At AM Fire & Security Systems we are always looking for ways to work smarter.
A key area of my daily work is job scheduling. This is a mix of regular service visits, repair maintenance, installation work, surveys on new jobs, and emergency calls across all of our system types (fire, intruder, access control, CCTV, electrical and gates & barriers). With so many engineers and jobs distributed across Scotland, communicating with everyone can take up a big part of my day. It’s so important that the customer is available to give access to the building and we try to avoid making anybody have to wait for us.
But the reality is that a job might involve extra time to complete, or, as is very often the case, there are road works, traffic jams or accidents. Customers get anxious about when the engineer is going to arrive and the engineers can’t say how long they will be because they simply don’t know what is ahead of them.
When Paul suggested we take a look at TomTom, I was a bit unsure that a new layer of technology would really deliver an actual improvement to my daily scheduling marathon. Looking back, I have to laugh, because TomTom has delivered so much more.
As all our vehicles have a TomTom device, and I have a fabulous 30″ monitor, I can see at a glance what jobs are in progress. When I schedule the next job for a particular engineer, I know when he has completed the previous job and commenced the next one. This sounds a bit simple, but TomTom is collecting the engineer’s timesheet electronically as the day progresses. Not only that, but we know very accurately each of the travelling times between jobs because it is based on real time traffic information and fastest most direct routes. So, my contact with the engineers has become outgoing text messaging and incoming data I can view on my easy view monitor. Just a glance now and then, a text message and a phone call to the customer. It is much less engaging but much more effective.
Of course, there are other benefits besides improving customer service. Yes, money savings. We buy our fuel at the best price within our geography, and we travel between jobs on the most direct routes -cheaper fuel and less miles!
I can definitely say that TomTom helps to keep our customers informed, our engineers on schedule and my stress levels down!
Mandy Jensen
