inspection, says “FLS have proven an outstanding partner since we began together in 2015. The FLS VISITOUR advanced scheduling solution is at the heart of our business strategy for field engineering efficiency whilst delivering the best customer experience.”

British Engineering Services is the UK’s biggest independent engineering inspection, testing and certification company and has a long history dating back to 1859. Customers include all kinds of businesses, from factories to nuclear power plants, from hospitals to schools. Until 2015 it was part of RSA, one of the world’s leading insurance groups and a FTSE 100 company, but is now established as a privately owned company.

Today, British Engineering Services employs 450 highly trained and qualified engineer surveyors and consultant engineers who perform 2.8 million inspections per year. Its customers benefit from state-of-the-art technology and excellent online reporting systems that can deliver information quickly and efficiently.

Never standing still

“We constantly review our performance and look for ways to exceed customer expectations,” says Stephen Doyle, Operations Development Leader for British

Engineering Services. “We pride ourselves on having some of the best people in the industry working for us. Many of our staff have been involved in engineering inspection and certification for decades. It is this deep knowledge and understanding of our customers’ requirements that has shaped our business and led us to working with FLS.”

The right engineer for the right job at the right time

FLS’s flagship solution, FLS VISITOUR, helps to match availability with customer demand. The software automatically schedules inspections for the entire engineering team and selects the right engineer with the right skill set for the right job. Through

customisable variables, the FLS solution consolidates multiple inspections due at one site into a single visit. It also uses advanced mapping software to choose the most efficient routes to each appointment, including consideration of traffic at the time-of-day. FLS VISITOUR will ensure that each appointment is the best fit for the customer, the engineer and British Engineering Services as a whole.

"The initial findings from FLS VISITOUR clearly demonstrated a significant reduction in travel time but also the added benefit of reduced admin time for the Engineers..."

Stephen explains, “We looked at lots of different scheduling solution providers, but none of them gave us the flexibility that we wanted. Then we found FLS, who offered a highly configurable system and made every effort to understand our company, our data, and deliver what was right for us and our customers. They also demonstrated what their software could do with initial data tests and a ‘try before you buy’ trial. This was a big reason why we chose them.”

The initial findings from FLS VISITOUR clearly demonstrated a significant reduction in travel time but also the added benefit of reduced admin time for the Engineers by enabling the introduction of a central planning team to arrange the inspections.

Stephen says, “The trial proved the efficiency and productivity-fuelling benefits of FLS VISITOUR, but it also helped us prepare for the full implementation. We learnt what to do, who to involve, and how to make the transition as smooth as possible for our people.”

Inspection timing and risk management

British Engineering Services take safety and compliance very seriously and have unsurpassed engineering inspection certification accreditations and memberships. Inspections are planned in advance to give the customer notice and allow any access issues to be addressed before the day.

One of the business challenges is that inspections performed too early would bring subsequent inspections forward which increases costs, but overdue inspections could create a safety and compliance risk. The fact that FLS VISITOUR manages this timing and enables the coordination of multiple inspections in one visit is not just beneficial in reduced travel time and costs, it is also less disruptive for its customers whilst ensuring safety standards are met.

Working in partnership

“We’ve found the whole team at FLS really helpful and approachable and feel this is a genuine partnership that continues to improve our efficiency and quality of service.” Stephen explains. “They’re always available when we need them and regularly review the rules and settings within VISITOUR to ensure we are meeting our own customers’ expectations in the best possible way. I cannot recommend FLS highly enough.”

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Gilbarco Veeder-Root — the leading petrol forecourt equipment and services provider in the UK — has learned that route planning software really can work. Enter Fast Lean Smart (FLS) and its particular brand of automation.

Major petrol station brands, supermarket chains and independent dealers up and down the country rely on Gilbarco. By extension, so do millions of motorists. Gilbarco Veeder Root is charged with maintaining the equipment it provides by way of an extensive national network of field engineers. With so many forecourts to look after, Gilbarco Veeder Root’s operation has to be efficient and smart.

Until now, the smartest way of doing things has been manual. Gilbarco Veeder Root had tried automation years ago. It implemented a scheduling program that didn’t prove intelligent enough to plan routes that reflected the real-life business environment. Nor was it flexible enough to react to changes in that environment which include 2-hour responses.

It’s understandable, then, that when FLS approached Gilbarco with promises of radically improved scheduling efficiency through automation, David Cope — UK Operations Director for Gilbarco Veeder Root — was sceptical.

