Services & Solutions from Itronix Itronix offers a number of products and solutions that will enable you to manage the logistical challenges of a distribute field workforce, as well as realize increased revenues, increase service response rates, and decreased labor costs. Enhance Customer Service. In today's customer environment time is money and real-time field access to back office systems is critical to optimal productivity and job performance. With Itronix world class wireless integration, no longer is a technician constrained by having to find dial tone or an Ethernet drop to update a job or request a mechanized line test. Wireless offers mobility and connectivity and enables you to meet customer commitments. The freedom to access work assignments on site or from a vehicle based hub reduces drive time and lags in the timely update of job information. In addition, real-time updates allow you to monitor work assignments to ensure that technicians arrive at the customer's premise to complete work requests within required commitment timeframes. Exceptional customer service reduces customer churn and impresses oversight agencies such as utility commissions. Increase Productivity. Couple wireless connectivity on a fully bundled platform with total work force technical support and you have an ideal combination for increasing productivity. Eliminate drive backs and return trips to the central office, and enable active pushing of dispatch assignments to your dispersed work force. In addition, when the technician experiences device problems or has technical operation questions, Itronix' award winning iCare Services are there to resolve the situation quickly. Productivity increases as non-productive activities and downtime are eliminated. Implement Work Force Management. When it comes to mobile work force management, information is power! Optimizing the deployment and work schedules of your work force is a key aspect of workforce management. There are others like redirecting work force members in real time in response to unforeseen circumstances, shortening cycle times, capturing accurate job metrics, accurately measuring employee performance, etc. Improve Operational Accountability. With GPS-based location information and extended enterprise application connectivity you have the elements necessary for near-real time operational accountability. These elements provide the "feedback loop" that empower you to monitor what is happening where and when it is taking place in a near-real time manner. Cut-to-Clear (often called a Line Station Transfer), NTF, and no access situations now become apparent and potentially resolvable. This results in improved accountability by all involved parties. Perform Asset Management. There are multiple levels to asset management. The most obvious is monitoring the status of deployed assets. Often overlooked, but just as important, is the management of how those assets are used. Via the use of mobile connectivity policy management tools, you can determine and enforce asset usage practices. These practices can ensure your work force is using the most economical connectivity channels, that they are using their connectivity for job-related purposes only, and that their connectivity is always available and uninterrupted when needed. Ensure Compliance. Compliance is a multi-layered challenge. Not only is there compliance with internal work directives but compliance with local, state, federal, and even contractual directives to be concerned with. For example, work force safety standard compliance is just one of the myriad of compliance issues. With rugged, mobile work force connectivity you can monitor, receive and verify in a timely manner that compliance items are being addressed. Increase Revenues. With the increase in field productivity, operations efficiency and effectiveness, customer service and quality, you can realize greater revenue retention and growth. Fully functional workforce automation systems enable specific customer appointment commitments, very low incident and reporting rates, two hour MTTRs, and most of all, delighted customers. With delighted customers and the time savings already captured, you can turn your strategic asset (the field force) into a potent sales channel, or at the very least, a source of leads. Employee Development and Safety. Rugged mobile computing platforms enable on-location training, tracking, and certification, permit OSHA compliance monitoring (if coupled with GPS), provide online access to intranets and electronic distribution, enable near-real time MTR and performance metric data reporting, and facilitate remote access to internal business and operations systems. Application Examples—A Tale of Two Telcos Itronix has extensive experience assisting communications providers achieve highly efficient, cost effective operations. The following examples describe the experiences of two of the many communications providers with which we have teamed. We've changed the names of the companies; otherwise, all details presented here are factual. Implementing A Complete WFM Solution. Telco Number One recognized the advantages of a Work Force Management (WFM) solution and undertook its first deployment in the early 1990's. Since that time this company completed several mobile computing platform and automation support rollouts including: Between 1992 and 2000 it deployed over 8300 rugged laptops to its POTS workforce. In conjunction with these hardware deployments, Itronix wrote, maintained, enhanced and continuously supported Telco Number One's