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No matter which industry you are involved in, it is almost certain that at the very forefront of your business strategy is the goal to guarantee the very best levels of customer satisfaction.

It absolutely needs to be as in todays climate, where access to a huge array of information about you and your competitors is readily available, customer satisfaction plays an enormous role in the way consumers choose which companies get their business. 

For customers requiring after sales service, more often than not the first port of call is of course a contact centre.  Here, the initial call is logged and whenever possible, resolved.

But do service calls really provide customer satisfaction?  What happens when the problem is not rectified within the agreed time or if the service supply chain is too disjointed to efficiently resolve the problem? What impact can this have on your customers overall satisfaction with your company's ability to deliver the product or service they expect?

Successful customer interaction is vital

Carolyn Wilson, services director of technology support specialist Centrex Services, believes the contact centre process is becoming both outdated and ineffective for today’s technology support.

“It is clear that the role of the contact centre within the service supply chain has evolved rapidly; moving from simply offering support to becoming the driving force behind customer satisfaction. There must be control over the entire journey of the repair, not just an automated process to raise a service ticket. Service companies are now at the forefront of customer service, this unrequited lip-service is no longer just an afterthought.” she comments

She is certainly not alone in this view either. In fact a recent study by the Aberdeen Group showed that an incredible 96% of businesses viewed improving customer service results as their primary goal[1].

Carolyn explains further, “There are two major factors which directly affect the success of customer interactions, namely triage (problem identification) and the ability of the control team to resolve any issues as efficiently as possible.

“Equipping the staff to intelligently diagnose hardware problems over the phone and enabling them to take responsibility for the entire service process results in a huge increase in satisfaction levels, as invariably customers are contacting businesses to gain resolution as quickly as possible.”

This begins with the control representative understanding not only the nature of the call, but being able to identify where the part is located and accurately outline when a correctly skilled engineer can be sent to remedy the problem. In short, they need complete visibility of the service supply chain.

An inefficient control centre, can have a knock on effect across the whole of the service supply chain and will always result ultimately in dissatisfied customers.

An alarming statistic uncovered recently by The Service Council was that less than ten percent of field engineers dispatched had the part required to fix the hardware[2]. Clear evidence of a disjointed, fragmented and simply inefficient service supply chain. Instead, businesses favoured a system where engineers operate in territories and will therefore immediately be called out if the customer’s address falls within their patch; regardless of the parts they have to hand, or the personal skill-sets at their disposal.

Addressing this issue Carolyn added, “If a customer’s problem revolves around a part being sourced and fitted by an engineer, for the traditional contact centre to dispatch an engineer closer to the customer because it is more convenient, is unacceptable. This just shows it’s vital that changes are made to the way businesses view their own contact centres and move to adopt better control throughout the process.”

Why accept failure in your service supply chain?

Technology is evolving every year, indeed at an often bewildering rate. So it comes as a huge surprise and disappointment to learn that the vast majority of organisation are failing to apply the available and required layers of intelligence and responsibility to their contact centres. Layers which can provide the level of insight into the service supply chain that is so badly needed. Instead, we see that outsourcing this process remains a highly popular solution, even though as Carolyn points out, this is an ineffective method that is all too often cited as being the major factor in why poor service is being delivered.

“When contact centres are outsourced, businesses always run the risk of providing a service where staff processing customer calls have little knowledge related to the logistics of the service supply chain. Unsurprisingly, triage is inefficient and service level agreements (SLA) are often missed.

“I remain astonished that businesses continue to offer contracts which allow for a certain level of failure when it comes to meeting SLA’s, which is often the bar used to measure customer satisfaction.

“The current systems in place across the after sales service supply chain are not fit for purpose and the time for change is upon us. There will of course be resistance from those who believe the traditionalist approach works, but accepting failure is intolerable and should not be accepted by business leaders or their customers.” she concludes. 

Centrex, who have redesigned their service processes, began with increasing responsibility within its ‘control’ centre to create a service which is both valuable to the company while offering best practice to the consumer. It put's the 'control' centre at the heart of the service supply chain not a distant cousin looking on from afar. It is a sensible yet breathtakingly simple concept that hopefully others may follow.

