ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘news’ CATEGORY

Masternaut, a leading provider of fleet telematics and vehicle tracking services, has launched a maintenance module for Masternaut Connect, giving fleet managers the ability to adopt a proactive approach to vehicle maintenance.

Masternaut Maintenance is based on Masternaut’s patented non-intrusive CANbus technology to collect vehicle data. This provides automatic and real-time information on servicing and vehicle faults on cars and commercial vehicles. It can save time and improve operations for fleet managers by helping to proactively plan fleet maintenance operations, and gives an instant overview of a fleet’s condition, improving vehicle availability.

 

We wanted to offer a maintenance tool kit that gives an immediate overview of fleet compliance, with quick access to information and something that can help them save time and money through efficiency gains"        -Steve Towe, Masternaut

 

The Masternaut Maintenance dashboard provides users with a top down look of their fleet, highlighting the percentage of vehicles that are fully operational, the number of vehicles that need servicing now or in future, and the number of vehicles with faults. This enables fleet managers to reduce vehicle turnover and improve vehicle lifetime, with improved maintenance also helping to reduce fuel consumption.

This information helps fleet managers to keep vehicles and employees safe and ensures a high level of fleet compliance. Masternaut Maintenance keeps a complete record of service and fault history for each vehicle which can reduce breakdowns and improve safety on the road.

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Office and UK Managing Director, Masternaut, commented “Masternaut Maintenance has been launched with our customers and partners in mind, and provides a deeper level of diagnostic solutions than available on the market today, which only identify engine and transmission related failures. We wanted to offer a maintenance tool kit that gives an immediate overview of fleet compliance, with quick access to information and something that can help them save time and money through efficiency gains. This will help fleet managers become more proactive when it comes to fleet maintenance operations, offering improved planning and vehicle turnaround time.”

Alex Rothwell, Chief Technology Officer, Masternaut adds: “Our patented non-intrusive technology combined with Masternaut Connect is already providing our fleet customers and partners with the in latest telematics innovations, such as improved driver behaviour and fuel reduction. Masternaut Maintenance takes or our offering one step ahead to help strengthen and improve the services that we offer to European fleets, by  giving instant information on vehicle faults and servicing status."

 

---

Be social and share this story

The way products are serviced is reshaping their design at the R&D level, and providing new insights into product usage, according to field service management specialist, ServiceMax. Service mechanisms are increasingly seen as the common denominator of accurate product development and maintenance.

The Internet of Things and intelligent field service automation is creating a connected service loop built into products, enabling manufacturers to track, pre-empt service requirements, understand usage and ultimately improve the way customers are using products.

“Before IoT, R&D teams relied mainly on interpretation and anecdotal input from field service engineers to get a full understanding of how products were faring out in the field,” said Mark Homer is Vice President, Global Customer Transformation for field service management specialist, ServiceMax. “But faced with competition and diminishing returns, manufacturers are using IoT and connected field service to make products more specific to consumer requirements.”

 

With IoT enabled field service automation, companies can collect data automatically from machines and devices to determine their condition, performance, potential for error or malfunction, foresee problems, identify troublesome parts, and equip field service techs with the right tools and materials.

Companies can also gain new levels of insight into how their products are actually used post purchase and aggregate the data for better design, maintenance and user experience, redefining the relationship between businesses and customers. The result is minimum product downtime, maximum customer satisfaction and greater insight into how consumers are using products.

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

Would you like to be part of a worldwide consortium of leading technology companies and industry associations committed to delivering exceptional service and support, and at the same time enhance and innovate your service and support capabilities and performance?

Join Noventum’s new project on defining a new chapter of the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards - Service Parts Management. Through your participation in this standards development project, you will work with other leading companies to identify best in class practices, processes, performance benchmarks and capabilities necessary to operate a world class Service Parts Management operation. Once established, you will be able to obtain certification against the new standard by undergoing a rigorous audit of your service parts management function.

The SCP Standards are a suite of best practice standards for managing service operations.

They are developed by Service Strategies Corp together with their European partner, Noventum Service Management, and they are designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of technology service operations. Currently, over two hundred service organisations around the world use the SCP Standards to improve their business operations and deliver top-quality service and support.

