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Adopting IoT as part of the greater service and business environment involves keeping up with industry changes as they take place. That means incorporating better measures when needs arise in any business area and keeping cost-effective solutions in mind for future progress of the company as a whole.

 

Our series of excerpts from the exceptional industry guide 'Mobile Resource Management for Dummies', which has been commissioned by Verizon Connect has so far explored Understanding Digital Transformation in a Connected, Mobile World and also Thinking Outside the Silo and Harnessing the Power of Telematics.

Now in this latest excerpt, we turn our attention to how field service organisations can realise the value of mobile resource management...

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?! Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!   

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If you need to catch up on the previous articles in this series you can find part one here and part two here...

The full chapter this excerpt is taken from explores four key areas how field service companies can ensure they are realising the value of mobile resource management which are:

• Driving Productivity and Efficiency
• Reducing Costs
• Improving Safety
• Increasing Customer Satisfaction

Here we will look at the first of these in greater depth.

 

Driving Productivity and Efficiency:

Productivity, a word loved by managers, is conversely often a word that has frightened many an employee. To them, it just sounds like more work and an opportunity for supervisors to be looking over their shoulders.

But increasing productivity isn’t about being a drill sergeant. Rather, it’s about empowering your team, boosting efficiency and helping – not telling – your employees how to better spend their time.

The fact is that an employee who goes home at the end of the day feeling like they’ve been productive and accomplished a lot is happier and more fulfilled than the not-so-productive employee who’s always looking to pass off work in favour of knocking off early.

In addition to improving worker productivity, there are some other positive and far-reaching benefits to using the right tools with your mobile workforce.

These include:

• Less time spent on non-profitable administrative tasks such as data entry, tracking compliance and paperwork
• Faster processing of compliance requirements such as vehicle inspections.
• Less time spent on paper-based compliance logs for technicians and drivers.
• Quicker and more accurate generation of near real-time service reports.
• Improved customer service and capturing of client data for more effective management of support tickets, sales calls and marketing campaigns.
• Lower hardware costs and easier deployment using the mobile devices your team’s already carrying.

Several opportunities for driving productivity and efficiency in a modern mobile workforce include:

• Streamline work order management.
• Make paper forms disappear.
• Automate regulatory compliance.
• Perform required pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections.

 

Streamline work order management

Keeping teams in the field at their most productive is easy with prioritised mobile job management. Scheduled jobs are provided directly to the worker’s device at the start of their shift.

You can prioritise jobs based on:

• Location
• Proximity to the technician
• Service-level agreements (SLAs), such as time window restrictions on when the job can be done
• Manual overrides

Jobs can be signed on the device by customers and automatically marked as completed on departure and transmitted back to base in near real time. Or, conversely, any issues can be immediately reported back to the office for timely review and resolution.

This means less non-productive time for teams outside the office, fewer miles, more productive time on the clock and better customer service. Mobile job management keeps both workers and customers happy.

 

Make paper forms disappear

Getting your teams to keep their paperwork up-to-date is never easy, but it’s crucial to your service operation. Automation of forms on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, can be a huge time saver for your business.

Paperless forms help you to:

• Log the right information on the right form at the right time
• Keep job history accurate
• Update customer records or government compliance
• Automate the process so that correct invoices are raised automatically (adding to the bottom line)
• Ensure that internal reports and dashboards are current

To improve the accuracy and timing of required paperwork, mobile automated forms are a crucial tool for today’s mobile worker. The impact of reducing the paperwork burden on your drivers and field workers can also improve employee retention.

Electronic forms also save time and reduce errors for your back-office staff who no longer need to decode handwriting from paper forms and manually enter it into the system. All the job information gets saved directly into the database from the driver or field worker’s connected device.

 

Automate regulatory compliance

For any company with a fleet of vehicles, government regulations are a cost of doing business. If you don’t have the right tools in place to comply with these regulations, your company can quickly find itself in hot water.

