Overnite Express Delivers Competitive Advantage with Sprint Palm® Treo™ Smartphones Protected by OtterBox Cases

Case Overview

Overnite Express is a regional express carrier serving California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. Having grown to almost two million deliveries annually, the company sought an innovative and robust solution to replace its existing dispatch and delivery technology. The customized Palm® Treo™ smartphone solution gives Overnite Express the distinction of being the first express carrier to visually record the location of a delivery.

Using Palm smartphones powered by Windows Mobile® and enclosed in rugged OtterBox cases, drivers have an interactive, durable solution to scan bar codes, capture electronic signatures, and immediately transmit photos and other delivery information to the company's website right through the case. The time-saving solution gives Overnite Express a competitive advantage and a projected annual savings of $30,000 in equipment alone.

Challenge: Upgrade delivery solution with durable, cost-effective tools

Steep demand for its express delivery services has helped fuel the growth of Overnite Express. With deliveries at close to two million and growing, the company needed to reengineer its dispatch and delivery technology. Overnite Express sought to build a solution which would set it apart from its well-known competitors.

The company faced:
-- A scanner which took up to 6 seconds per scan and did not prevent drivers from loading the wrong packages onto their trucks.
-- A proof of delivery (POD) component which required drivers to manually key in recipient's name.
-- Paper manifests of recipient's signatures; retrieving POD's required employees to dig through file boxes.
-- Fragile delivery devices that were expensive to replace.

Solution: Innovative custom applications for dispatch & delivery

According to Shane Lougheed, Overnite Express' VP of Systems and Technology, "We were looking for a way to stand out in a competitive market, so we thought about how cool it would be to take a picture of deliveries that were left without a signature." Overnite Express chose Treo smartphones, combined with protective OtterBox cases and integrated Socket scanners. The smartphones, running Windows Mobile, directly connect to the company's Microsoft® Exchange Server.

The solution includes:
-- Treo smartphones with embedded cameras to photograph packages left on the doorstep when signature is not available.
-- Custom dispatch and delivery applications built using Microsoft ASP.NET.
-- Protective device covers from OtterBox built to survive the rugged delivery environment.
-- Socket scanners and a fool-proof interface speeds scanning time and prevents drivers from loading packages outside their delivery area.
-- Electronic signature capture, transmitted in near real-time to the dispatch system for customer access.

Benefits: Cost-effective solution provides competitive advantage

Overnite Express' innovative solution is improving efficiency, lowering costs, and increasing the quality of service. With over 200 drivers using the solution, shaving up to 5 seconds off of every scan represents a considerable labor savings. Furthermore, Overnite Express stands apart from their competitors as the only delivery company to provide visual evidence of a delivery when there's no signature verification.

Other benefits include:
-- Near real-time communication of delivery information, available via email or the company's website, provides customers with immediate updates.
-- Custom solution provides drivers with delivery instructions, significantly reducing delays.
-- Estimated annual device replacement savings of $30,000, based on industry standard 10-15% damage rate.
-- Devices connect to Exchange Server 2007 for more secure access to delivery information.

As an added benefit, drivers have eagerly embraced the new solution. "Drivers feel empowered by having the devices. If there's any discrepancy about whether a delivery was made, the Treo lets the drivers prove that they did their job. They have a photo of the package, placed neatly at the front door, right next to the recipient's potted plant on the front porch," said Lougheed.

Agilis and Sprint Help HVAC Company Save $2M Annually

“Field Technicians now have all the information they need right at their fingertips such as customer address, job details, and pricing. Information is in real time and is very accurate. We have seen amazing results with Agilis.”

- John Barbahen, Programmer Analyst,
Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning

COMPANY OVERVIEW
Four Seasons Heating & Air Conditioning of Chicago is the country’s largest privately owned HVAC company. They are the largest independent Lennox Dealer in the United States.

CHALLENGE
During the air conditioning and heating seasons, Four Seasons can be hit with over a thousand service calls a day. These surges in service calls caused many problems such as inefficient work order dispatch, delayed field updates, excess paperwork in the field, and held up invoicing as much as 3 weeks from the time of service. Multiple calls had to be made to the service technicians to inform them of changes or updates to work orders. Paperwork that was filled out in the field took days or weeks to be hand entered into their back office system. Prior to engaging with Agilis Systems, Four Seasons had tried three other Mobile Resource Management applications without success.

SOLUTION
Four Seasons integrated its existing back office AS/400 application with Agilis to create a seamless solution for its mobile workers and office staff. The entire integration took only 5 days. Four Seasons created multiple forms using SmartFORMSTM for its Sales & Service/Repair departments eliminating the need for paperwork in the field. These customizable forms help capture current data in the field on their Palm Treo 700Wx. The information is transmitted in real-time back to their office where it is integrated into their billing system. Sales orders are also captured by the sales people via SmartFORMS for faster order processing.


RESULTS
Four Seasons has seen outstanding results after integrating with Agilis Systems. They have decreased their time in obtaining data from the field into the office by over 4 days. Due to real-time transfer of data, the process is now instantaneous. They have improved their billing cycle on average by 1 week. Now invoices go out the next day and cash flow has increased tremendously. They have reduced operational costs at the office and increased productivity in the field by reducing the time spent filling out paperwork. They have an estimated annual savings of $2,000,000.

Xora and Sprint Save City of Chicago $3M

"We now have a visual representation of CDOT field activities, as they happen, that simply was not possible before Xora GPS TimeTrack™ was implemented. The combination of new procedures for field operations management and Xora GPS TimeTrack has been a significant improvement in response times to 311 requests and a savings to the city of more than $3M for pothole-related incidents alone. Generally speaking, CDOT field staff is more accountable, efficient and productive, and managers are making decisions faster and more accurately, thanks to Xora."

— Brian Steele, spokesperson for the City of Chicago Department of Transportation


BACKGROUND
The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is responsible for city street, alley, sidewalk curb and gutter construction; bridge maintenance; public way inspections; signs and pavement markings; planter and median maintenance; bicycle and pedestrian programs; and ground transportation planning. Several dozens CDOT office and field staff respond daily to service requests that come in through the city’s 311 non-emergency services center. CDOT would like to improve customer service; reduce liabilities; and gain better insight into their field workers’ daily activities and locations.

SITUATION
In 2007, CDOT responded to 39,203 service requests, up from 24,157 in 2006. Faced with the increased volume of citizens calling 311, CDOT needed a more efficient solution for managing field staff. The primary method of tracking and dispatching field staff was calling their cell phones or waiting for them to return to the office. CDOT did not have a way of locating field staff and had difficulty responding quickly to 311 calls.

SOLUTION
As part of operations reorganization, CDOT began using GPS TimeTrack, a software application that runs on GPS-enabled mobile phones carried by 480 CDOT foremen and more than 80 consultants, who use the application to record timesheet and job status information from the field. Meanwhile, office staff can access web-based maps and business reports that show the locations and job activities of field staff throughout the day.

In addition to using the Shift Start and Shift End functions, CDOT hot-asphalt workers are using the “Job Start” and “Job End” to indicate when they arrive at and depart from the job. CDOT now knows precisely how long it is taking each team to load and unload their trucks. They are also piloting a project that will allow public way inspectors to record the specific task they are
performing and what is the task’s outcome.

RESULTS
Since deploying GPS TimeTrack, CDOT has dramatically improved customer service by responding to 311 requests more quickly. For example, the number of days to respond to citizen calls to fill potholes has been reduced from 20 days to 3 days. As a result, the city has seen its liability costs for pothole-related incidents reduced from $4M to $600K.