Industry leading companies that have already adopted the internationally recognised SCP Standards include Schneider Electric, Advent Software, Fresenius-Kabi, Fuji Xerox, McKesson Corporation, Bobst Group, Teradata Corporation and many others.

With approximately 200 participating organisations and over 1500 certification audits performed worldwide, the SCP Standards represent the most widely adopted service quality program available today.

Click here to request more information about the project of defining the SCP Standards for Service Parts Management and learn how you can be part of it.

 

---

 

Be social and share this update

Road transport specialist Pentalver is saving more than £50,000 a year by improving driver behaviour across its 107-strong Cannock truck fleet.

Following the introduction of a performance improvement programme underpinned by WEBFLEET, a Software-as-a-Service solution for businesses to increase fleet efficiency, the company has seen fuel efficiency soar from an average of 8.5 mpg to 9.6 mpg per vehicle.

OptiDrive 360, a key component of WEBFLEET, scores drivers on a range of performance indicators from fuel consumption, speeding and idling to driving events, gear shifting and constant speed.

Pentalver has incentivised improvement with drivers receiving a quarterly bonus if they hit agreed performance targets.

“WEBFLEET has given us the tools to introduce the bonus scheme and has empowered our drivers to optimise their mpg by giving them real-time feedback and advice,” said Nick Matthews, Pentalver, General Manager.

 

 “Idling time, in particular, has been cut dramatically since we introduced the initiative and we have been able to offer driving training support for those employees that have most needed it.”

Pentalver has also integrated WEBFLEET with container transport management system TOPS, enabling more accurate job planning, scheduling and customer service with full fleet and journey time visibility.

Pentalver’s investment in WEBFLEET was supported by TomTom Telematics partner, Auto Electrical Services (AES).

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

GMS Espresso has woken up and smelled the coffee. In order to bolster its efficiency and lay strong foundations for the future, it is teaming up with Tesseract.

GMS Espresso has been supplying, installing and maintaining coffee machines and equipment for nearly fifteen years, but have been relying on a server-based piece of software that just isn’t moving with the times.

“The problem is, our current software isn’t adaptable or future-proof,” says Seamus Doyle, Operations Manager of GMS Espresso. “This is partly because it’s server-based. If we want to change something or introduce a new kind of report, we have to give notice and wait for them to come and install it. That’s one of the reasons we sought out Tesseract, because they offer SaaS.”

SaaS - Software as a Service - means GMS Espresso will pay a monthly subscription to use the service management components of Tesseract’s Service Centre 5.1 (SC5.1), which are centrally hosted by Tesseract. The benefit of this is that GMS Espresso will receive new features, improvements and updates regularly and instantly. It also means, if there’s an issue, fault or inefficiency anywhere in the system, Tesseract will fix it immediately in-house.

The coffee enthusiasts were also encouraged by SC5.1’s user-friendliness, which is a huge cut above their current system. Doyle explains that they would often have to go round the houses to get even basic things done, whereas the new software  is a lot more efficient and easy to use. It was actually one of GMS Espresso’s own customers who recommended Tesseract, because of their own experiences with the software — testament to  the company's influence in the service management industry.

“We’ve had a really good experience with Tesseract,” Doyle adds. “They’re always on hand to answer our questions and make sure we’re understanding everything. They’re also providing regular training to help our people get to grips with the new system, and are always willing to work around our schedule.”

 

---

 

Click here to find out more about Tesseract software solutions

 

---

 

Be social and share this news

Murdock Builders Merchants, an independent family owned builders’ merchant group, has reduced fuel costs by 10% after implementing a telematics system from Masternaut.

Murdock Builders Merchants implemented Masternaut’s telematics system across its fleet of 44 commercial vehicles, enabling the business to effectively track its fleet across the country.

Since installation, Murdock Builders Merchants has seen a marked improvement in driving styles and saved 10% in fuel costs thanks to data provided by Masternaut’s telematics solution. The system has also been helping Murdock Builders Merchants to have complete visibility on fuel usage and driving style.

