By Malcolm Thom*
Saxon Hot Water Systems is a manufacturer of electric and solar domestic hot water systems. Saxon water heaters are sold across Australia and the company has service agents in every State. The company was looking for ways to provide quicker and more efficient customer service by directing customer service calls straight to a service agent, rather than through the company’s 1300 service hotline in the first instance and then onto an agent. Previously, internal staff would answer customer calls, and if it was related to an in-warranty product and required a service call, a service job would be entered into the company’s dedicated service database, printed and redirected by fax to a service agent.
The Saxon people worked out that if the service agent could submit the service call report data by the same facility that the serial number search was done, the double handling and processing would be eliminated. Service call history could be updated, the job number closed and payment approval issued – all in one step.
Saxon evaluated the suitability of both palm pilot type devices and the BlackBerry. BlackBerry® is a wireless handheld device combining phone, email, Internet, business data, messaging and organiser features – all from the one handheld unit. The BlackBerry was found to be the more robust solution, both physically for wear, tear and knocks, as well as being more user friendly and secure.
They then looked at the METAmessage software application for BlackBerry. The METAmessage application provides the ability for the service agents to conduct serial number and job inquiries as well as service call reports.
METAmessage is a unique suite of software that gives users access to virtually any data on their company network, from back office to front of house, using BlackBerry handhelds. This puts head office in touch with field personnel, and vice versa, quickly and seamlessly.
With the service agents now using BlackBerry and METAmessage, Saxon’s head office can quickly send job tickets to them. The status of jobs can be tracked wirelessly. Head office has an instant snapshot of where the field force is. On site, service agents can check product serial numbers and the warranty status of equipment being repaired.
Telstra offers a range BlackBerry handheld devices on both the GSM and CDMA mobile networks and works with third party developers to provide beyond email applications for organisations that want more than email for their field staff.
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Malcolm Thom is Marketing Manager – Wireless Data with Telstra Country Wide.
