ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘location-based-services’ CATEGORY

Location and mobile technology company, Localz, have been announced as the latest software partner for Castleton Technology Plc. benefiting housing associations within the tech firm's portfolio.

Housing Associations within the Castleton portfolio will gain insight to their operations and new service transparency to their customers through Localz location technology ‘Find My Engineer’, which tracks an engineer's journey to a job, viewed by the customer.

Ian Stewart, Commercial Sales Manager for Castleton commented: “With an industry average of 20% failed appointments and each failed appointment costing up to £100, it is business critical for Housing Authorities to reduce the time wasted and costs incurred associated with these failed appointments to improve services for social housing customers. Our partnership with Localz will help our customers achieve this objective”.

The ‘Find my Engineer’ solution provides the ultimate transparency by giving customers access to real-time location tracking when the operative is en route. Accurate ETAs are provided, which take live traffic conditions into account. Localz own research shows that 65% of consumers say that viewing their service provider’s ETA is the most important feature on a service provider’s mobile app.

Localz client portfolio includes the largest UK energy provider, British Gas, who achieved a 17% increase in the first-time access rate of their engineers through Localz platform.  

“Localz’s exciting new partnership with Castleton demonstrates their continued drive to innovate in the social housing sector. The integration of our “On my way” technology into their leading housing management solutions, provides not only increased productivity savings for their customers but a great customer experience for the tenants also," said Charles Bullock, Partnership Director, Localz.

Infradata deploys BroadForward’s Location Based Services (LBS) solution at Telenet, providing access to location information of devices across legacy and next generation mobile networks

Infradata and BroadForward announced today that they have been selected by Telenet to replace the existing legacy LBS system with the BroadForward Location Based Services solution. This allows Telenet, the largest provider of cable broadband services in Belgium who acquired mobile operator BASE in 2016, to expand their ability to provide location information. This is needed for a range of services, including emergency calls for police, firefighting, and ambulance services.

Telenet aims to become the leading converged connected entertainment and business solutions provider in Belgium. Telenet has a track record in delivering disruptive products to the market, specializing in the supply of broadband internet, fixed and mobile telephony services and cable television. Liberty Global, the world's largest international TV and broadband company, has a 56% stake in Telenet.

Infradata is the leading expert and certified reseller of the entire range of BroadForward products, which includes next generation products for routing, interworking, security and number portability. Infradata is selected by Telenet based on their extensive experience in design, implementation and support of BroadForward products.

BroadForward LBS is a software based, multi-protocol solution, designed to manage device location information across legacy and next generation mobile networks. The productized solution includes standardized functions such as GMLC (Gateway Mobile Location Centre), LRF (Location Retrieval Function) and Routing Determination Function (RDF). The solution will later also incorporate the 5G Gateway Mobile Location Centre.

Luk Bruynseels, VP Mobile Technology at Telenet, about selecting Infradata, “Approximately 70 to 80% of all emergency calls are made from a mobile device, and with the network location information we can provide additional information to emergency services so they know where to find people when it matters. As the leading expert in BroadForward products, Infradata successfully replaced the legacy system with BroadForward’s state-of-the-art Location Based Services solution that works in a multi-vendor environment and across network types”.

Infradata Managing Director Nico van Buitenen added: “Mobility continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Two-thirds of the world's population are already connected by mobile devices and IoT devices will grow to nearly 10 billion devices in just a few years from now. Due to the extensive knowledge and experience Infradata has internally on mobile networks, we are able to provide Telenet with a leading Location Based Services solution that works across legacy, current and future networks.”

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Field service appointments can be high-friction events, or strategic opportunities to engage customers and build trust. The outcome depends on whether customers, field agents, and back office support teams are informed and empowered throughout the process. Glympse, a pioneer in location services and location-powered customer experience, is teaming with Microsoft so businesses using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service can provide customers with constant, accurate awareness regarding the status of field service appointments.

The collaboration seamlessly embeds Glympse En Route, a location-powered customer experience management solution, within the Dynamics 365 for Field Service application through a new, off-the-shelf integration. As a result, end customers receive continuously updated appointment and technician visibility that culminates in a live map view of the technician's location as he travels to the appointment destination.

“Location and estimated time of arrival (ETA) management have become two of the most critical elements of successful field operations and customer interactions - whether it's for a cable installation, office equipment repair, furniture delivery or maintaining mission-critical medical equipment. Customers demand better information to help them manage their busy schedules, including visual, interactive digital engagements that fit their mobile, on-demand lifestyles. Static, one-way alerts aren't enough anymore, and service providers cannot afford to roll trucks to customers who are not available,” said David Troll, senior vice president of Sales and Customer Operations, Glympse.

 

“Our alliance with Microsoft means more field service organizations of all types and sizes, spanning industries across the globe, will have a faster, easier way to leverage Glympse location technology alongside Microsoft Dynamics 365,” continued Troll.

Jeff Comstock, general manager, Dynamics CRM at Microsoft, commented, “By working with Glympse, we're helping our customers provide their end customers even more visibility into technician location and ETA information with a custom branded web experience.”

Users of the joint solution can improve customer service and the effectiveness of field operations - and ultimately drive revenue growth. End customers get steady updates and can track the live status of a service agent, allowing them to more effectively coordinate their schedules with service providers. Prepared customers mean fewer missed, delayed or rescheduled appointments, fewer calls to customer care, efficient appointment execution and faster time to revenue. In addition, internal back office users get better operational visibility through location data, including metrics and live map views of technician teams.

How the Glympse Integration with Field Service Works

The integration package uses standard Field Service workflows to trigger Glympse En Route actions:

• End-customers receive automated periodic notifications containing a unique web link.
• This link directs customers to a web-based experience (accessible via a mobile device, browser or embedded in a customer portal) to view the ETA and/or location of their service representative. As the appointment draws closer, the status is continually updated.
• En Route uses location data from the field to provide organizations with increased internal visibility and performance metrics, helping them better manage their operations.[/unordered_list]

Installing the pre-built integration package is fast and simple. Field Service users with a Glympse license can add these capabilities by completing a simple set-up process.

More information about Glympse can be found here.

More information about Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be found here.

 

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Want to know more about Glympse? Check out our interview with David Troll filmed @ Field Service USA earlier this year here

 

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