Automating your compliance processes can help to:

• Reduce workload
• Lessen audit risk
• Ensure that compliance is being met – correctly.
• Minimise fines and violations.

 

The best way to consistently remain compliant is by using a mobile workforce management solution. Not only does it take the guesswork out of deciphering rules and regulations, but it also speeds up roadside inspections due to the device being used for evidence of driver activity without the need to wade through paper logs.

The solution stores your drivers’ activities by recording on-duty, off-duty, sleeping, and driving events, and displays available duty hours.

This helps to streamline operations and eliminate paperwork. With a mobile workforce management solution, each driver is given a Driver ID, which is critical for not only reporting but also serving as a mobile time card.

 

Perform required pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections

Does your company require mobile workers to perform driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs)? Are you looking for ways to automate these reports and make sure that drivers complete them accurately?

DVIRs are commonly overlooked or completed without physically inspecting the vehicle, increasing the chance of fines for non- compliance, breakdowns or even accidents due to missed maintenance and malfunctioning safety features.

With a mobile DVIR solution, you can get immediate confirmation that the report has been completed and the driver did a physical walk-around inspection.

Using their handheld device, drivers scan a two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) code affixed to specific vehicle inspection points. This instantly verifies that the individual checkpoints on the DVIR have been completed. You can also add photos to the report when any damage or maintenance issue is identified.

  

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As we continue our new series we are delighted to bring you a selection of articles taken from the recently released and highly informative, limited edition of Mobile Resource Management for Dummies, which is presented by Verizon Connect. 

 

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?! Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!   

 

Sponsored by: 

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

 

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What Is Mobile Resource Management?

The traditional approach to handling business growth is to focus on meeting increased demand – more workers, more vehicles and more warehouses. This can also mean an increase in administrative and management staff and higher overheads.

This linear strategy is fine while the work is there, but in a market filled with increased competition and fluctuating customer demand, committing to fixed expenses can leave a company exposed if business stops booming.

Clearly, saying no to new business is not an option. Fortunately, there is another solution.

Mobile resource management (MRM), or enterprise fleet management technology, helps mobile workforces and the people who manage them to get smarter about how they use their assets.

 

"Mobile resource management (MRM), or enterprise fleet management technology, helps mobile workforces and the people who manage them to get smarter about how they use their assets..."

 

This allows them to improve productivity while saving money by avoiding the financial risk of prematurely acquiring additional employees, vehicles or equipment.

MRM refers to a broad suite of hardware and software technology solutions that are used to monitor, track and optimise mobile assets, from tools and heavy machinery to vehicle fleets, employees and more. MRM is focused on making the best use of a business’s existing assets – vehicles, equipment and employees – to maximise its capacity; connecting the vehicle, the people and the work.

Most businesses have untapped potential that could be converted into a revenue-generating activity, but they don’t know it exists, or how to leverage it. You want to find your underutilised or inefficient assets and/or staff, and this can only be highlighted by monitoring them.

That’s where MRM technology comes in. It monitors each of your assets and allows an owner or appropriate stakeholder to see what, where and when resources are being used.

Using the data supplied by location-based technologies fitted to the vehicle or equipment (including phones and tablets), an MRM solution can easily show a range of productivity metrics.

Information that can be reported includes:

• When vehicles arrive at and/or leave a worksite or customer location.
• If the vehicle is anywhere other than where it should be.
• When equipment is being used (engine on).
• Which vehicles or assets have been sitting idle.
• Vehicle travel time (to determine time spent between jobs).
• Whether drivers are taking the quickest and most efficient routes.

 

Modern MRM solutions increasingly leverage the ubiquitous connectivity, unlimited scale and low-cost advantages of the cloud (discussed in the previous article here).

Some examples of technologies, applications and uses that might be found in a complete MRM solution include:

• Telematics
• Route optimisation
• Mobile technologies
• Data connectivity
• Work order management

Let's explore the first of these, i.e. telematics in closer detail...