The system has also helped to provide an increase in driver efficiency, with managers now able to distribute tasks more effectively and increase the work done by all vehicles. The customer relationship has been further enhanced, with information provided to them, giving accurate delivery times and updates in case of traffic delays.

By monitoring vehicles, telematics has been helping managers keep track of the fleet, enabling them to record information like times and dates sites were visited. This provides cast iron clarity on delivery times for customers and helps fleet managers find the nearest driver to a job location.

 

Paul Sheppard, Group Fleet Manager, Murdock Builders Merchants said “Part of the experience we offer our customers is outstanding delivery with minimal fuss. We’re committed to providing excellent service to our customers and ensuring we hit our delivery times, and Masternaut provides a vital part of how we go about doing that. The system gives us 100% accurate times of delivery and the ability to update customers if there are unexpected delayed, and we’ve been able to make efficiency savings on fuel. Masternaut is a vital, supportive partner of ours and gives us an extra edge that we can offer our customers.”

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director, Masternaut added, “For independent family businesses like Murdock Builders Merchants it is vital that they deliver the best services for their customers. Telematics can become a vital tool to ensure a company is able to meet high customer expectations, and at the same time improve on driver behaviour across the fleet. Telematics enables you to provide a duty of care to your staff and produces savings and safety improvements across the fleet, which is important to any business.”

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

BrightHouse is the UK’s leading rent-to-own retailer providing high quality, branded consumer electronics, domestic appliances and furniture via affordable weekly payments. They have 3,000 employees in a growing network of over 300 stores.

BrightHouse has implemented Kirona’s Job Manager mobile application to connect their central team with their field-based Customer Agent Advisers. This ensures accurate, up to date information flows seamlessly and securely between the two, enabling real-time visibility and that processes are streamlined to significantly improve customer service.

As well as Kirona’s Job Manager application, BrightHouse are also benefiting from Kirona’s InfoSuite management information software, ensuring the business has real-time actionable insight.

Alasdair Skeoch, Head of Credit Operations at BrightHouse commented “Kirona’s Job Manager and InfoSuite software has enabled us to improve customer service and empower our Customer Agent Advisers. Job Manager provides our Customer Agent Advisers with accurate, secure customer information when they meet with our customers. They have the latest account information, credit agreements and customer data to hand enabling them to serve the customer efficiently.”

 

He explains further “We are delighted with the initial implementation of the software and are looking for continual enhancements including implementing Kirona’s Dynamic Resource Scheduler, their Analytics tool to gain further actionable insights as well as applying the software to wider areas of the business.”

Kirona is a leader in delivering software solutions that enable organisations to provide exceptional field-based services in the most cost-effective way possible by providing clients with a suite of software that enables them to manage their end-to-end service processes and to seamlessly link field-based workers with central functions. Not only does this improve the service delivery to their customers it also reduces costs and enable significant efficiency and productivity increases.

Neil Harvey, CTO at Kirona, added “It takes an exceptional retailer to achieve real success in these challenging times and BrightHouse has seen sustained growth by giving customers the means to access quality household goods, and doing it with fairness, honesty and integrity. Many people probably take it for granted that they buy a new TV or a washing machine if they need one. But for millions of people this is not an option.  Many hard-working people do not have the cash to buy household essentials and home comforts outright, and are often ignored by mainstream lenders. BrightHouse successfully offer a way to bridge this financial gap. BrightHouse approached Kirona with a vision of how they wanted their service to improve, and we worked with them to deliver their Customer Agent Advisers a mobile workforce solution to enable them to achieve this.”

 

Neil continued “BrightHouse now has streamlined processes that are achieved by implementing Job Manager. By eradicating paper work from the field and information collected in the field is automatically posted into the relevant systems and necessary follow-up actions are triggered. Their Customer Agents are empowered by providing them with all of the information they need to perform the required task, while the customer benefits from the service efficiency that Job Manager has enabled.”

Kirona’s innovative technology enables organisations with mobile field based workers to improve productivity, customer service, field based worker visibility, reporting, and reduce costs.

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

Security and communications company Total Integrated Solutions has deployed Tesseract's service management software as part of a major restructuring programme designed to deliver more towards more proactive service and maintenance solutions for customers.

