Xora GPS Tracking and Sprint Help Appliance Company

"The time savings have been tremendous, but the biggest benefit to Xora is in the customer service. Prior to Xora, we could tell customers their appliances would be delivered that day; now we can say in a two or three hour window. Xora helps us to forward our mission of delivering good products at a great price, when the customers need them."
-- Jackie McCarter, Dispatcher at Allstate GES

CHALLENGE

Improve the process of tracking the locations
and job activities of delivery drivers and
appliance installers.

SITUATION

Allstate GES Appliance Inc. was founded in
1970 and quickly became a popular choice
for Arizona’s home appliance distributor /
installers. Delivery drivers and appliance
installers are based out of two different
warehouses in the Phoenix area, and travel
from job to job throughout the day. Allstate
managers had limited visibility into field
activities.

SOLUTION

In July 2006, Allstate began using Xora
GPS TimeTrack™, which runs on Sprint GPS enabled
cell phones, to improve the
process by which it tracks the location and
job activities of delivery drivers and
appliance installers. Drivers and installers
use the Xora application installed on their
phones to record when they arrive and
leave a job site by inputting job numbers
into the phones. As a result, Allstate knows
the exact amount to bill each customer.
From a drop down menu on the phonebased
Xora service, drivers and installers
also capture specific details about each job,
including any problems they encountered.
Using the phone's keypad, Allstate’s field
staff jots short notes, such as "concrete
was wet" or "site not ready for installation,"
that are available in real-time to office staff
in the form of web-based business reports.
Allstate has taken the process of field staff
data capture to a more advanced level by
incorporating JobPix™, a camera feature
provided by Xora. Drivers and installers use
cell phones to snap pictures of the job site
to attach with job information, so office
staff can view all relevant information all in
one convenient report. The combination of
pictures, job start/end times and job status
data provides Allstate management with a
comprehensive view of field activities.
In addition, the Allstate dispatching
department checks web-based reports 4-5
times a day to ensure that drivers are taking
the best routes possible.

RESULTS

-- Time savings of 50 minutes to two and a
half hours per day by cutting the number of
phone calls from the office to field workers
in half.

-- Reduced customer delivery time window
from one day to just two or three hours.

-- Automating timesheets and work order
management helps eliminate liabilities and
miscommunication.