Telenav Track and Sprint Help National Technology Deployment and Installation Company Improve Communication and Efficiency

SITUATION

Federated Service Solutions is the fastest growing national provider of technology installation services for the retail, banking and financial services industries. The company’s field service operations include 90 technicians who provide wiring and cabling services for Internet, phone, CCTV and security systems for some of the nation’s largest retailers.

CHALLENGE

Before implementing TeleNav Track, Federated Service Solutions had to rely on technicians’ personal wireless phones to contact them with job details and identify their whereabouts. This made the company liable for wireless phone charges, made monitoring their locations inefficient, and provided no paperless solution to communicate job details or track technicians’ hours. The company also had no way to get up-to-date job status information, compromising their ability to respond to customer inquiries and delaying notification of job completions.

SOLUTION

Federated Service Solutions turned to TeleNav Track to improve communication with technicians. With the GPS technology offered by TeleNav Track, dispatchers can log onto a Web site for technicians’ exact, real-time whereabouts. The system also enables dispatchers to transmit complete job details to technicians, ensure technicians are clocking in and out, and review complete, up-todate status information. Technicians also use the system’s navigation functions to get driving directions, which allows them to reduce their time on the road. Company executives appreciate other benefits including saving time on work orders, having clear, accurate evidence of hours worked, and saving money on fuel and vehicle wear and tear.

RESULTS

“We are very happy with TeleNav Track,” said Jennifer Ferris, Corporate Operations Analyst of Federated Service Solutions. “We like the fact that we can find out where technicians are at any time. It’s a big customer service benefit.” Ferris also appreciates that they can monitor technicians’ hours and revise customer estimates if necessary, benefiting the company’s bottom line. “Before TeleNav Track, we would only get a rough estimate of the hours technicians worked. Now we have factual evidence of technicians’ hours and can change the costs invoiced to the customer if we need to,” said Ferris. Federated Service Solutions employees are exceptionally satisfied with the system. “As with any system, it took time to get used to it,” said Ferris. “But now that they realize all the benefits the system provides, they welcome the change.”

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.

BlackBerry Solution Takes Work Out of Paperwork

"The ExpeData solution on the BlackBerry smartphone is saving our field personnel time and our office administrators can process work we’ve completed much faster."
- DominicD’Arpino, Project Applications Manager

COMPANY
OrthoRehab, Specialty Rehab Services by Otto Bock is a leading provider of specialty rehabilitation products and services including continuous passive motion devices, orthopedic bracing and other therapies.

CHALLENGE
Otto Bock wanted to automate the way field service technicians were completing paperwork while with patients. Handwritten documents were being faxed or delivered to the company, slowing down the efficiency of Otto Bock’s billing cycle and causing extra administrative effort.

SOLUTION
The company had been using the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution for three years. Their Sprint Nextel representative suggested they build on it with the ExpeData Digital Writing System. Using the application on their BlackBerry® smartphones, patient information and signatures are electronically captured and sent wirelessly over the Sprint Nextel network to company databases.

RESULTS
• Faster billing cycle
• Reduces administrative workload
• Saves time for field personnel
• No disruption to existing work process

Full Case Study: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/newsroom/success/ottobock.jsp

Landscape Company Sees $41k Increase in Revenues with Sprint and Xora GPS Solution

“ Measuring job costs and time billed down to the quarter hour is no longer enough. We needed a system that would enable us to track time down to the minute. We also wanted to cut down on time spent traveling between sites, so more customers could be serviced each day. Xora helps us to do both and plenty more. It is the backbone of our strategy to automate critical business processes.” — Nate Sandstedt, CFO at Landscape Design Services

CHALLENGE
Reduce liability issues and improve the processes of routing drivers, assigning new orders and responding to unscheduled orders.

SITUATION
Founded in 1968, Landscape Design Services is the largest full-service landscaping company in Western Michigan. The company employs over 125 professionals delivering landscape architecture, construction, and maintenance services to residential and commercial customers. Landscape services, like other professional service markets, is an industry focused around time and materials. A service provider’s ability to minimize costs and maximize profits depends on how it operates. With its thriving reputation, Landscape Design Services wants to continue to stay ahead of its competition by streamlining their business.