 

Telematics

Telematics integrates vehicular technologies, road transportation and safety information, sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications and more. Telematics is sometimes referred to as ‘GPS (Global Positioning System) vehicle tracking’. However, that doesn’t begin to cover the breadth of capabilities under the telematics umbrella.

 

"Aside from simply tracking vehicle location, a robust web-based telematics solution offers customisable reports, near real-time vehicle and driver alerts, vehicle health, dashboards, custom map overlays, geo-fences and other tools to help companies manage and optimise fleet operations..."

 

Aside from simply tracking vehicle location, a robust web-based telematics solution offers customisable reports, near real-time vehicle and driver alerts, vehicle health, dashboards, custom map overlays, geo-fences and other tools to help companies manage and optimise fleet operations.

A comprehensive telematics solution empowers businesses to monitor and understand a broad range of operational factors, including:

Fuel consumption.

Fuel is one of the largest fleet operating expenses. Finding new ways to reduce fuel use provides immediate benefit to any company’s bottom line. With a telematics solution, fleet managers gain detailed insight and visibility into several key areas that have a big impact on fuel use, such as:

• Speeding – According to Commercial Fleet, a van driving at 80 mph uses 20 per cent more fuel than one driven at 70. That adds up quickly when you multiply that by any size fleet over the course of the year.
•  Idling – Unproductive idling is another fuel drain. For example, Figure 2-1 shows that the average yearly idling cost for a fleet of just 15 Transit vans is more than £11,000.
• Vehicle maintenance – It may not be as obvious as speeding and idling when it comes to wasting fuel, but proper vehicle maintenance plays a big role in fuel efficiency. Proper maintenance, including proactively addressing diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and maintenance alerts, as well as maintaining proper fleet operational levels, help to reduce costly downtime.
• Tyre pressure – According to the UK’s Department for Transport, underinflated tyres lower fuel. For example, four tyres that are just 25 per cent underinflated increase fuel consumption by about 0.2 per cent. Additionally, properly inflated tyres are safer and last longer.
• Unauthorised use – Unauthorised vehicle use equals unauthorised fuel use. Corporate fuel cards can be tied to specific vehicles via telematics to identify if a fuel card has been used without an accompanying work vehicle. Also note the fuel capacity of your vehicles, in case an employee purchases 45 litres of fuel for a company vehicle that only has a 40-litre capacity tank!
• Route optimisation – Are drivers taking the most efficient routes throughout the day? Added miles burn fuel and put unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicle itself.
• Utilisation – Understanding how much of a vehicle’s time is engaged in productive work can provide valuable insight that may allow some companies to perform the same work in the same amount of time with fewer vehicles on the road – which means less fuel use.

 

FIGURE 2-1: Average idling costs for Transit van and HGV fleets (source: Fleetmatics).

Safety

Any company that has a fleet of mobile workers considers the safety of their drivers and the public to be a top priority. Fleet vehicle accidents are costly on multiple levels – injury claims, repairs, employee morale, loss of productivity, company reputation and government interference, just to name a few.

According to the UK’s Department of Transport, an accident claim can cost an employer over £23,000 in medical care, legal expenses, lost productivity and property damage. That cost can exceed £216,000 when someone is injured, or £1.8 million when a fatality occurs.

 

"Two big contributors to accidents are maintenance issues and driving behaviour. A telematics solution can provide near real-time alerts on both vehicle maintenance issues as well as driving behaviour..."

 

Two big contributors to accidents are maintenance issues and driving behaviour. A telematics solution can provide near real-time alerts on both vehicle maintenance issues as well as driving behaviour. These alerts help to ensure that a vehicle is safe and roadworthy. And they provide business owners and fleet managers with solid data on driver performance that helps them better coach that driver to be safer on the road.

According to a National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) study in the US, speeding is a factor in nearly 23 per cent of all at-fault large truck crashes. The same agency also reports that a tyre 25 per cent below its recommended pressure is three times more likely to be involved in a crash.