Look out for the second part of this feature where we look at why bringing all elements of the service supply chain , including customer support centres, all under one roof is an essential aspect of the Centrex philosophy. 

In the first part of the this two part series we explore why tablets are becoming the mobile computing option of choice as sales of rugged laptops decline in the consumer markets and if this trend is mirrored in field service industries as well... 

At first glance you would be mistaken for thinking that Apple invented the whole tablet industry when they brought the first generation iPad to the market just four years ago. However, whilst as with the iphone Steve Jobs’ and Co. weren’t so much the originators of this exciting new technology, they sure as hell were the ones that perfected it and brought the tablet computer into the mainstream.
In fact at the time of the release of the first iPad the Wall Street Journal went as far as to describe the device as being a “laptop killer”. So four years on, with the tablet revolution at full charge are we seeing the final days of the laptop?

And what about in the more demanding domain of field service where rugged laptops have been the solution for so long?

Processing power: Rugged Tablets now matching rugged laptops

One of the biggest barriers to tablet computing in both the consumer and commercial environments has always been processing power. However, within the last five years we have seen a rise in computational power within tablets. Whereas not so long go we may have faced a decision to opt for the portability and mobility of a tablet or the greater capabilities of a laptop. This isn’t the case today.

Motion Computing’s UK Head, Ian Davies concurs with this assertion. Davies states:

“The processing power of tablet PCs is no longer an issue in most discussions. Previously, some tablet users did have to decide between the ease of use, ruggedisation and mobility offered by tablets, versus the processing power and speed of rugged laptops, but no more.”

Davies is certainly well placed to comment as Motion are one of the leading providers of rugged tablets including the distinctive looking F5te.

The tablet, having been designed with field service in mind, is easily identified by its integrated carry handle, but it is what is inside that counts. Packing an impressive 8gb of RAM and with the option of a powerful i7 processor there is plenty of processing power available to match all but the very highest spec rugged laptops.

Consumerisation: The public embrace tablet computing

Another major factor in the rise of tablets within the workplace is the consumerisation of technology. With smartphones and tablets becoming commonplace within homes across the globe it is natural for organisations to harness this familiarity with the devices to ensure the investment in technology leads to improved productivity in the workforce.

Specialist hardware manufacturer Handheld UK’s Managing Director, Dave Cawsey confirms this saying

“Users are looking for the same/close to or similar feel of retail devices (IPad, Android and WIN 8 Tablets) they have at home in the work place, most IT departments are savvy of this connection and look to make the transition as ‘user’ friendly as possible to maximise workforce acceptance of a new system/device”

Within the consumer sector the trend is clear, tablets are on the rise.

Leading technology research house Gartner identified that large numbers of consumers are switching across to tablets as their main computer, and this is a trend that is set to continue rather than being a passing fad according to their research.

Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner commented

“While there will be some individuals who retain both a personal PC and a tablet, especially those who use either or both for work and play, most will be satisfied with the experience they get from a tablet as their main computing device”

Indeed Gartner state that 116 million tablets were sold in 2012, with circa 197 million tablets being sold in 2013.

They predict sales for 2014 will rise to 266 million and by 2017 they predict that this will rise to nearly half a billion.

The same report predicts a different future for laptops however, with laptop sales showing a year on year decline from 350 million in 2012 to 339 million in 2013. A similar trend is highly likely within the more specialised niche of rugged laptops.

Whilst some experts have tried to attempt to align this declining trend with the failure of Windows 8 to emulate the accessibility and functionality of both Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems, the added mobility of tablet devices versus that of both regular and rugged laptops can not be overlooked.

Also an added benefit is that as tablet devices comprise of a solid unit, rather than rugged laptops, which no matter how well built still have a slight weakness at the joint between the screen and keyboard, are naturally more robust.

Of course the combination of being both more robust and more portable than laptops makes tablets and smart phones a perfect choice for field service, so a shift towards away from rugged laptops and towards rugged tablets is certainly on the cards.

Look out for the second part of this feature where we examine the impact of the BYOD trend on companies purchasing rugged laptops, why tablets are perfect for ruggedistation and the solution for those field service technicians that require high data input levels.