SOLUTION
Landscape Design Services began using GPS TimeTrack™, a mobile location workforce management solution from Xora, Inc. GPS TimeTrack runs on GPS enabled cell phones. Using the phone, field staff can punch in and out and record job statuses.

Data captured by the system is available in real-time over the Internet in the form of maps and reports. Because the phones are equipped with GPS receivers, Landscape Design Services' managers can track what its field staff is doing throughout the day, as well as where they are at any given moment.

As a result, managers know precisely how many hours each employee worked, the travel time between jobs, and how long it took to complete each customer assignment. This helps management accurately calculate payroll and to estimate the cost of existing and future jobs, which assists in the job bidding process.

Also, if an unscheduled order comes through, managers can quickly check the web-based maps and effectively dispatch the appropriate field workers to the job.

RESULTS
-- Landscape Designs is serving approximately 300 customers per week, as opposed to 250 before GPS TimeTrack was implemented; which translates to a $41,000 increase in annual revenues.

-- Field workers are spending 50% less time on overhead-related tasks, such as paperwork.

-- Increased accuracy of job estimates.

Reactrix Media Powered by Sprint and Sierra Wireless

“The Reactrix wireless solution is critical in building out our media network,” explained Reactrix’s Michael Harshfield, Sr. Director/VP, Customer Care & Supply Chain. “The Raven-E modems, coupled with AceNet software, allow us to see our installed systems right away; we can monitor, pull interactivity data and communicate with a system to change content immediately – making each system fully operational and able to generate revenue from day one.”

COMPANY OVERVIEW
Reactrix Systems, Inc., headquartered in Redwood City, CA, develops and markets innovative media solutions for advertising, retail, event and entertainment applications appearing in a variety of venues, including malls, movie theaters, office buildings, transportations centers and entertainment complexes. By combining digital image projection and visioning technologies, the company’s media system projects vivid, interactive, branded images that instantly respond to people who walk by or gesture over the display area, creating an immersive media experience that makes floors, walls and tabletops ‘come to life’. Today’s Reactrix Media Network has a monthly reach exceeding 100 million people in the top 25 US markets.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE
High-tech marketing firm Reactrix has technology that allows the company to project 6’ x 8’ advertising images onto the floors of public spaces in 30-second or 45-second increments. Consumers step on the images to interact with the ads, taking actions such as kicking a virtual ball, which then changes direction.

A turnkey Reactrix installation consists of a video projector, processor and visioning unit, mounting frame and a standard 6’ x 8’ display surface. Once installation is complete, advertising content is fed to the projectors and refreshed approximately every four weeks.

Originally relying on DSL or cable for their broadband connections, Reactrix was often forced to wait up to six weeks before installed units were visible on their network. This delay frequently led to a costly and time consuming process where field technicians were required to manually upload content directly to the system. Furthermore, Reactrix was dependent on customers to communicate equipment or content issues, as Reactrix had no way to monitor their systems to prevent downtime and possible loss of advertising revenue.

As their customer base grew, Reactrix began to see interest in their projection systems from suburban locations, where DSL and cable were not yet available. Due to the high cost of satellite service and lack of availability of high-speed landline connections, the best solution was to use affordable and ubiquitous 3G broadband cellular data connectivity.

AirLink SOLUTION
Reactrix needed a simple solution that allowed immediate connection to installed systems to enable content changes on-the-fly. Originally, their wireless solution came in the form of Sierra Wireless’ AirLink Raven Ethernet (Raven-E) intelligent wireless modem coupled with AceNet monitoring and maintenance software used on Sprint’s EV-DO Rev. 0 network.

As an innovative company, Reactrix is always interested in staying ahead of the technology curve. Therefore, as EV-DO Rev. A began to rollout in 2006, they decided to take advantage of the faster data transfer rates offered by the latest 3G technology. To realize these benefits, Reactrix turned to Sierra’s new X Platform networking devices, supporting EV-DO Rev A. The Raven X offers increased processing power and expanded memory and, like the Raven-E, is powered by ALEOS™ embedded intelligence, enabling remote configuration, packet-level diagnostics and network session persistence. The common platform of ALEOS allows a homogeneous use of Raven-E modems with Raven X modems without the need to change any parameters of connected systems.

