The Challenge

Tami4 needed to improve its call center by unifying and upgrading the terminals for managing technicians and installation personnel while improving customer satisfaction.

The system had to provide reliable and up-to-date customer data to technicians and installation personnel who are in the field most hours of the day, support their work processes, and report operational and financial data to headquarters. This had to be accomplished while significantly reducing the number of headquarters employees that support field personnel.

The Solution

Tami4 selected the solution of Mobideo, a company that specializes in the development of mobile systems for field personnel. Mobideo offered an integrated solution for all requirements: software for the terminals, server software, terminals, printers, integration services, and warranty for the entire solution.

The Results

Substantial improvements in all performance measurements set for the project:

- Significant increase in the number of calls handled by service personnel in a workday

- Decrease in the use of paper to a minimum – less than 1% of manual forms

- Decrease in the number of errors to 2%

- Substantial reduction in the time spent taking inventory – from 3-4 weeks to only 2-3 days

- 14 positions were cut back in the back office

Based on Mobideo’s off-the-shelf Service™ product and synchronization infrastructure, and the Psion Teklogix hand held devices,  the solution for service personnel significantly improved the work processes of technicians and installation staff. In turn, this led to a major improvement in the level of service to Tami4’s customers.

Raz Moscovich, IT Manager, Tami4: “Mobideo’s solution complied with all our requirements. Throughout the entire project implementation, they met all schedules. The system began operating on schedule, with no bugs, in strict adherence to both schedule and budget.”

Detailed Customer Story

The Challenge

Tami4 employs teams with approximately 110 service personnel (technicians and installers) throughout the country. They are responsible for installing and checking the integrity of the various types of equipment supplied by the company to both business and private customers. Since these representatives are the only ones that come in direct contact with customers, they are also responsible for customer satisfaction.

The company faced several difficulties:

Before implementation of the new system, Tami4 had two separate systems in operation: the first served installers and the second technicians

Due to the technical limitations of these systems, some of the data collected in the field was sent to the company’s headquarters manually on forms rather than entered into the terminals

No updates were transmitted from the terminals to the core system

Entering data demanded a great deal of organizational resources that led to a large number of errors

Technicians received their work plan by fax at the beginning of the shift; changes in tasks were made over the phone and demanded substantial coordination efforts that significantly increased the rate of errors

The ability to generate invoices in the field was limited, and not all details could be included in them

The system did not support inventory counts and updates

Managers were not able to respond in real time to events in the field as they did not have an accurate and up-to-date view of inventory status, location of field personnel, number of open events, work progress, and more

It was not possible to improve work processes as the data collected by the systems could not be analyzed for performance

Tami4 needed a solution that would respond to the above challenges, allowing the company to manage the inventory for its installers and technicians.

The solution implemented by Mobideo supports

 Bidirectional data provision in real time

Ongoing and accurate inventory management

Flexible updates of the work schedules and tasks of service providers

Collection of payments from customers (at their home or office) via credit card and/or check

Direct access to relevant data by field personnel, including customer history, devices under warranty, details of malfunctions, list of spare parts, and more

Full online view of the status in the field through a web-based system that enables managers to further improve service

Ability to process and analyze BI data to measure and improve service quality

Calibration of devices at the customer’s home or office using the supplied terminals and software

Mobideo – Integrated Service-Management Solution

Mobideo understood the business needs of Tami4 and worked together with the customer to provide a fully integrated solution consisting of:

 Mobideo’s Service™ software

WorkAbout Pro handheld terminals and Zebra mobile printers

Magma infrastructure

Service™

Adapted to the needs of field technicians, Mobideo’s Service™ stores essential information required to provide a response to field matters. The system also supports easy access to data and implementation of complex processes using the mobile unit.

The product enables service providers to receive, in real time, all the data they need to execute their tasks and provide professional service. At the same time, it enables the company’s management to monitor and control job execution in real time.

PSION WORKABOUT PRO

WorkAbout Pro is a rugged handheld terminal manufactured by Psion Teklogix. It features an advanced mobile modem for GSM/GPRS/EDGE, an integrated barcode reader, and a special hardware interface developed for Tami4.

WorkAbout Pro can work up to 12 hours without recharging, fully covering the entire shift of service providers with as many as hundreds of synchronizations per day.

Magma™ Synchronization Infrastructure

Mobideo’s Magma™ is a powerful technological infrastructure for the company’s Service™ solution. It provides a versatile and reliable platform for the rapid development, establishment and implementation of mobile information systems. Magma was fully adapted to comply with the needs of Tami4.

Click here for more information about Mobideo’s Guide™

Anytime, Anywhere, Always up to Date

The immediate result of this implementation was a significant improvement in output and service quality, and a reduction in operational costs:

Reduction in the rate of manual data entry from 15% to 2%

Decrease in the use of paper to a minimum – less than 1% of manual forms

Substantial decrease in the company’s expenditure in telephone calls

Repair of devices under warranty only

 Inventory synchronization and possibility to make stock orders from the field

Complete and updated view of the status of installations in real time by sales and field-unit managers

The solution further enables field technicians to work in a managed environment.

Raz Moscovich, IT Manager, Tami4: “Mobideo developed a system for technicians adapted to our specific needs. The link between the company’s headquarters and field personnel and the possibility to view in real time and online what transpires in the field enables us to make decisions in real time, and to better manage our tasks and inventory – all while significantly improving our customers’ satisfaction. As s result, our employees are happier, and our work processes are easier, more convenient, and more accurate.”

Talia Shindler, Information and Process Manager, Tami4: “Since the implementation of the system, the company’s headquarters obtain full and precise data about the work in the field – from an exact sample of a filter replaced to the time spent with customers for either routine or other jobs. Thanks to this BI data, we can define processes and policies and improve our service inside and outside the organization.”