Want to know more about field service hardware? Have a look at our online directory for articles, videos and other resources from specialist providers

Do you ever stop and think that the technologies that are now commonplace in the field service industry seem to be lifted straight from the pages of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s notebooks?

Certainly modern smart phones are on a par with the communicator devices found on the Enterprise, and now we are seeing the replicator come to life in the guise of additive (or 3D) printing. But what exactly is 3D printing, how does it work and what can it mean to field service?

3D printing 101:

As with most technologies, the background of 3D printing actually dates back much farther than it would appear at first glance. The first origins of the technology stretch back over 40 years to the late 70’s although the first working 3D printer is credited to Chuck Hall of 3D systems back in 1984. However, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that we began to see the technology finally become a commercial reality and since then there has been large growth in the sale of 3D printers as their price has become more and more accessible. In fact the 2012 figures put the market at $2.2 billion worldwide, an increase of 29% year on year.

The process itself involves making a three dimensional solid object, which can be virtually any shape from a digital model created using computer aided design (CAD) software.  In simplistic terms this is achieved by laying successive layers of material on top of each other. Essentially this is where 3D printing differs from all other forms of manufacturing, in that traditional methods start with a block and then subtract material until it is the right shape, in 3D printing you start with nothing and then add layers (hence the alternative name of additive printing) of material to build your product.

Within the last few years we have seen the techniques used in 3D printing (of which there are now many variations)  leap forward and products as diverse as clothing, turbine parts and even chocolates can now be created via a 3D printer.

3D Printing in the mainstream:

With the 3D printing industry now on set to explode into a fully-fledged mainstream industry we are seeing a number of companies now entering the market with home based 3D printers, most of which tend to look like a high end coffee machine and are available from anything for £500 to £3,000. In fact the market place is already becoming crowded with specialist makers such as MakerBot, Ultimaker and Cubify all competing with a variety of models, and surely it is only time before we start seeing bigger brands like Motorola or Sony enter the market place as well.

At the other end of the scale, there are companies like Makerbot parent Stratasys, a 3D printing company formed way back in 1989,  that offer 3D production facilities able to create specialist parts that capable of being both durable and intricate enough to be used in industries such as Automotive, Commercial Manufacturing and Aerospace.

Another big benefits of the additive process is that unlike traditional manufacturing of parts where the production run of a small number of a specific part is often simply uneconomical, the cost of manufacturing each individual part remains constant  regardless of the size of production run. This means that one off manufacturing of a part is now a completely feasible concept financially.

Also with any technology or as the market grows, so does competition, which in turn drives performance. Perhaps the most significant and dramatic improvement we have seen as a result of growing competition in this space is the speed in which the actual printing process is now completed. I remember seeing 3D printing for the first time just a couple of years back and whilst the end result was undoubtedly impressive it was still a relatively slow process. Today we are seeing print speeds of under 15 minutes for smaller to medium sized pieces.

So what does this mean to field service?

Well for a start lets take the two sides of the industry discussed... In home 3D printing,  we have seen a drive for smaller, more mobile printers and in industrial 3D printing we are seeing materials such as metals and high performance thermo plastics being used to create parts durable enough to have genuine commercial applications. Surely it is just a matter of time before we see these two elements converge to give us portable manufacturing capabilities?

In the not to distant future could we see field service engineers arrive on site identify which parts of a product need replacing and simply head into the back of the van, upload the specifications and print the part they need? With no need to wait for the parts to be firstly ordered and secondly delivered, we would be seeing first time fix rates soar.

How about we combine this technology with another emerging technology namely machine to machine (M2M) diagnostics.  Rolls Royce jumbo jet engines for example are already self monitoring, where the engine itself has it’s own built in computer system that relays information to their field staff.

It does not require a huge leap of  imagination to take this a step further... As soon as the engine’s computer reports a minor fault in one of it’s components it transmits this information to a local field team waiting at it’s next scheduled landing destination. The required part is then printed automatically on site thus allowing the field service engineer to quickly fix the issue with the freshly printed required replacement part ready to hand. An interesting concept isn't it?

