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The great and the good of the telematics industry arrived in Amsterdam for the TomTom Telematics' Developers Conference and left with a new vision of what telematics may look like in the not so distant future...

It’s a strange quirk of fate at the moment that almost every other event in the European field service calendar seems to be held in the wonderful city of Amsterdam. The Dutch capital has become something of a European hub for field service in recent years and another event to add to that list was this year’s TomTom Telematics’ Developers Conference.

However, given that the telematics giant have their headquarters in Amsterdam, perhaps the decision to host their annual conference in the City too, was more about taking advantage of being on home turf. The one-day conference was held at the De Hallen centre, a former tram depot. What better place then for members of the telematics industry to come together to discuss both the latest trends in technology and how they can help in overcoming the seemingly perennial challenges of reducing fuel costs, improving driver behaviour and of course getting field engineers to the right place, on time, everytime?

And whether it was a reflection of the sense of community in the area we found ourselves in or the ongoing effort of TomTom to bring those operating in various pockets of the telematics world together, there was a true sense of community across the day’s event.

It was fantastic to see developers, providers and end users from all across the continent and beyond – even as far as Malaysia and Morocco - all coming together to discuss best practices and new ideas across the break out sessions and in the networking zone throughout the day.

 

It would have been easy for TomTom to attempt to shoe-horn a number of sales pitches in throughout the day but instead the sessions were focused much more on problem solving, emerging technologies or case studies of how companies are using telematics to improve their workflow, including an excellent session with the Rotterdam Fire Service, which really brought home just how important a role technology can play for an organisation for whom getting to their next job on time really is a matter of life and death.

Platform-as-a-Service

Of those sessions that did focus on TomTom and their own offerings there was a very clear message that came through. TomTom Telematics is evolving, they are doing so rapidly and they are quite possibly going to change the way we view telematics forever as they do so.

A big statement? Perhaps but whilst the core technologies of vehicle tracking and routing of course remain a strong element of what TomTom Telematics offer, they can no longer be considered as simply a pure play telematics provider. Instead they have grown and developed, becoming very much a fully fledged Platform-as-a-Service provider within the telematics space in a move seemingly modeled on Salesforce’s approach to CRM.

It is a move that has been gaining momentum for a while: last year in an exclusive interview with Field Service News, Giles Margerison talked at length about the importance of their focus on establishing three separate APIs to make connectivity to the TomTom Telematics platform as simple as possible.

 

The TomTom app store

However, the momentum has now really kicked in with TomTom using the Developer Conference to officially launch their new app store. Even at launch this was full of various  apps provided by both the numerous developers attending and demonstrating their solutions at the conference, and the many, many more out in the wider TomTom ecosystem.

George De Boer, International Alliance Manager at TomTom Telematics commented: “We started out as a telematics company making sure fleet managers could manage their fleet but as soon as we introduced the connected navigation, together with telematics it soon became a solution that you could use for optimising your business processes.” “So we went from purely managing fuel and savings on the wear and tear on the vehicle to becoming an end-to-end manufacturer and supplier of a solution that could be used throughout the whole business process.”

Whilst TomTom have now placed themselves firmly at the heart of this telematics revolution, the responsibility for driving the technology forward seems to be very much shared between TomTom themselves, their developer partners and, most importantly, their customers.

 

The customer role

One such customer which has worked closely with TomTom in a relationship that sees both companies driving the use of telematics forward as they work alongside each other, is UK utilities company Scotia Gas Networks (SGN).

With a remit to maintain 74,000km of gas main pipe within the UK, and a fleet of over 2,000 vehicles, plus SLAs that include response times of just one hour, keeping track of the fleet is absolutely vital for SGN.

Having originally implemented the TomTom Telematics system for just point-to-point referencing - knowing where the vehicle is, and using the system for time sheet validation and so on - SGN soon realised that they could achieve much more with the WebFleet system.

“Straight away I knew what TomTom could do for us” recalls Chris Stone, SGN Head of Finance. “We’ve evolved now into a relationship where we are trying to do more and more. In fact we are pioneering a lot of what TomTom do and what they can do,” he adds

 

Indeed Stone, and SGN’s open approach to working closely with TomTom on their new developments is yielding far greater dividends than a more hands-off approach might. “I like to get two or three benefits out of a system I invest in.” states Stone “Yes we can put a tracking system in our vehicles and we can track them but what else can we get out of it? Well we can get driver behaviour, fuel efficiency, economy…. there are all these other bolt-ons”

However, whilst there are clear benefits for establishing such a close working relationship with your technology partners and adopting a leading edge appetite for utilising new technology, to continuously enhance your service standards and improve margins, it is not an approach all companies can take. After all, not every company has the influence of a utilities company with a fleet of  2,000.

