April/May 2008

It is nearly two years since Innserve implemented its mobile workforce management solution. m.logistics gets an update

Innserve was set up in 2004 by Scottish Courage and Carlsberg, two of the UK's biggest brewers, who decided that a separate technical services company was needed to handle the work of installing and servicing drinks dispensing equipment in pubs and bars.

In 2006 Innserve implemented a mobile workforce management system from Aspective to improve the management of the workflow to its 300 internal technicians and 470 external ones.

The service management solution had to be integrated with the two separate call centres operated by the brewers. Both brewers has SAP ERP systems in place, but it was felt that Aspective's Service Hub could provide more focus and control of mobility and asset tracking.

However, the database was complex, containing data on pub closures, new bar openings and changes of landlord or manager. 'Brewers have a close relationship with their tenants, and it has been a question of building trust,' says Innserve's assistant development manager, Stuart McHenery.

So how has it been performing?

McHenery says that while the deployment has not been without hiccups, it is now working smoothly and has given the company sufficient control for it to be able to bid for other work. This includes one-off contracts with other brewers for, say, installation of new branded pumps. 'We have got better at capturing data from the call, and at prioritising work to comply with service level agreements.'

The basis of the operation has not changed, but there has been some fine-tuning. For example, the initial intention was to automate the scheduling process, so that calls could be allocated to the most appropriate technician on the basis of availability, location, expertise and the equipment needed to complete the job.

In practice, that has not proved practical. 'We soon had to switch off the automatic scheduling feature because it was causing too many problems. Many of our engineers are working in city centres and what looks good on a live scheduler, doesn't necessarily translate into the right solution for the traffic conditions.'

Now Innserve is operating a hybrid system that is part-automatic, part-manual. For example, it prevents the CRM people passing a job to an inappropriate engineer; and certain categories of call are excluded from the automatic scheduler and allocated manually.

'Essentially we now give the engineers a basic plan for the day or for following days, and allow them to micro-plan their movements themselves. They are aware of SLAs, and it gives then a degree of autonomy.'

One recent change is that all the engineers are now being equipped with Pansonic Toughbook CF-19s laptop computers. 'Engineers did have PDA-style devices, but the attrition rate was quite high,' McHenery says. 'However, the main reason we have switched devices is that we realised productivity was being compromised because engineers were having to switch screens constantly to get the relevant data.

'With a full-size notebook they can see all the data they need on a single screen. Although the Toughbooks are more costly initially, whole-life costs will be much lower, we believe.'

BOX: Innserve: 100,000 outlets

Innserve now manages the servicing and installation of dispensing assets at over 100,000 pubs, bars, hotels, restaurants and stadiums. The combined service business handles up to 400,000 maintenance calls and 70,000 installations per year. The company has a mobile field force of over 300 technicians of its own, and can call on another 470 technicians from external service providers. Among them they may be required to handle up to 30,000 maintenance calls in hot weather.

The operation also had to be able to cope with 200 parts suppliers and 3,500 part types. Six hundred parts requests are put in by technicians every week.