Whilst the technology is still perhaps a few years away from being perfected to these levels of sophistication, it would seem that 3D printing could genuinely live up to it’s reputation of being the second industrial revolution and it’s impact on field service could indeed be quite spectacular.

 

 

TerraXML, an enterprise software and services provider, have announced the 2014 release of the TerraView, a collaborative content delivery platform which could be of great interest to those operating in the field service arena.

The new release promises a wide range of freshly incorporated features that are designed to both improve remote access to information as well as simplifying the administration process. TerraXML claim that not only will TerraView 2014 offer considerable additional benefits for customers already using the TerraView platform – but also widen the platforms usability to industries that operate outside of networked environments

Bob Aidun, TerraXML CEO states that “TerraView 2014 represents a significant advancement in digital content delivery,”

Aidun further added "While there is already considerable alignment with cloud and mobile technology in the industries we serve, the adoption of these solutions is inherently tied to online connectivity. However, the need to be continuously connected prohibits the use of digital content in operating environments where internet service is unavailable or inconsistent. With this release, TerraView users are now able to freely access mission-critical information both online and offline. This brings considerable value to our customers who have historically struggled with providing disconnected field teams with up-to-date information.”

It is the ability to continue to access vital information in an offline environment that could potentially makes this release of interest to companies with a remote or mobile workforce. Whilst the move to digital, cloud based mobile solutions have in no doubt revolutionised the way field service organisations operate, the one consistent issue remains - what if there is no internet signal to connect to?

Whilst a number of solutions provide the ability to access information online, connectivity issues still remain for a large number of mobile solutions. Therefore the ability for field service engineers to access essential information onsite is an important element in improving first time fix rates and overall efficiency. A consistent aim for most field service companies.

Another neat benefit in addition to boasting strong support of offline data access, is that TerraView 2014 can manage data across multiple distributed servers to ensure updates to end user devices are performed using the absolute most current information - regardless of geographical location. Again a major advantage for mobile teams based in various locations such as aviation field service engineers for example, where a team may be tracking a specific flight internationally.

If TerraView 2014 is able to further improve upon the ability for field service engineers to access this key information whenever and wherever it is needed  as it claims then it is certainly a worthy release worth further inspection. Particularly for those industries that have widespread teams due to the nature of their industries such as aviation and many other field service industries.

 

In this exclusive interview with Motion Computing's UK Supremo Ian Davies about his time in the industry, the changes he has seen and what he thinks the future holds for mobile computing...

FSN: What was the first piece of technology that made a huge impression on you? 

ID: Probably the first piece of technology, aside from the ubiquitous mobile phone or laptop that made an impression on me, was a touch screen device made by one of my previous employers that combined the Palm Pilot with a barcode scanner, essentially the pre-cursor to the rugged PDA that we know today.  I used to have it synchronised with my email, diary and address book on my PC, but as part of my job as a pre-sales consultant I could run Field Service or Retail supply chain ‘Apps’, although I guess they weren’t known as ‘Apps’ in those days.  My wife-to-be and I were in the wedding list service department of a well-known department store. 

I’ll never forget the contrasting looks I got from my wife and the sales assistant as we were handed such a device and I was asked if I knew how to work it.  At which point, with a cheesy grin I got my device out of my pocket.  Mine happened to be ‘marketing’ issue version that was made from clear plastic rather than the industrial grey, so it looked a bit flash too.  My fiancé was sighing in despair at my geekyness and the sales assistant was astonished that I knew how to use it, let alone owned one!

FSN: Do you think that the consumerisation of mobile devices has led to a major shift in the design of field service hardware?

ID: Undoubtedly there is far greater awareness of options such as tablets due to the consumer units now available - especially in businesses where there was a reliance on handhelds or laptops in the field.  Likewise, from a design perspective there is an increased demand for usability and the goal is to deliver a consumer grade experience whilst out in the field - a serious point given the potential increase in productivity.

FSN: What are your thoughts on the BYOD trend in field service organisations – do you see this as a major threat to your business.?

