Savage Consulting has been providing computer-related products and services since it began in 1999. It has grown every year since its inception, and with that came an ever-increasing demand on the time of Bob Savage, founder of the company. In mid-2004, Bob began seeking a product that would enable him to conduct business in a more efficient and effective manner while continuing to provide superior customer service.

The company began as a one-man operation, and as such, managing the business was fairly easy. However, as employees were hired and business increased, problems quickly developed, primarily in the areas of inventory control and accounts receivable. A process needed to be implemented that would address these concerns as well as the overall operation.

In the beginning, each day started with a telephone call to the technicians to advise them of their schedules for the day. Then, while servicing customers, the technicians would record notes about the services rendered, the parts used, and the amount of time spent at each customer site. At the end of the day, they would use the Internet to complete online forms to enter complete information about each service call. Discrepancies immediately arose when the technicians failed to enter all of the items used and customers questioned the time spent on the job versus the time billed. In addition, the task of completing the forms was not always timely. As a result, the data entry process of creating the invoice and mailing it to the customer often did not occur until a week after the work had been completed. The lengthy turnaround in accounts receivable was unacceptable.

When it became obvious that the online process of completing forms was not working, it was combined with an old-fashioned, paper-based system. The new procedures were quickly implemented and included having the customer sign off on the technician's time while on-site. However, the same problems as before remained. Information about the services rendered was still not entered on a timely basis and inventory items were still overlooked. Double and triple data entry was not only non-productive, it was delaying the entire accounts receivable process. Bob knew he had to eliminate these issues.

Implementing "Service Call"

In September 2004, Savage Consulting implemented Service Call, a complete package for service-related industries that consists of desktop and mobile software for Windows Mobile devices. With this field automation tool, productivity in the field increases and data entry is reduced through Service Call's synchronization with QuickBooks. This easy-to-use product streamlines a company's entire operation from dispatcher to technician to accountant.

With the Scheduler component of the program, appointments and estimates are created on the primary computer in the office and then synchronized to each of the handheld devices. This tool alone eliminated the need for calling technicians each and every morning to advise them of their schedules.

In addition, a work order was attached to the appointment that identifies the items needed to complete the job. After synchronization, these items appear on the customer's invoice on the handheld. This feature provides a much-needed inventory control process, which previously resulted in a significant amount of lost revenue due to non-invoiced parts.

Figs. 2 & 3: Service technicians used Service Call's mobile component to view their daily appointments (left) and create or access a summary of the products or services they will be providing to the customer (right).