However, the emergence of TomTom as a platform provider is big news for companies of all sizes.

Look out for Part 2 of our report, where we’ll hear more about TomTom’s new App Store. Is it set to revolutionise the way we build our telematics solutions in the not too distant future? What will be its role in the emergence of the connected vehicle?

 

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Mobile workforce solutions company Fleetmatics Group has launched Field App, the latest enhancement to its REVEAL web-based mobility platform. The Field App software is designed to keep dispatchers, managers and drivers on the same page by delivering important information directly to the driver’s mobile device and improving the experience of the mobile worker.

The app is available as a free customer download and provides mobile workers with a variety of capabilities. Customers can push routes to the field in real-time, enabling mobile workers to easily access turn-by-turn directions on their mobile device. The application also provides mobile workers with direct access to their performance metrics, allowing them to track their own progress and benchmark against the rest of their team. Using both the location of the worker’s mobile device as well as vehicle location, the Field App intelligently recommends vehicle assignment, an easy means for customers to unlock additional insight into mobile worker performance.

“Having seen the efficiencies our mobile apps have brought to fleet operators for several years now, we felt the time was right to extend these gains to the mobile workers themselves with our new Field App,” said Peter Mitchell, the Company’s Chief Technology Officer. "And because it's specifically tailored for the driver, it effectively puts the power of Fleetmatics in the pockets of those directly operating more than half a million vehicles that are globally utilising our software platform.”

The Fleetmatics REVEAL Field App is a free download from Google Play or Apple App Store.

 

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Field workforce automation tools such as dynamic resource scheduling and mobile working have had a significant impact on field service, with organisations that have adopted this technology consistently experiencing productivity improvements of 25% or more. However, these tools are not just capable of streamlining the way we currently work, they also provide us with a unique opportunity to do different things. All we need to do is unleash our imagination, says, Laraine Geddes, marketing manager, Kirona

Efficiency drives opportunity

By leveraging the highly sophisticated tools available,  field service organisations have the perfect platform from which to expand. Dynamic resource scheduling enables organisations to improve the way they plan and efficiently allocate resources to field based tasks to maximise capacity and minimise non-productive time. Empowering field workers with mobile technology has not just streamlined the way work is allocated to the field, with real-time updates delivered to centralised functions, but it has also equipped the field worker with the tools that make them more effective in the field.

The result is a far more efficient and effective field workforce. This not only has an impact on bottom line profitability, it also presents an opportunity to grow the breadth of and scale of services delivered in a highly profitable manner.

The customer experience

All of the great efforts on driving efficiencies can be lost if field service organisations lose sight of the customer experience. According to Accenture in 2013, 62% of consumers switched service providers due to a poor customer experience, and although not as extreme, it is a similar picture in the B2B world. Customer retention is vital, according to Emmet and Mark Murphy in their book ‘Leading On The Edge of Chaos’, just a 2% increase in customer retention has the same bottom line impact as a 10% reduction in cost.[quote float="left"]All of the great efforts on driving efficiencies can be lost if field service organisations lose sight of the customer experience.

Looking at ways to leverage technology to differentiate your customer experience should therefore be a focus of any field service organisation.

 

Using Dynamic Scheduling to provide customers with convenient appointments, using email and SMS to keep customers informed of when your field worker will arrive are all ways of delivering a great customer experience. But this can go even further, enabling customers to book appointments online, having deliveries scheduled at the time of purchase either within stores or online and enabling field-based workers to schedule follow-up appointments when they are with the customer all adds to the customer experience.

Driving new revenue opportunities

Happy customers present opportunity. When a customer has just received great service they have a far higher propensity to buy. By leveraging the field worker’s mobile device to prompt them with targeted up-sells for that client or customer, such as extended warranties, additional related products or follow-on services opens up the opportunity in a timely manner.

Being able to efficiently schedule resources enables you to offer premium services and SLA’s to your customers, generating additional revenues that you are confidently able to fulfil within your current capacity. This is where analytics is immensely valuable, enabling you to simulate different service offerings and understand in which regions and across which skills these can be provided.