ID: BYOD in field service will likely hit a serious issue - consumer devices are simply not able to take the knocks that happen every day out in the field.  This then causes lost productivity, employee dissatisfaction and of course, presents the IT department with a host of OS’s to support.  Field service is one of the key industries where it will make far more sense to issue standardized pieces of equipment with training on how they should be handled to maximise the ROI.

FSN: What is the most exciting/unusual application of ruggedised devices you have seen?

ID: In terms of demands on us as a supplier of the actual tablets, the use of tablets for field based drug testing by Cambridge Cognition sticks out.  Likewise the use of the tablets for live audio mixing at concerts or remote controlling drone aircraft for surveys are all far removed from the usual applications associated with ruggedised devices.

FSN: With the rise in computational power of tablet devices do you think we are seeing the final days of the laptop?

ID: Though the increases in computing power do play a role, I think the greater factor that is leading to drops in laptop sales is far more simple - tablets are easier to use and a lot more intuitive.  They correspond much more to the mobile phones that we all own and as such people are very in tune with how to work a tablet - even down to the software available for them.  We are definitely seeing a swing away from rugged laptops towards rugged tablets for field service applications.

FSN: What is the biggest trend in devices that you are seeing come to the market currently?

ID: Right now the top demands are usually around usability features - improvements in input, display and battery life are all helping the multi-use capability for organisations and users.  Rugged Tablet PCs combine the performance of a laptop with the mobility of a rugged PDA – reducing the number of devices a user needs to carry and the IT Department’s number of devices and operating systems they need to support.  Aside from this, the regular demands are actually about enhancing the workflow by mobilizing the software and apps as opposed to just the hardware.

FSN: What do you think the next big technological advancement in mobile computing will be?

ID: That is the exciting thing about technology!  It is constantly evolving, the next great thing always around the corner.  Trends we’ve seen include more intuitive, more intelligent interacting with the mobile device such as voice and touch input.  There is obviously a great deal of competition for improvements to operating systems and another area we are seeing big developments in is around increased security of data. 

The idea of technology is to simplify lives/work, not make them more complex so contactless technologies such as RFID, NFC and Zigbee are becoming more main stream as ways of collecting and interacting with data.  There are a lot of concurrent changes happening right now and any one of these could yield substantial opportunities. However I think the dominant force right now is customer feedback into mobile apps and the emergence of professional, enterprise mobility.

FSN: You also offer a range of in vehicle solutions… driver safety is a major concern for the field service industry currently, do you think dashboard mounted devices can potentially distract a driver and cause accidents? 

ID: This is actually solved pretty quickly and easily - screen blanking technology exists to ensure that a driver cannot be distracted by a docked unit while the vehicle is moving.  Likewise the technology is clever enough that should the same mounted device be needed to be operated by a front passenger and is swung away from the driver, full access to the device can be obtained maximising ‘appropriate’ productivity whilst mobile.  These are critical concerns as safety will always trump productivity.  At present we are seeing a lot of innovation in this area coming from the Field Service and EMS sectors specifically and we have learnt a great deal so far.

FSN: You personally have been involved in this industry for about a decade – what is the biggest difference between when you started in the industry and today?

ID: When I first started, enterprise customers would gladly spend several thousands of pounds per device for then, leading edge technology capable of and designed to do single and often simple, but important tasks.  Adoption by users though was challenging.  Limited computer skills amongst users meant the technology was reluctantly used in many cases, and required significant investment in training as part of the overall project. 

Today devices can do so many things and have so many technologies built in to them that you might think there would be greater reluctance to overcome, but probably the biggest difference now compared to 10 years ago is the rapid adoption of the technology by the users. Personal IT knowledge honed from using technology at home or in their smartphone on a daily basis not only helps them embrace the technology changes their employers are adopting but they are continually pushing their employers to adopt new technologies to improve efficiencies and productivity like never before.

FSN: You have worked with a number of leading hardware providers to the field service industries, including Motorala, Intermec, Honeywell. What was it that drew you to Motion Computing and what sets them apart from their competitors?

