Giving the ‘second oldest profession’ an upgrade

The ‘oldest profession’ is pretty well known and hasn’t changed much over the centuries. But what many people call the ‘second oldest profession’--the house call—has evolved quite a bit. Now it’s not doctors but other types of businesses making house calls: appliance repair and maintenance, computer service, even Joe the Plumber. Every day in the United States millions of field service technicians are making house calls, and the way they’re making those calls and managing those calls and profiting from those calls is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Smart phones and GPS devices and ERP systems have helped to make folks like the ‘cable guy’ easier to reach and easier to manage. But there are still problems. Having a smart phone is great, but only if it truly helps you do your job smarter. Having GPS to give you directions is wonderful. But only if you’re really the one who should be making that particular house call. And having an ERP system is fine. But if you’re still relying on technicians to fill out accurate and timely paper invoices, you’re wasting time and money.

There’s a new wave of technology that’s working to integrate all that gadgetry, eliminate costly errors, and turn those guys (and gals) making ‘house calls’ into thriving profit centers. It’s called Field Service Mobilization. And FieldConnect is one of the companies leading this technological upgrade of the ‘house call’.

FieldConnect makes a suite of products designed specifically to:

--Connect technicians by turning their mobile devices (PDA, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) into ‘house call’ management centers that can help them keep track of their time and orders and parts and even upsell services where it makes sense.

--Empower customers by giving THEM real-time access to service call information, and in some cases the ability to generate service calls themselves.

--Track an entire fleet of technicians—not only to make sure they’re not wasting gas by driving across town on a call, but also to make sure they’re not wasting time (or fudging about their time on the job).

The Mobile Revolution

Mobile computing is no longer a “nice to have” technology. Increasingly more powerful devices, faster networks and the ability to access web applications have made it possible for CEOs and CIOs to think more strategically when it comes to mobile solutions.

By Robert Hughes (Chairman/CEO), FieldConnect

September 26, 2008


We are very lucky to have been able to partner with some visionary customers over the last few years. These pioneering customers shared our vision for how a mobile solution could improve their business. These early adopters have been using our mobile solutions to maintain real-time communication between their field technicians and their main office ERP systems. Some have even combined our geo-location capabilities to track their vehicles, optimize their routes and generate reports that show mileage, gas usage, vehicle speeds and more. These organizations are uniquely positioned to outpace their competition and remain differentiated in a highly competitive economy. That makes me very happy because our customers took a chance on us and we were able to deliver on that vision. These technology pioneers knew that FieldConnect’s mobile solutions would eventually be mission critical and not just “nice to have technology”.

And guess what? It is going to get even better….

1. Powerful devices. 3G iPhones, BlackBerries, smartphones, Windows Mobile devices, laptop and tablet computers. From the beginning, our strategy at FieldConnect was to embrace every device. Why lock our customers onto one device when the world is changing so fast.
2. Faster networks. Recent investments in networks allow for much faster, more reliable communications.
3. Web enabled software. Very light on the device yet it gives you access to powerful software.
4. Location based services (GPS). We can leverage this rich source of data to enhance you business decisions…and reduce costs and liability.

The enterprise solution
We see a real opportunity for mobility to provide even higher returns when strategically deployed across the enterprise. Companies already have achieved many highly successful examples of this Mobile revolution.We have clients who receive new work order requests from their customer via our web customer portal. This request is immediately displayed on both the dispatch board at headquarters and on the supervisor’s handheld device. The dispatcher, whether in the field or at headquarters, assigns the work order to a field technician. That technician performs the service and closes the work order. The whole process can be tracked in real-time, and paperless, by the customer. The dispatcher can also track the technician’s location and assign the next work order by location or optimized route.

There are more succes stories to come...please keep in touch.

Robert W. Hughes is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FieldConnect, Inc. Mobilizing Service management for MS Dynamics and Sage ERP. (Solomon, Great Plains and Timberline).

Ensuring Customer Satisfaction - (Whitepaper Part 3)

This is an excerpt from the FieldConnect Whitepaper titled "Maximizing Profit with Field Service Mobilization". To download the full document please click here:http://www.fieldconnect.com/

Ensure Customer Satisfaction
What is the cost of losing customers or spending unplanned budget to keep existing customers happy? In today’s economy it is imperative that you retain your customer base in order to find new revenue opportunities from within as well as their peer groups. The impact of not ensuring customer satisfaction can be measureable and staggering:

- For every customer who bothers to complain, there are 26 others who remain silent.

- The average “wronged” customer will tell 8 to 16 people.

- 91% of unhappy customers will never purchase services from you again.

- It costs about five times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to keep an old one.

- Each one of your customers has a circle of influence of 250 people or potential customers who hear bad things about you!

Your field service organization is your first line of defense in the customer satisfaction department. They are in place to address problems if and when they occur; so the completeness and promptness of response will be a direct indicator of your level of customer commitment. An effective Field Service Mobilization solution can ensure the highest caliber of response as well as provide new opportunities for cross selling and up selling during each and every service call.

In today’s “information at my fingertips” world, customers also expect a level of self-service and web-based access to their status and service requests to mitigate the need for calling into an already over-taxed dispatcher. The difference between “best in class” and “average” service organizations is sometimes as simple as the level of offerings available for the customer to chose from as it relates to service level response expectations.

Aberdeen Report (Sept 2009) - Mobility for Service Organizations

FieldAccess Devices - TOPAZ Signature Capture

TOPAZ Signature Capture

(T-S460-HSB-R)

---

SigLite is Topaz's low-cost pressure-sensitive electronic signature pad. SigLite features all the high-quality biometric and forensic capture techniques of a SignatureGem tablet but with a low-cost touchpad and stylus in place of the active electromagnetic pen and sensor. The touchpad sensor is protected by an optional replaceable overlay for longer life.

Go to their Web Site - Topaz

ROI Analysis - Best Practices

ROI analysis is critical to understanding the value that technology can bring to you operations. The impact to all of the stakeholders needs to be fully understood and quantified. “Best practices” suggest that the best approach is to first understand the business process and work flows that drive the organization and then analyze the data to derive the ROI.

FieldConnect understands that for many organizations our solution will transform your business. We have created these ROI spreadsheets and diagrams to help you fully understand the impact and value on your business.

Step #1) BEFORE - Graphically capture all of the steps in your current work flow. Assign hours and personnel to each step.

Step #2) AFTER - Create a new diagram that illustrates the new work flow after the introduction of the FieldConnect technology.

Step #3) Input the data into the comprehensive Spreadsheet that we created that produces “hard dollar” information to help you make technology decisions. The spreadsheet gives you great “before and after” data that makes is easier for you to quantify the benefits. The following images illustrate a sample project.

The following images illustrate a sample project. Click on any image for the enhanced view.

Step #1 (Capture your current process)

Step #2 (Capture your "new" FieldConnect process)

Now input that data into our ROI spreadsheet

Financial Impact:

Cash Flow Analysis

Cost Avoidance

Time Impact

Click here for our ROI Spreadsheet