Proactive service

Field Workforce Automation tools provide a fantastic opportunity for organisations to make that leap from being reactive to being proactive. Whether that be simply scheduling proactive tasks to complement reactive work, pushing real-time information to field-based engineers for preventative maintenance they should perform during a scheduled visit or filling any idle slots with proactive visits to customers.[quote float="right"]Field workforce automation tools provide a fantastic opportunity for organisations to make that leap from being reactive to being proactive.

 

Through driving efficiency in your workforce, you create additional capacity with existing resources, this additional capacity enables you to be proactive, all you need to do is understand how best to utilise this time to have the greatest positive impact on your customers and your business.
Whether you deliver goods, provide a facilities management service, offer field maintenance for business or consumers or deliver field-based professional services such as healthcare, you have an opportunity to be the best in your industry. Creating an efficient field service organisation and providing an exceptional customer experience does not have to be mutually exclusive, in fact, they can be highly complementary.

Ensuring you have the right technology in place to enable you to plan and schedule, to connect your field workers with your centralised systems and to analyse and gain true actionable insight into your operation is key. Using your imagination to use this technology to deliver greater value to customers and create new revenue streams enables you to set your company apart from the competition.

 

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 A Supervisor app has been added to its FieldMaster mobile applications suite by Trimble to help managers stay efficient and effective on the go by empowering them to do more work in the field and manage their day-to-day operations remotely.

With the FieldMaster Supervisor app, managers can leave the office and still have visibility into their fleet and mobile workers from their smartphone or tablet.  “Mobility is an increasingly valuable tool for field service organisations,” said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble’s Field Service Management (FSM) division. “It allows a traditional office role to move into the field and still access up-to-date information about the performance of the field operation. The result is a more effective operation where managers in the field have the information they need at their fingertips.”

FieldMaster Supervisor is available with Trimble Fleet Management and Trimble Work Management solutions.
Key features include:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Viewing all locations of your entire team on a map
• Seeing each team member’s job progress, including tasks at risk
• Finding the nearest worker to another team member or customer
• Navigating to key locations using turn-by-turn directions
• Inspecting job performance and documenting status in the field
• Receiving important vehicle and driver performance alerts in real-time[/unordered_list]

FieldMaster mobile applications are a core component of FSM’s integrated suite of field service management solutions that includes Fleet Management, Work Management and Driver Safety. It also includes a Technician app which is an advanced collaboration tool for mobile technicians that allows them to receive, access and update job information in real-time for improved effectiveness on the job.

The mobile apps are available from the Google PlayStore and the Apple App Store.

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Based on research by Capterra this handy infographic identifies the strengths of some of the key software providers you may find in the field service sector...

Yorkshire based company Service2 show that smaller companies don’t need to wait until they grow before adopting a field service software platform...

One of the biggest changes to field service companies in recent times has been the advent of the Cloud and the Software as a Service (SaaS) model and perhaps the biggest shift that the introduction of SaaS has brought is that for the first time ever field service software is no longer the domain of large enterprise companies only.

Due to the subscription based nature of SaaS offerings smaller companies are now able to access the types of software that only a few years ago would have been cost-prohibitive to them.

As such they are able to offer their customers similar levels of service as the big boys whilst at the same time being able to reap the benefits of enhanced productivity and efficiency such systems yield. The playing field has been well and truly levelled – or at least so the theory goes.

However how does this filter down in reality?

Is there truth in such assertions or is it just a case of clever marketing spin form the software providers?

To find out how field service management software can help a small company we spoke exclusively to Kate Lovery at Service2, a Yorkshire based Gas appliance installation and maintenance provider who have implemented the ServiceMax platform.

The business originally came into being when founders James and Chris, who both have background in engineering themselves, (Chris was predominantly working with catering equipment and boilers whilst James was more focussed on heating and ventilation) found themselves being approached with promises of Directorships for a new start-up.

However, as is sadly often the case, the promises didn’t meet reality, but the seeds of a successful business had been sown between the two, so in November 2011 they decided to set up by themselves.

Having started like most young businesses do taking as much work of any form that they could to build up the business and establish contacts and clients on the way, they quickly established a successful niche for themselves as they moved away from domestic jobs and began establishing a strong reputation for contract based commercial work.

Big name clients such as NG Bailey, Norland, and the Marriott group soon came along and with them so did more engineers, more office staff and 200% year on year growth.

However, the flip side of such success is the growing logistical headache of how to manage the business.