The main reason Gilbarco Veeder Root was willing to consider a change was because FLS lets prospective customers trial its software first. “We’d tried scheduling software before and it didn’t work, so I wasn’t sure how VISITOUR was going to benefit us,” says David. “However, FLS were keen for us to see that it worked in practice and come to our own conclusions before committing to a sale. We didn’t have that choice with the old system.”

David continues, “As a first step they offered to run a test using data from planned maintenance and customer callouts we had scheduled manually. We were expecting them to say that their software could schedule our callouts maybe 5-10% more efficiently. When they brought back a figure of 30-40%, it really was too compelling to ignore and we, therefore, agreed to proceed with a trial.”

Gilbarco Veeder Root trialled FLS VISITOUR and FLS MOBILE in live use for a chosen geographic area. FLS VISITOUR schedules callouts and plans optimised appointments and routes in real time, taking into account traffic-based driving times and the changing priorities of the business. FLS MOBILE provides comprehensive on-the-road support for field engineers and streamlines communication between them, the office and the customer.

David explains, “We were impressed with the results. FLS VISITOUR makes intelligent decisions based on what’s important to our business and can adapt quickly to changing circumstances in a way the old system couldn’t. FLS MOBILE is going to improve the service we provide, particularly to our independent dealers, who we’ve had trouble keeping in touch with because of the complexity involved. FLS MOBILE will keep them up to date by sending automated messages with our arrival times.”

Following the successful trial, an interface was required between FLS and Gilbarco Veeder Root’s service management system to prepare for rollout. Their system has limited integration support and FLS worked with the supplier’s developers to create an innovative solution. David adds, “We were determined to solve the interface because we knew the size of the prize. The one thing that stood out through the transition was that FLS were always on hand to assist us, FLS could stand for Fast Lean Smart or Friends Lending Support — both fit well for me. We are delighted with our choice of FLS and to have enabled the benefits of VISITOUR to be realised nationally.”

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The company that made UK showers smart is about to do the same to its scheduling operation, by overhauling it with powerful new software from Fast Lean Smart (FLS).

Aqualisa was the brainchild of founder Derek Goldsmith, an engineer who bound together two dissimilar metals to create the Bi-Metallic Coil in 1976, making cold showers a thing of the past. In the 00s, Aqualisa introduced the digital shower, which provides consistent, no-fluctuation water temperature at the touch of a button. Over the years, Aqualisa’s smart showers have become ever more sophisticated, particularly with the recent introduction of the QTM, which has personalised functions promising the perfect shower.

Aqualisa employs a network of field engineers to service and maintain its showers, which are supplied under warranties of up to five years. To book maintenance appointments, Aqualisa used scheduling software that did the job but was limited in scope and had received very few updates since it was implemented. Kieran McNally, field service manager for Aqualisa, explains, “We knew there were better products on the market. So as our contract with the previous provider came up for renewal, we shopped around, attended exhibitions, and invited potential vendors to present their product. FLS was one of them.”

The way the data is presented makes it easy to read, understand and manipulate, so we can see what’s happening across the whole service chain.FLS demoed its real-time scheduler and route optimiser, FLS VISITOUR, and offered an initial test: taking jobs already scheduled by the old system and seeing if FLS VISITOUR could do it better. Without changing appointments, FLS VISITOUR brought back a 9% fuel saving and showed the potential for much more if it had been used to schedule the appointments in the first place.

“The fuel saving was significant, and was one of the reasons why we chose the system” says Kieran. “There were other factors too. FLS VISITOUR has a number of cost- and time-saving functions the old system didn’t. For example, if an engineer phones in sick, the system will automatically reassign their jobs or propose the most economical engineer if overtime is required. The on-screen graphics are well laid out too. The way the data is presented makes it easy to read, understand and manipulate, so we can see what’s happening across the whole service chain.”

Aqualisa proceeded with a ‘try before you buy’ trial, which FLS offers all new customers. This involved a light integration with Aqualisa’s service management system, Tesseract, and live operation for eight engineers. “The results of the trial were really positive,” says Kieran. “Mileage costs were reduced and we saw an increase in the average number of jobs per day. We quickly learnt how to use the system and received a very good, very accommodating service from FLS.”

With the business case for using the software proven, FLS VISITOUR will be deployed company-wide this month. For Kieran the outlook is positive. “It’s a huge improvement on the system we had before and makes us far more efficient than we were. What’s more, FLS is constantly refining it, making it better for customers, so that we can provide a better service to ours.”

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