ID: Traditionally, the technology I had been involved with prior to joining Motion was very application specific.  With the adoption of Tablet technology in the consumer space and the desire for organisations to do more with a mobile device, the opportunity in this ‘new’ wave of point of activity computing was a huge attraction for me.  I say ‘new’, but for nearly 13 years Motion has been leading the development in computing for users who were standing or walking, so I was confident they had something good going on!  The piece that really made sense to me though was the range of peripherals that Motion brings to the table to specifically suit the Enterprise Field user’s workflow. 

To use one of my colleague’s phrases, “it’s not all about the tablet”, and that is where Motion excels.  From a hardware perspective, charging, mounting, carrying and storing mobile devices is key to user adoption, and corporate responsibility for the vehicle based mobile user is an ever increasing requirement that Motion has really stepped up to.  Providing complete hardware solutions that truly offer point of activity computing sets Motion apart.

With a fully integrated product across the two companies customers are set to benefit from one integrated contact centre solution based on Intelecom Connect and Verint Impact 360 workforce management Software. The offering is available in one flexible cloud-based deployment model.

Intelecom Group AS, a provider of cloud contact centre technology, have announced the availability of  Verint Systems's Impact 360 workforce management and optimisation software as a cloud-based solution integrated into Intelecom Connect. This follows the organisations commencing their relationship earlier this year in May 2013 and is impressive in the speed at which they have ben able to collaborate as well as the depth of the proposition. Adding to Intelcom's contact solution, Verint are prominently placed in a field they define as "Actionable Intelligence" solutions and their product line already includes a suite of award-winning workforce optimisation software as well as an analytics tool Voice of Customer Analytics.

The closer alignment of service to other divisions within an organisation is one that is often cited as a critical steep in moving from cost centre to profit centre, or at the very least in increasing efficiency and reducing costs simultaneously. Of course one of the most obvious and simplest divisions for alignment to the service centre in in many cases is the contact centre as often they fulfil many similar if not overlapping functions.

An integrated, cloud-based solution will help multi-site, multichannel contact centres capture a full range of customer interactions for quality, compliance and customer intelligence that can be used to enhance operations, improve performance and heighten the customer experience. It also opens the doors wide to operational transparency which is key to the successful operation of an efficient service division.

When we then add in the more standard service management-esque elemeents to the solution which can help organisations automate workforce management, including staff forecasting and scheduling, and the ability to track agent adherence, while providing performance management we are starting to see yet another example of the more holistic platform approach to software that Sergio Barata referred to in his recent feature .

Torkel Engeness, CEO of Intelecom comments, “An increasing number of our customers using our cloud-based contact centre are placing more focus on enhancing the customer experience. There are clear benefits in using a robust and well-known workforce optimisation technology, deployed in the same flexible cloud model as our core product. Verint, with its proven portfolio of WFO and VoC Analytics solutions, makes it an ideal partner for Intelecom.”

Nick Nonini, Senior Vice President Sales, Verint Enterprise Intelligence Solutions^™adds, “Verint is committed to working with select partners to deliver our portfolio of solutions in the cloud. Our customers and the industry at-large continue to recognise Verint as the market leader and innovator in deploying WFO applications in a variety of environments, from on-premises to the cloud. With this partnership, Intelecom’s customers have access to a fully-integrated, cloud-based WFO solution.”

Intelecom Connect is at the time of writing as close as any other offering to being the complete contact centre solution available in the cloud.  Of course the fact that it follows the SaaS model also provides a number of other benefits including being affordable to those companies for whom such technology may previously been prohibitively expensive to obtain.

The flexibility of the Connect application programming interface and Web Services allows seamless integration into third-party software environments. This partnership not only provides Intelecom customers with advanced workforce management technology typically associated with on-premise licensing, but also makes it available on an integrated in-the-cloud, pay-as-you-use basis from a single supplier. Offering customers flexibility in deployment, it also can help them meet their business requirements as they evolve.

Verint’s Impact 360 Workforce Optimisation suite enables organisations to capture, analyse and act on customer, business and market intelligence, and gain a complete multichannel view of customer interactions and experiences. Again the type of technology at the top of a lot of field service managers wish lists currently.