Telematics is also a natural companion for driver compliance factors – such as Hours of Service (HOS) – and can automate tracking processes, and help ensure that drivers are fresh and operating on proper/approved rest.

Simply knowing the location of a vehicle can also improve employee safety. If a truck and its driver don’t return when expected, their location can be determined, and, if needed, assistance can be provided.

Productivity.

Almost everything a telematics solution accomplishes leads back to productivity. One of the first things a supervisor will understand is the percentage of an employee’s day that is productive – are there inefficient in their day that can be improved upon? Better routing? If the vehicle spends a lot of time parked or idling, why is that? Telematics identifies symptoms that can be used to diagnose and correct a problem.

Dispatchers can easily identify the nearest possible respondent to a call by vehicle type, driver capabilities, and tools and parts available on board, ensuring that the response is swift and efficient.

The automation and incorporation of paperwork into mobile devices now allows records to be filed immediately during and upon completion of a job, eliminating countless hours of labour, filing and organising.

Finally, the age of compliance is upon us – HOS, tachographs, and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) are a fact of life for commercial fleet managers. The same mobile devices that allow communication and form automation can also be used to streamline compliance reporting, ensure expedient interaction with DOT authorities, and eliminate paperwork almost entirely from the process – all driving productivity.

If a company has a large, decentralised mobile operation that is service- and/or delivery-based, a telematics solution can also take the entire fleet and plot out optimised routes that cut down on miles driven, wear and tear on a vehicle, fuel use and, most importantly, time. All working together to allow a fleet manager to accomplish more – for less.

Maintenance.

The two kinds of maintenance are: planned (scheduled/preventive) and unplanned (failure). The first can be managed. The second becomes a downtime event that sinks productivity, adds unexpected costs (repair and replacement) and stunts profitability because that asset and its driver are unable to work. It also has a downstream effect on everything from customer satisfaction to other vehicle/employee schedules. Luckily, the first can largely prevent the second.

 

"Telematics automates the tracking of vehicle maintenance schedules and eliminates many of the old labour-intensive tracking processes..."

 

Telematics automates the tracking of vehicle maintenance schedules and eliminates many of the old labour-intensive tracking processes. Alerts can be scheduled when it’s time to perform regular maintenance activities, as well as to warn a fleet manager if a vehicle is operating out of usual parameters, or if an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solution triggers a diagnostic trouble code (DTC), indicating the potential for a failure and allowing maintenance staff to address it before it becomes a downtime event 

This also allows fleet managers to schedule planned maintenance activities at a time with the least impact on productive work.

These systems can generally track any and all factors that have a direct impact on uptime and performance. From oil temperatures and fluid levels to tyre pressure and the presence of AdBlue in diesel, a telematics solution can help to diagnose a maintenance issue before it becomes a more expensive problem.

 

Want to know more? The full eBook is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Access it now on the button below... 

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In a new series, fieldservicenews.com is pleased to bring you a selection of articles taken from the recently released limited edition of Mobile Resource Management for Dummies, which is presented by Verizon Connect.

 

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?!

Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!  

 

Sponsored by:

 

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

 

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Modern Challenges in Managing a Mobile Workforce and Assets

Digital transformation has become imperative for many businesses today that find they must reinvent themselves, or face the possibility of extinction in an increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving market landscape.

Amazon, Netflix and Uber are three modern examples of companies that have used disruptive technologies to transform entire business models.

Beginning in the 1990s, Amazon challenged the status quo in the bookselling market (remember when Amazon only sold books?!). Today, Amazon has become a colossal market force befitting its name. Retail booksellers like Waterstones, Borders and Barnes & Noble have either disappeared altogether or are struggling to hold on. Beyond books, Amazon has transformed the entire retail industry. Amazon has also transformed distribution and logistics. Perhaps most excitingly, Amazon has taken a novel idea to sell excess compute capacity in its data centres and completely revolutionised computing as we know it today. With the launch of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2006, Amazon helped to usher in the cloud computing era.