mobile application. Additionally, the Itronix Services group developed and delivered custom training for all field technicians. In 2000, Telco One expanded its automation efforts by deploying 1000 rugged laptops in its Central Offices (COs). These laptops were connected to existing host system via a custom CO mobile application and communications plan. Also during this same time period, Telco Number One deployed 1600 rugged laptops for use by its PBX Repair work force. Itronix trainers delivered course material on: Windows, hardware maintenance, the application and Telco Number One's Methods, Procedures and Policies as it related to the new operating environment. During the training, Itronix performed the vehicle installations required to support the new rugged notebooks. Lastly, in 2003, Telco One contracted with Itronix to provide Tier One Help Desk Services that enables POTS technicians throughout the US to call Itronix to get support on any issue related to their field device and the applications running on it. In summary, by teaming together Telco Number One and Itronix successfully deployed, maintained, and evolved Telco Number One's field automation solutions to a variety of work groups with different work environments. Telco Number One has increased its operational efficiencies and decreased its cost of operations as a result of these initiatives. Proving Long Term Return on Investment. Telco Number Two applied automation upgrades to several areas of its operational workforce. It began its efforts in 1992. Since that time, Telco Number Two deployed three successive generations of Itronix product including: To equip its POTS workforce with mobile dispatch, in 1992 it deployed over 900 handheld computers. Thus, Telco Number Two was the first North American Operating Telephone Company to deploy wireless connectivity to its field forces in volume Telco Number Two upgraded its work force automation tools to a second generation platform by deploying 1100 computers. A large portion of these computers included integrated CDPD radios. Telco Number Two modernized these devices with 1,050 GoBook computers in Q1 of 2000. All of these devices were equipped as well with CDPD radios. Telco Number Two developed techniques for assisting the field force in leveraging wireless connectivity including: providing a browser but focusing field access to only certain sites, converting sites frequently access to text-only formats to speed information exchange, and creating management and administration policies to make certain field communications were focused on company matters. In conjunction with these operational deployments, Telco Number Two's management and executive staff determined, via a highly structured study, that non-rugged devices (even though they were less expensive to buy) would be more expensive to supply to a field technician working in a harsh environment (evaluated Total Cost of Ownership). Telco Number Two fielded commercial notebooks and tracked their failure rates and repair costs and compared them to the rugged Itronix devices. Clearly, the rugged devices showed a lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). In summary, Telco Number Two pioneered the deployment of mobile dispatch and continues to perfect the use and management of this valuable mechanism. Telco Number Two proved that in the long term, rugged mobile computers have a lower TCO than commercial computing platforms. These two examples are just a sampling of the collaborative undertakings between communications service providers and Itronix. From this discussion you can see that Itronix has the experience and expertise to provide complete, lasting solutions that provide you with high returns on your investment. Why Itronix? THE ITRONIX DIFFERENCE Wireless Integration and Creative Solutions From a communications provider perspective, one of Itronix’ key advantages is its wireless integration expertise, which includes a comprehensive offering of wireless mobility solutions that provide mobile workers with ubiquitous and roaming wireless coverage, as well as a comprehensive set of hardware platforms designed to allow seamless upgrades as new wireless standards emerge. Itronix has shared its wireless workforce support system integration expertise with numerous communications providers whose requirements push the limits of traditional wireless mobile computing. Award-winning iCare® Integration and Support Services To ensure end-user satisfaction and provide communications companies with a single-source for project consultation, service and support, Itronix can provide comprehensive pre-deployment consultation services and end-to-end life cycle support programs, which include: Project management Mobile system design Application development Wireless consulting Implementation Training Gold disk image management Asset and network management 4-tiers of help desk support Itronix provides in-field support provided by a network of Field Service Managers whose expertise focuses on specific vertical applications and industries. Strategically located to provide nationwide support, they can provide both first level and escalated customer support. In addition, the Field Managers perform regular site visits to receive feedback on customer satisfaction, training or individualized support needs, product performance and future value-add post-installation support needs to support anticipated changes in the customer environment and user community or profile, as well as to garner input on future product designs. The Bottom Line = Total Value