 

As Lovery explains “We’ve got a really nice spread of clients but my focus over the last year has been look how can we manage this? I can’t manage ten engineers and how ever many clients on an Excel spreadsheet so what are we going to do?”

“I needed to stop and ask how can we take this forward and be more dynamic? How can we be faster, quicker, more streamlined.” She adds

With the need to find a solution Lovery began opening the conversation up to the team and in fact it was one of their engineers who suggested ServiceMax.

At the same time she also had a recommendation from one of their commercial partners for the SaaS based field service software provider. Contact details were swapped and soon they were reviewing the ServiceMax system.

“They came to see us and gave us a presentation and we looked at it and thought about it and then initially put it on the back burner.” Admits Lovery.

Something that many companies in Service2’s position will do as the day to day tasks of keeping your business growing take over your To Do list.

However, Lovery was wise enough to take a step back, to focus on the forest rather than the one tree ahead of her as it were and realised if Service2 was to continue to grow they would be better off acting sooner rather than later.

“We thought you know what we really need to do this now.” She concedes “Our plan is to be twice the size, three times the size year on year and I thought I don’t want to be implementing a system for 50 people when I can implement it now for 15.”

“I also wanted to make it an integral part of our DNA. How we go through our processes, how we perform.” She adds

 

Such an approach is of course extremely forward looking and one that many companies only realise they should have taken when it’s too late. However for Lovery it was simple common sense.

“Coming from a clients service/account management background for me it is absolutely vital that we can manage our accounts properly, we just simply wouldn’t be able to grow unless we do” she explains

“With our previous system I just couldn’t see how we could manage that. It’s just too many plates spinning, For us it’s like we’ve employed the system instead of employing another person to some degree."

And it’s not just the task of managing the engineers that is proving useful to Lovery. It is also the ability to keep a much closer eye on the P&L.

“Before we didn’t have such huge visibility we didn’t really have much transparency to be honest. Not because it’s wasn’t there I just didn’t have time to go and find the information I needed.” She explains

“Unless I’ve got a system like ServiceMax how can I track every nut and bolt that is purchased against a job? I can do some costing and put some rough numbers around what our profit and loss is but without a system like this in truth “ To me that’ visibility is really, really vital. It’s about being able to see both where we can maximise profitability but also where we can make cost savings etc.”

Of course the Field Service Software market is a highly competitive one and despite the recommendations Lovery looked at some of the other providers available before opting for ServiceMax. So what was it that made them the preferred option? “I found ServiceMax to be a to be a lot more dynamic.” She starts “I also liked the fact that it was Cloud based not something that was built on our system.”

“At times you think well we’re only a small company of 15 people, how is that going to work for us - but surely principles that the business is built on, the foundations, they are the same regardless of size.”

 

“For me best practice isn’t what the engineers on the other side of town are doing, I look to Cannon and GE and those types of brands and ask what are they doing? So I love the fact that ServiceMax has small family owned businesses as much as multi-nationals as part of their client list.”

It is here that we perhaps begin to see why ServiceMax have gained such a glowing reputation from this particular customer.

For whilst Lovery is clearly very happy with the software, her endorsement of the software provider runs far deeper than product alone.

“I really like the networking opportunities and the different people it would bring you into contact with that other providers couldn’t offer.” She continues referring to the many client focussed seminars , workshops and conferences ServiceMax run each year.

“I’ve really enjoyed the seminars at their usergroup and  for me just being able to take part in that type of event, listen to other peoples issues – what they love about the platform what they don’t, is just so helpful.”

“You don’t know what you don’t know so, just listening to others who have been with the platform longer or have experience managing bigger teams than ours, such sessions are really useful.” She adds.

It is through such activities that ServiceMax are able to encourage their customers to grow with the platform. An approach that generates more than enough brand loyalty to make these events worthwhile.

“The last thing I would want to do is change a system at some point in the future, It may seem cheaper or easier at the time to have taken another platform but we really like the direction of ServiceMax as a company and it seems that they are someone we can grow with. It seems that they don’t stand still at all. There approach is very much ‘how can we make this package work for you” Enthuses Lovery

 

In addition to the networking opportunities that ServiceMax offer to their user base it is also their commitment to delivering excellent customer service that has Lovery so impressed.

“Our account manager has been really excellent I have to say” she comments “he has been really supportive, helping us make the right connections, just offering support and advice when we need it, on that level the client service is fantastic and that’s the case with the whole team so far.”

And with a dedicated project manager available Lovery is confident that she will be able to be fully adapt the software to their needs as the company continues to grow and evolve.