Netflix is another example of a company that used digital transformation to completely reinvent the film rental business, and crush the Blockbuster chain of video rental stores. Today, Netflix is transforming the entire entertainment industry as it produces original films and television programming, largely bypassing the traditional Hollywood entertainment moguls altogether.

 

"The factor that unites all of these success stories is a user-centric experience that gives end-users what they want, now..."

 

Finally, Uber is challenging traditional taxi companies by leveraging an intuitive mobile app to connect drivers with passengers using global positioning system (GPS) location services and crowdsourcing to replace inefficient dispatchers. Uber uses cashless transactions to safely and efficiently collect and pay fares.

The factor that unites all of these success stories is a user-centric experience that gives end-users what they want, now.

For businesses and industries that manage large mobile workforces and assets – such as fleet vehicles, heavy equipment and specialised tools – plus field service organisations, and construction and repair services, innovative uses for technology are driving exciting new opportunities, as well as complex challenges.

Among these challenges, the evolution of the many disparate solutions to manage the mobile workforce has limited the potential of MRM deployments. Different applications and functions – such as route optimisation, navigation, telematics and mobility – operating in independent silos with little or no data connectivity or integration between them create a complex environment that doesn’t adequately support real-time operations (see Figure 1-1).

FIGURE 1-1: Siloed applications and technologies add complexity.

 

A rapidly changing landscape

Not surprisingly, technology is driving a rapidly changing industry landscape. For example, electric cars – once considered science fiction – are now very much a reality. The UK is the latest in a growing list of countries, along with France, to outline plans to halt the manufacture of petrol and diesel cars, announcing that it will ban their production by 2040. For any business that relies on fl preparation for this transition starts now. MRM solutions are key to this, having been shown to lead to significant cost savings through efficient route planning and reduced idling time and fuel waste.

 

"Just as technology is driving this change, it also offers the solution to the challenges it presents..."

 

But just as technology is driving this change, it also offers the solution to the challenges it presents. In the US, record numbers of businesses are turning to advanced MRM systems to collect vital information on their staff, vehicles and assets to ensure that they can keep pace with inevitable changes to business processes, regulation and reporting. C.J. Driscoll and Associates project that the total number of MRM units installed on fleet vehicles, commercial trailers, heavy construction equipment and personal mobile devices used in the field will grow to more than 14 million units in the US by 2019.

Naturally, data plays a key role in any business transformation – especially when upgrading vehicles to new technologies or transitioning to new systems and processes. The more data you collect, the easier it is to adapt. With this in mind, the choice facing business fleets is simple: get ahead of the game now, or spend precious resources catching up in the future.

 

The technologies of tomorrow are here today

In other areas, there’s simply no time to get ahead of the game – tomorrow’s technologies are already integral to the way we work and live. This is particularly true of the Internet of Things (IoT). Just like the cloud before it, the IoT is most definitely here to stay, with various industry analysts predicting anywhere from 20 to 30 billion IoT connected devices by 2020.

 

"The natural progression of this vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is, of course, the autonomous vehicle..."

 

The impact of this trend on fleets is potentially enormous, as greater connectivity allows vehicles to interact with one another and collect data on vehicle environment, condition and performance. Most fleets already collect information on speed, fuel use and driver behaviour, but the technology exists to go much further. Businesses can automate previously labour-intensive or manual processes such as routing, payroll and reporting, through comprehensive MRM systems, connecting the vehicle, the people and the work seamlessly – potentially improving efficiency, productivity and, ultimately, the bottom line. The natural progression of this vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is, of course, the autonomous vehicle. Uber launched its first fleet of autonomous taxis in 2016, and the likes of Google, Apple, Tesla, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz are investing millions in the space.

Vehicle connectivity and standard fitment of hardware will become increasingly widespread, enabling live updates of current vehicle health, GPS positioning and traffic and weather feeds. The speed of change is phenomenal, and businesses need agility and flexibility to survive and thrive in the market.