Using tools like this companies can identify opportunities to refine and enhance products and services; maximise information and workflow across functions; learn about competitive and other changing market dynamics; fine-tune internal business processes; enhance staff sales/service delivery; reduce operating costs; and realise new revenue opportunities. All extremely commendable in its own right.

Brought together these options certainly make for a compelling package and it's good to see such strong collaboration yielding impressive initial results.

Trimble Field Service Management's Aubrey Fox discusses the changing role of field service.

Contact information: 

Key Contact: Phillip Hoare, Head of Sales
Phone: +44 (0) 845 330 5757
Web: www.aeromark.co.uk
Email: sales@aeromark.co.uk

 

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Services Provided by Aeromark:

 

• Comprehensive modular Service Management System
• Service and Asset Management - Assets, Contracts, Warranty, Rates, SLA management
• Workforce Scheduling - Full roadmap for scheduling and optimisation from Drag and Drop to Fully Dynamic to fit your business process.
• Agile mobile apps for ePOD, Field Service Apps, Inspections, Surveys and other mobile data capture tasks
• GPS Tracking - From simple mobile tracking or fitted GPS tracking, to fully fitted enhanced telematics

 

 

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About Aeromark:

Aeromark is at the forefront of Service and Asset management, Scheduling, Mobile App and GPS tracking innovation since 1990.

Optimatics, is Aeromark’s smarter Mobile Workforce Management software designed specifically for service based businesses, to make managing a field based workforce as effective as possible. Optimatics comprises four individual modules; Service and Asset Management, Workforce Scheduling, Mobile Apps and GPS tracking. The four modules can be used independently in conjunction with existing systems or used as a whole where they are seamlessly integrated together.

Combined, the Optimatics modules provide one of the most powerful Service Management solutions available, delivering previously unattainable process improvements that enables businesses to make game changing decisions and achieve optimum efficiency.

For more information, please visit www.aeromark.co.uk or connect with us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/AeromarkLtd and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/aeromark

 

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Latest News from Aeromark

Aeromark, one of the UK’s leading Service Management Systems, has announced it has successfully completed a full integration of its Optimatics Service Management Software with Wolseley UK as part of its unique “Smarter Parts” module...

Read more here 

 

 

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More news from Aeromark here

 

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Contact information:

Phone: 0115 9460101
Email: sales@wheatley-associates.co.uk 
Web: www.workplanningsoftware.com

 

Services Provided:

 

• Scheduling Services
• Mobile Workforce Management Solutions
• Hosted Services

 

Company Bio:

Use Assign, from Wheatley Associates to plan the work of your mobile workforce, effortlessly ensuring the right person is sent to the right job at the right time, increasing your customer satisfaction, optimising your resources and reducing your costs.

Booking work

Assign guides you through the process of booking work directly onto the scheduler with an intuitive booking system, or you can use an existing call centre system interfaced with Assign to take bookings on the calendar.

As you select all the work required in a booking, Assign determines how many operative visits are needed to fulfil the complete booking. Customer service advisers can then offer appointment times based on an instant calculation of the availability of appropriately skilled operatives within the customer’s location. A clear warning is displayed if a lack of skills or availability may make it difficult to schedule the work.

An appointment date, a timeband within that date and even a precise appointment time can be chosen, providing maximum flexibility and service to the customer.

Scheduling

As work is booked, it is collated within Assign ready for accurate and efficient scheduling. Assign carries the details of all operatives, including their photograph, their start/end point, current location, skills, personal productivity and effectiveness. Assign uses the work and operative information to automatically calculate the most efficient distribution of work to the operatives, increasing productivity while also meeting appointment requirements, ensuring customer commitments are met fully.

The schedule screen graphically shows the work that has been allocated to each operative, along with their travel time. The status of each appointment is colour-coded and updates in real time, giving the user an at-a-glance view of progress.

Mobile Working

When used with our mobile solution, Assign extends its reach to provide a powerful field force information-capture solution. This combination ensures that customers get the right operative on the right job at the right time. Operatives are able to capture information for each job quickly and accurately, reducing errors and back-office overheads. Compatible with Windows Mobile, iOS, Android and BlackBerry.

 

Latest video:

 

 

 

 

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