Sierra brought in Feeney Wireless, a value-added distributor, to help Reactrix increase the efficiency and scalability of their solution. Feeney Wireless offered comprehensive integration support and helped Reactrix configure their solution for optimal efficiency. Feeney also provided Reactrix with coverage boosting accessories, such as antennae and custom cabling, and created kits for maintenance teams to test for coverage and signal strength at projection sites.

While Reactrix’s sensing and projection software are the brains behind their advertising system, it’s Sierra’s embedded operating system, ALEOS – the longstanding industry benchmark for reliable and feature-rich intelligence – that enables the quick deployment and management of the solution. ALEOS simplifies installation, operation and maintenance of any solution and provides the “always-on” and “always-aware” connection management required for unmanned applications. To harness the strength of ALEOS, Reactrix deployed AceNet, Sierra Wireless’ enterprise grade one-to-many monitoring and configuration tool. Tightly integrated with ALEOS, AceNet enables Reactrix to remotely monitor, control and manage each of their AirLink devices, greatly reducing the frequency of service calls.

Reactrix is now equipped with 24/7 monitoring through almost 200 Raven-E and Raven X devices implemented across their nationwide network. With AceNet, all of these modems can be monitored and configured on one worksheet, and instead of reacting to problems after being alerted by their customers, Reactrix can now proactively detect issues and fix them remotely or dispatch a field technician as necessary.

In addition to the simplicity provided by utilizing a single cellular resource instead of multiple regional cable/DSL providers, Reactrix benefits from immediate connection to newly installed systems. By eliminating the wait-time for a DSL or cable provider connection, Reactrix has reduced their solution deployment time from six weeks to just several hours, allowing them to start generating ad revenue right away. All connected projection systems are controlled from a central location, enabling Reactrix to refresh content anywhere on the network from their headquarters.

RESULTS
Reactrix’s wireless solution has provided the quick activation and content management capabilities needed to boost the potency of their media network. And with the demonstrated performance increases in speed and throughput, Reactrix plans to migrate all Raven-E modems to the Raven X platform that supports EV-DO Rev. A. Additionally, the wireless solution offers Reactrix new system monitoring capabilities that allow the company to record important interactivity metrics to use as an ROI sales tool to build their network of advertisers.

The Reactrix Systems solution deployment using AirLink’s Raven X and Raven-E network devices and the AceNet monitoring tool on Sprint’s cellular network produced the following improvements:

• Shortened cycle from installation to revenue-generation, enabling immediate monetization of the site, which translates to approximately $2,000 in increased revenue per installation.

• Eliminated wires, enabling a more portable solution and allowing equipment to easily be deployed for short-term opportunities (i.e., trade shows, special events, etc.). Special event installation costs have been reduced by approximately $1,000 per event (the cost of leasing DSL lines).

• Minimized potential revenue loss from downtime by cutting problem resolution time by 50% through remote monitoring and management capabilities offered by ALEOS embedded technology and AceNet software.

• Decreased cost of installation by eliminating need for landline connection to Reactrix equipment. Historically the most costly and time consuming part of the solution, the installation process has been reduced from weeks to hours and has translated into a cost savings of $2,000 per installation.

• Eliminated a dependency on DSL and cable by leveraging the CDMA nationwide footprint, allowing Reactrix to avoid landline installation costs and increase the size of their potential market to areas where DSL and cable are not available.

• Simplified service provider network with single connectivity provider.

• Improved relationships with customers through proactive system fixes and ability to support quick content changes.

• Provided measurable statistics for Reactrix to use as advertising sales tool.

ABOUT AirLink
AirLink Communications, founded in 1993 and acquired by Sierra Wireless in 2007, delivers award winning wireless data solutions that enable pervasive connectivity to fixed, portable and mobile assets. Its continued industry leadership is based on a proven ability to make wireless data solutions work. Powered by the robust embedded intelligence of ALEOSTM technology, AirLink's multi-tiered product suite is versatile, reliable and broadly certified on major wireless networks throughout North America making AirLink solutions ideal for a vast range of applications. These devices, together with AirLink's comprehensive set of best-in-class tools and utilities, and exceptionally strong working relationships with network operators, integrators and application providers, simplify the deployment and management of complex wireless solutions.