The PDA-based solution is delivering significant benefits to Groundforce's Survey Technology and Piletec divisions, by reducing administration costs and improving the ability to resolve customer queries immediately.
 
Groundforce uses a combination of X Service and X Hire from Three X to manage the hire and service of specialist surveying and piling equipment to civil engineering and construction companies. The innovative service and hire management systems run on PDAs and fully integrate with Groundforce's G42 hire package. Since implementing the Three X solution, Piletec has dramatically reduced administration, paper-based document management and telephone calls. In addition, the company has the advantage of proof-of-delivery by capturing and transmitting customer signatures directly back to the back office system in real time.
 
The PDAs make light work of allocating jobs to field staff. There are three specific job types managed by the system: deliveries, collections and on-site servicing. These jobs are sent directly to the PDAs, with accurate details and instructions remedying any need to use paper notes or make several phone calls. In practice, jobs can be transmitted immediately to appropriate staff as soon as a contract is entered onto the system. This real time activity helps to maintain Groundforce's delivery of exceptional technology while underpinning excellent customer service.
 
With the Three X solution delivering full integration of real-time information there is no need for additional data entry. Tony Bastin, IT Development Manager, Vp Group, says: “Our old process was arduous, managing and even locating paperwork was very difficult as documents could be spread across several offices and engineers. Now with the Three X solution we can concentrate on customer service instead of expending our energy on administration.”
 
“When we set out to automate our Survey Technology and Piletec divisions we had specific aims in mind. We wanted to stop all unnecessary, unproductive branch administration and capture customer signatures for proof-of-delivery. We have achieved this with fantastic results. In the past we measured an average of 11 days to resolve proof of delivery queries, due to the administration required to locate and distribute paperwork; now we can resolve these problems immediately to everyone's satisfaction,” says Tony Bastin.
 
He adds: “We have an excellent working relationship with Three X. The team is very responsive and take care to listen to our requirements. When we took delivery of the PDA solution from Three X it worked right out of the box; all we needed to do was integrate it with our system. Three X made it easy for us and we look forward to extending this technology to other businesses within the group.”