Total Integrated Solutions (TIS) has grown from the company that brought television to Mansfield in the 1950s to a highly recognised and valued brand within the UK’s communications and security systems industry.

With clients ranging from the University of Leeds to the MOD, TIS specialises in telephony, data integration, television and satellite distribution, marine communications, CCTV and fire and intruder detection systems.

Now TIS is restructuring in order to better serve its customers. It recently implemented a new ERP system but found that, while the system is strong on finance and contact management, its service element wasn’t ticking all the boxes. So TIS sought out Tesseract.

 

“Tesseract is one of the most highly rated platforms out there,” says John O’Hanrahan, Head of Service Operations at TIS. “We were aware of them because some of our competitors use them, and we’d heard good things about them from the industry. Following a demonstration from Tesseract, we saw that they offered exactly the level of detail and functionality we were looking for."

Tesseract’s service management software will be integrated with TIS’s ERP system.

It will replace its current, much more manual incident management operation, which requires staff to allocate engineers to deal with issues based on their own knowledge of the engineers’ skill sets, locations and availability.

With Tesseract, everything is automated, improving workflow and visibility and saving TIS a huge amount of time, time which the company can reinvest into working more closely with its customers.

Tesseract’s asset management tools will also help improve the solutions TIS offers to customers. John O’Hanrahan explains,

“Each time a customer logs a fault with a CCTV camera, Tesseract builds a history into that asset. If the camera keeps breaking, it means we can get to the core of the issue and look at more proactive solutions than just repeat repairs. This helps our customers save money, an objective that’s at the forefront of what we do.”

---

 

Be social and share this news

Leading mobility specialists Kony and Cognizant are joining forces to deliver a new class of mobile enterprise solutions. The two companies have announced they will jointly develop and deliver solutions spanning enterprise mobile applications, mobile app design, and mobile back-end services to enhance business process efficiencies and security.

The suite of cross-platform mobile applications  will be suitable for industries such as banking, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and government, as well as horizontal mobile applications that can be used by sales and field services, workflow, and human resources organisations. Clients will have access to Cognizant's Digital Fabric robust mobile middleware back-end service, based on Kony’s MobileFabric for enterprise-grade mobile services.

In addition, Kony's advanced mobile app design capabilities will be integrated into the offerings of the Cognizant Digital Collaboratory in New York, further enabling clients to envision the "art of the possible" as they architect their digital future using Cognizant’s Digital Works methodology.

The news of the collaboration has been welcomed by clients.

 

“We are looking forward to working with Cognizant and Kony to architect and implement our digital transformation,” said Dan McCormick, regional IT director, Rentokil Initial plc.

“Cognizant’s digital expertise, deep domain knowledge and global scale, combined with Kony’s market-leading platform for enterprise mobility, gives Rentokil access to best-of-breed capabilities. We’re confident that Kony and Cognizant working together will drive the highest value and best possible outcomes for Rentokil as we take our digital journey.”

“We are excited to join forces with Cognizant to provide unparalleled mobile and digital solutions to help our global clients,” said Thomas E. Hogan, chairman and chief executive officer, Kony, Inc.

“What makes this partnership so powerful is the unique and complementary fit of our respective assets and capabilities – Kony’s deep knowledge and intellectual property in enterprise mobility and Cognizant’s tremendous domain expertise, business process and design innovation, industry vertical depth, and impressive market reach and scale. Most importantly, our combined strengths will bring industry-leading innovation and value to our clients, which is the ultimate barometer of success.”

“The world is mobile. Serving today’s customers means connecting with them anytime they want and anywhere they are. As a result, we’ve seen an explosion of emerging end points and apps to engage, capture information, and support decision-making. This trend lies at the heart of digital transformation,” said Sean Middleton, chief operating officer, Emerging Business Accelerator, at Cognizant.

“Successfully harnessing these forces to capture value, though, requires a thoughtful approach supported by an efficient, secure and agile platform. We’re pleased to partner with Kony and to harness their world-class expertise and platform. Together with Cognizant’s Digital Works methodology, this alliance will help our clients across industries.”

---

 

Be social and share this story