 

Change today or pay tomorrow

With any new technological development, the last to adapt pays the heaviest price. Progress waits for no one and the companies that thrive are those that embrace it. In the current climate, doing nothing is simply not an option – change is happening, and it is happening now.

As technology continues to infiltrate the way we work, we create more data than ever before. At best, this leaves companies in a position where they have more data than they know what to do with, and therefore fail to take advantage of the potential opportunity that it offers. At worst, businesses waste precious time and resources analysing that data, which can make it feel like more of a hindrance than a help. In such an environment, implementing a system that can analyse this data for you, help to automate key processes, and future-proof your business is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

 

"Your customers are used to technology as an enabler, and they will go to whoever can give them the best and most convenient service possible!"

 

Your customers are used to technology as an enabler, and they will go to whoever can give them the best and most convenient service possible!

MRM technology can do this and more: giving you a clear picture of your business every minute of the working day, and enabling you to make the best use of your people, your vehicles, and your resources – potentially saving you time and money, and providing a better customer experience and competitive advantage.

The companies that now lead the world all used technology to carve out a niche and disrupt the norm, changing the industries they now dominate forever. Who remembers the companies they crushed along the way?!

 

Leveraging Cloud and Mobile Technology

Cloud computing takes mobile resource management to new heights. The cloud enables businesses of any size to leverage massive computing and storage capacity without committing capital expenditure or requiring entire IT departments to operate and maintain it. Cloud services are typically provisioned on a subscription basis in which customers only pay for what they use – much like public utilities. Business can easily and automatically scale their cloud environment up or down as business needs dictate.

One of the most popular cloud computing service models is software as a service (SaaS), in which a cloud customer uses an application that’s hosted in the cloud, but the customer is not responsible for maintaining the software application (such as updates and security patches) or the underlying infrastructure (such as servers, databases and network equipment).

The cloud also enables near real-time access to data – critical to many mobile resource management applications. Rather than connecting back to a server in a corporate network that may have relatively limited network bandwidth, some MRM applications exchange data in the cloud, which supports more robust data centres located around the world and is equipped with massive computing and storage capacity, as well as network connectivity.

 

"Like the cloud, mobile innovation has changed our world today. Smartphones are everywhere – and they’re getting smarter..."

 

Like the cloud, mobile innovation has changed our world today. Smartphones are everywhere – and they’re getting smarter. Increasingly powerful and intuitive applications create new possibilities for solving complex mobile workforce and resource management challenges.

As 5G cellular technology begins to be deployed by 2020, ubiquitous connectivity – practically everywhere – will become a reality. In addition to ever greater network speeds, 5G technology will enable near real-time communication between devices, applications, and users in harsh and remote environments that are not possible today, such as at sea, in the air, or in remote mining areas. 5G innovations will enable certain types of Internet traffic to be prioritised so that mission-critical applications – such as for autonomous vehicles – are delivered reliably and quickly. 5G will also overcome many current structural challenges, such as interference in metropolitan areas and tall buildings.

As 5G networks become a reality, the power of cloud computing and its applications for telematics and mobile resource management will continue to drive digital transformation in every industry. Additional information on vehicle hardware (as standard from 2018 on new model launches) will improve vehicle connectivity and information gathering.

 

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Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland offers up some insight into how field service has become a core differentiator amongst competing organisations and how the trend towards advanced services is being driven by technology...

 

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This video was originally included in a video presentation run in partnership with Salesforce.

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Surefire, a UK provider of fire safety systems, is starting to reap the rewards of Tesseract, an Asolvi product, which it chose to replace a popular vertical solution...

Founded in 1990, Surefire began locally, providing systems in London and the South-East via a handful of engineers. Today it designs, installs and maintains full-scale fire protection solutions up and down the country for offices, financial institutions, facilities management companies, hospitals, prisons and schools. It also manufactures, sells and maintains the UltraGuard system for the residential market. A portable misting unit that detects and suppresses fire at an early stage, UltraGuard is a more intelligent, more versatile and more effective alternative to your basic, fixed sprinkler system. It is designed to protect the vulnerable in our communities and Surefire reports that it saves around ten lives every year.

