Summer 2006

A mobile application from Antenna Software has brought time savings and improved service to an equipment maintenance operation in Ireland

A field service operation that takes care of repair and maintenance of pub equipment probably sounds a natural application for a mobile data solution. In the case of Heineken Ireland, though, you might not have guessed that the company would base its solution on BlackBerry handheld email and phone units.

Heineken, one of the world's largest brewers, operates in more than 170 countries. Heineken Ireland's draught service division provides scheduled cleaning services, as well as a 'break/fix' service, to more than 8,000 pubs, restaurants and hotels that serve Heineken products on tap. Its field service organisation manages more than 22,000 installations.

In common with many companies running this kind of operation, Heineken decided that it needed an innovative field service solution in order to maintain the highest quality of service and customer satisfaction.

 

In the past, planned maintenance activities were entered up conventionally on a central system, and instructions were distributed manually to the appropriate field personnel. Completed paperwork was then returned, and each job was closed in due time.

After reviewing several enterprise mobility and field service solution providers, the company selected the A3 SmartClient system from Antenna Software, which claims it is the only comprehensive mobile solution that can link inventory consumption to service calls and delivery.

With this system, Heineken field technicians can access customer information wirelessly, providing a more responsive customer service and streamlining management of service enquiries. They can review the customer's history; order any parts; and update the status of the activity - all in real time. Paperwork that once took several days to update now takes just minutes.

The system runs on RIM BlackBerry 7920 and 8700 devices. The company chose BlackBerrys for various reasons. Ease of use is cited as one; another is the convenience of being able to provide field service engineers with a mature, easily supported platform for secure mobile e-mail and data synchronisation - with built-in support for Lotus Notes.

Another key factor was battery life. Because of the relatively low power demand posed by the compact BlackBerry hardware, it became evident that field service team's devices would easily last for the full working day without needing recharging.

As Peter Semmelhack, founder and CTO of Antenna Software, explains: 'While ruggedised devices such as the Pocket PC also provide good battery life for technicians in the field, these devices retail at upwards of £1,000 UK each.'

He says that by providing most of the team with Antenna A3 SmartClient on BlackBerrys, 'the company gained reduced cost of ownership and ease of use without having to compromise on battery life.'

The Antenna A3 system has also brought other benefits. For instance, it has made unplanned or 'break/fix' service activities and paperwork easier to manage. Urgent jobs are despatched to the appropriate field teams along with the needed information - reducing the number of calls to the contact centre for clarification or additional information.

In addition, field operatives can instantly assign activities to other business personnel associated with that customer account - for example, follow-up sales or technical support calls.

Heineken also uses Antenna A3 to help with updating and maintaining an inventory of installed field assets such as taps and coolers. Requisitions for replacement parts can be sent directly from the technician's handheld device. Some assets are valued at up to £500 each, and by tracking and managing inventory more effectively in the field, Heineken has been able to control costs more tightly.

Standards-based development

As Heineken's business processes change, its wireless solution changes too. In addition to the A3 SmartClient, Heineken is also using Antenna's A3 Studio - an open, standards-based application development platform - to customise, configure and maintain its mobile applications.

A3 Studio transparently supports a variety mobile device types, networks and back-end systems. It also offers the ability to update applications 'over the air', without compromising productivity in the field by requiring devices to be sent back to head office for updates.

By facilitating better communications between customers and employees (and thereby improving service performance and productivity), Heineken's hosted mobile field service solution has brought about real-time visibility and control of field operations performance in Ireland and around the globe.

The company says the results speak for themselves: more up-to-date customer records; faster service request processing (reduced from days to minutes); and increased customer satisfaction.