“Because I’m implementing it myself my project manager, who I speak to two three times a week is teaching me the tricks and tools that I might not have been aware of and that has given me a certain amount of independence to run with it.”

She explains “If in six months time I want to make a few changes I’ll be able to do that myself”

Indeed in the often ruthless world of corporate software it is refreshing to note Lovery’s enthusiasm for her provider.

Yet by giving Lovery and Service2 the freedom to make such changes, and empowering them to be able to manage their system as their business grows, supporting them with excellent service, and helping them establish a wider network of contacts, ServiceMax are likely to secure the business of this fast growing company for many years to come.

 

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Landmark Quest, a leading provider of risk management, mobile solutions and bespoke software for lenders and surveyors, has announced that Connells Survey & Valuation Ltd., now has more than 300 surveyors using its Q-Mobile property data capture solution on Panasonic’s Toughbook tablet PCs, generating major efficiencies with valuation service delivery to mortgage lenders.

In July 2014 Connells Survey & Valuation was awarded the exclusive contract to deliver valuation panel management services to Principality Building Society.  Under the contract, Principality Chartered Surveyors also joined Connells Survey & Valuation business.

Q-Mobile, used in conjunction with Panasonic Toughbooks, improves workflow, standardises surveyors’ site notes and allows Connells’ surveyors to access supporting data for each valuation report while they are on site.  The mobile software provides a seamless process from the receipt of a valuation instruction, scheduling the appointment, undertaking research and the inspection, through to transmission of the valuation report to the client. Connells have been pioneers in developing and using Landmark Quest Q-Mobile, which has supported their surveyors being more efficient in responding to increasingly complex service requirements and improving the customer journey.

Matthew Morgan, Area Director, Connells Survey & Valuation (former Chief Surveyor at Principality Surveyors), comments: “At Principality Surveyors we were researching the best mobile technology system on the market.  Connells Survey & Valuation has an unparalleled reputation for quality service delivery and had already made a major investment in its service involving Landmark Q-Mobile and tablet PCs. This was taken into consideration during the tender process.”

 

Ross Bowen, Managing Director of Connells Survey & Valuation, adds, “Using Q-Mobile has delivered tangible benefits to our clients and superior customer outcomes. We are now even better placed to manage our surveyors’ workloads and work patterns during the course of the day. Within the space of just a few weeks of rolling out Q-Mobile, it has become the established platform underpinning the delivery of our professional valuation services.”

Ross Bowen explains that introducing the new surveying team to Q-Mobile and the latest mobile working methods required three days’ initial training, but has paid dividends in efficient working practices and time saved when responding to queries.

“When a query is raised by an underwriter or solicitor, we can push this out to surveyors in the field and they can respond immediately and effectively. Information such as site plans, photos and post valuation queries are all in one place, so it is much easier to access at the surveyor’s fingertips, speeding response times to clients and their time to mortgage offer Using Q-Mobile in the field has also more than halved the time taken to respond to post valuation queries from two days to under one day,” enthuses Bowen.

Whilst highlighting the benefits, Ross Bowen emphasises that Connells’ investment in Q-Mobile and tablet PCs was part of implementing its next generation service delivery model. “Being able to access data from mobile devices in real time is a major change for our industry and it’s helping to evolve the working patterns of the profession.”

Rachel Brookes, Product Manager at Landmark Quest comments, “We are delighted to be able to support the integration of the former Principality Chartered Surveyors into Connells Survey & Valuation, by using our mobile data capture software to standardise reports and improve validation, efficiency and quality for all surveyors. We will continue to work with Connells to further develop Q-Mobile to incorporate datasets, such as the homebuyer report.”

 

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“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in their own way,” reads the famous opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. The same could be said of companies — so we’ve found as we’ve helped more field service firms shift from paper-based processes to automated ones asserts Phillipp Emmengger of Core Systems

Field service companies usually come to us seeking a more streamlined way of doing things. They typically are working under the burden of a heavily paper-based process with unique, time-consuming ways of doing things. One customer, for example, required technicians to re-enter their data back into their systems after their day was done, while another passed the paperwork to teams of data-entry clerks to enter the often illegible information. Neither was ideal.

Our potential clients typically focus on the efficiencies and the cost savings that can be achieved. How can we dispatch technicians faster? How can we ensure they have the necessary information they need, and to get data back to the office? How can we increase first-time fix rates? And, how can we invoice faster? But once the software is in place, and customers start enjoying the benefits of a more efficient process, they begin to notice something else: that not only are their customers happy, they’re happy. The work environment and the work culture has shifted to one that is positive and efficient.