 

Out with the old...

Surefire’s old service management system was developed and customised specifically for fire and security systems providers. Asolvi’s Tesseract solution, on the other hand, is much broader, its usefulness extending across a wide range of markets, from lifts and escalators to commercial lighting to industrial cleaning equipment. But why was this better for Surefire?

Joanna Hawkins, Surefire’s office manager, explains, “Our old system was too basic, too inflexible. Its functions were limited and it was very difficult to elicit information from it. Reporting was non-existent. Asset lists weren’t integrated, which made it impossible to see their productivity and profitability without lifting the data manually and inputting it into a spreadsheet.”

 

"Inflexibility is a common problem across field service management (FSM) solutions designed for particular markets..."

 

Inflexibility is a common problem across field service management (FSM) solutions designed for particular markets. Sometimes the basics of an FSM system get forgotten about in favour of market-specific customisations. Horizontal software like Tesseract is concerned with getting the basics right first, i.e. call control, contract management, asset management, scheduling, mobile working, invoicing and reporting. In other words: the fundamental elements of FSM regardless of the industry you’re in.

“The old system was only useful to a point,” says Joanna. “A lot of the basics were missing. That’s why we decided to go with Tesseract. We wanted a system that would streamline our call control, scheduling and contract management processes, speed up invoicing and give us a better overall view of our assets. Tesseract fitted the bill. The enhanced visibility of the new system has already improved our reporting capabilities dramatically, and we’re able to track our profitability in a way we simply couldn’t before. We’ve also seen a big reduction in admin and paperwork.”

Things have improved for Surefire’s sales teams, too. In addition to Tesseract’s call control, assets and invoicing modules, Surefire is using Tesseract’s Quote Centre. This sophisticated quoting engine streamlines the generation, management and approval of quotes and automatically converts them into ready-made contracts. “We use Quote Centre for everything,” says Joanna. “New service contracts, one-off projects, remedial work, parts—it all goes through Quote Centre. It’s a faster, more transparent system than we had before.”

 

An incremental approach to implementation

Surefire has decided that the best thing for the company and its people is a gentler, more incremental approach to implementation, streamlining one part of its service chain at a time. Having successfully overhauled its contract and asset management, Surefire is looking to improve the performance of its engineers by implementing Tesseract’s mobile working solution: Remote Engineer Access (REA). REA lets engineers generate live service reports, look up asset and customer information, order parts, close down jobs and obtain customer signatures—all from a phone, tablet or laptop.

 

"A few of our engineers are already using Tesseract on their iPads and the results have been very positive..."

 

“A few of our engineers are already using Tesseract on their iPads and the results have been very positive,” says Joanna. “They now have all the information they need when they arrive on site, and if they don’t, they’re able to get it directly from the system without having to call the office. REA enables them to work better and by extension give our customers a better service.”

Joanna adds, “We’re also seeing the benefits of our engineers inputting job information directly onto the system in real time instead of filling in service reports and posting them to the office. It reduces admin for them while improving efficiency and accuracy for us.”

 

Moving forward

After a successful trial, Surefire is set to roll out REA to all of its engineers by the end of the month. At that point it will start seeing the benefits of live job data, radically reduced paperwork, and same-day invoicing. Next, Surefire will turn its attention to spare parts management and implement Tesseract’s Parts Centre. This multi-location stock control platform lets you view stock quantities, raise parts requests, make purchases, and track all parts bought, sold, used, changed, moved or sent for repair.

“Asolvi has helped us open our eyes, scrutinise our processes and look closely at how we can improve them,” says Joanna. “Thanks to the Tesseract system and Asolvi’s support—particularly Graham and Chris, who’ve been superb—we have more control over our service operation than we’ve ever had. There’s more to come, too. We’re moving forward in leaps and bounds every day.”

 

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