 

As Lisa Erling, Chief Financial Officer at the California-based Vegetable Growers Supply, a packaging supply firm, said of the new work culture that emerged after their move to automated services, “It’s a whole new business.”

As with happy families, happy field service companies appear to have certain traits in common.

Here are the top 6 ways we’ve found on how automation can create a happier work culture:

Technicians Are in Control of Their Day:

Field service software on mobile devices allow technicians to see and manage everything in their day. They can easily record and track their working hours, see the day’s schedules and if any changes occur to their schedule. With a mobile solution, the lines of communication between technicians and the back office are constantly open, meaning technicians are better supported, and don’t have to return to the office when problems occur.

Free Technicians from the Burden of Paperwork:

Forgotten forms, lost paperwork, re-entering data back at the office and even interpreting their own illegible handwriting used to add to the administrative burden of a technician’s day. With an automated, mobile solution, where everything is in one place and is filled out and captured in the course of the day, the hours technicians literally spent on the admin of their jobs is reduced. “Our employees are very satisfied,” says Johann Schild Jr, Managing Director of Herstellung & Handels, the German supplier of hydraulic systems and accessories, “They are able to save time, which they use much more effectively. They benefit from having all the data they need in their hands and they have less paperwork to fill out, which for a technician is always an advantage.”

Empowered Technicians Have the Information They Need to Perform at Their Best:

Mobile solutions give technicians everything thing they need to do the job right: service manuals, customer and service histories and inventory levels and the ability to order spare parts are all at their fingertips. As first-time fix rates rise, technicians feel empowered by their ability to quickly do their job right. Daniel Reichert, a service technician at Cald’Oro, the Austrian makers of high end coffee machines, says: “I am much faster in creating service orders or in finding spare parts. I can see at a glance what my colleague did during his last visit, what work he carried out on the machine and what the problem was. Everything is just much faster. You can see right away what part was changed during the last service or which item got damaged when. It allows me to narrow down the errors in no time.”

Improved Relations Between Technicians and Customers:

Technicians armed with the knowledge of who their customers are and their service histories can put customers immediately at ease and demonstrate quickly to them their understanding of their equipment and issues. But they can also make the repair process more transparent. Simple photo capture of broken equipment, for instance, can show customers (especially with inaccessible parts) where the problem has occurred and how severe it is.

Better Communications and Team Work Between Technicians and Back Office:

No one likes to have to constantly check in with their office or have their office checking up on them. With mobile devices, automatic status updates can be easily sent when a job is marked done, when snags are occurring, or when drive times are taking longer than expected. Open communications between all team members can also let techs tap each other for knowledge, and let techs quickly locate a supervisor if they need one or call in extra help.

Work Faster; Save Time:

If there’s one thing that makes technicians happy, it’s the ability to work faster and save time. No one wants to be bogged down trying to diagnose a problem, when a simple service history might speed up the process. No one wants to have re-enter information when easy data capture could let them do this as they work.

With technicians on the front lines and in the position of representing and advocating for your brand and company, their happiness has a direct impact on customer happiness.

 

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Espresso Service Ltd, an independent company founded in 1987 that specialises in servicing coffee machines, is set to implement Tesseract’s service management software in order to better serve its customers.


Espresso Service, who manage a network of engineers all over the UK, pride themselves on a wide skill set. Their engineers are ‘coffee experts’ and do planned and reactive maintenance on all brands of traditional and semi-automatic coffee machines. At present they rely on an internally installed, less specialised piece of software to manage their engineers. In order to move forward, they decided to look for a centrally hosted and more specialised system that would be a better fit for their needs.

Espresso Service identified a number of advantages to implementing Tesseract’s software, in particular the fact that Tesseract offers a constantly evolving platform for a monthly fee. They also saw the appeal of Tesseract’s software being entirely web-based. “It will allow anyone to do their jobs anywhere,” says Daniel Sewell, Chief Operating Officer for Espresso Service.

Espresso Service have plans to incorporate Tesseract’s entire suite of services in due course. Sewell says, “Our aspiration is to use every single function that is available, largely because we believe Tesseract to be the key to fundamentally changing our business for the better. We believe Tesseract will drive efficiency, spotlight any inefficiency, and ultimately help us to ‘work smarter’ and be the best that we can be.”

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