Geas Energiewacht, Kemkens, and Energiewacht Groep took the next step in automating the sales department and their field service working with Sigmax’s field service management solution. This enables the field service organizations to better respond to the changing needs of the customer and adapt the technicians’ tasks.
The three people responsible for the IT at the service organizations, John Huitink (Geas), Jitse den Bieman (Kemkens) and Remco Visser (Energiewacht Groep), explain how they have taken a step ‘forward’ and how they are preparing for the future with Sigmax.
“We operate in a rapidly changing world,” states Huitink. “Customers are continually demanding more when it comes to service and expect information online 24/7. The three companies operate in what has always been a traditionally conservative market. In recent years, changing customer demands have driven innovation. So it is vital to have a good supplier behind us. We have chosen a solution that will evolve with us and that is continually being developed,” says Visser from Energiewacht Groep.
Whereas ‘in the past’, the majority of the work consisted of traditional boiler maintenance, nowadays, there are a wider variety of tasks. Consider changing smart meters, maintenance to technical systems for housing corporations, including the right quality reports and performing safety checks. Business sets high demands on the service departments of the aforementioned companies. Sigmax played a crucial role in implementing the solution.
“The people at Sigmax want to know how our organisations work and their experience with other parties gives them an excellent grasp of the required working methods. The Sigmax consultant comes into the organisation and tries to familiarise himself with the working methods and culture as quickly as possible. The implementation was taken up by all parties, with our technical department and the Sigmax consultants,” explains Den Bieman. Huitink: “And let’s not forget acceptance by the technician. We continually consult with them as they have to work with it. Everything hinges on the technician’s acceptance.”
The rapidly changing world demands solutions that are completely reliable. “It is all about using mobile solutions to support the primary process. We cannot afford for 250 technicians to be standing still,” states Den Bieman. “The technology must be good,” adds Visser from Energiewacht Groep. “The supplier must be able to anticipate various developments. We were looking for a partnership and for a flexible system. It turned out that the field service solution from Sigmax could be completely configured as required and set up without specific customisation. It complements all existing business processes, which is important as each company has their own workflow and setup. And moreover, updating and rolling out the software is completely secure,” explains Den Bieman.
The solution’s flexibility is also evident in the implementation of an extra module for Geas Energiewacht. They maintain an extensive logistic stock. “At Geas alone we employ over 140 technicians. That is 140 ‘driving store rooms’. We can keep track of the stock in these vans using Sigmax’s field service solution and we then know that technicians will arrive at a job with the right equipment. This is one functionality that we needed to be live in production from day one,” says Huitink. The great thing is a that we see the organisations learning from each other and working together towards the future. “We have also recently started using this logistics module at Energiewacht Groep,” says his colleague Visser.
Everyone agrees that customer demands are increasing. The customers’ confidence in a supplier and their services plays a major role in that. Geas wants to provide customers with the best possible information and provide efficient services, also to guarantee continuity. For Geas, being able to generate invoices at the customer’s door was a priority. “The customer receives a clear list on paper of the required tasks and can pay at the door. These direct cost calculations save us a lot of time. It also provides higher customer satisfaction and more confidence in our organisation,” states Huitink. Both technicians and the service desk have a clear picture of the service history enabling them to identify problems with a system much quicker. Consider the location of a central heating boiler which the technicians can see on their device beforehand, potentially including photos of the location and the installation. “Our helpdesk can also access that information so that, if required, the technicians can receive on the spot support,” says Den Bieman. “That also provides time savings. We can see that we are increasingly moving towards data-driven working methods.”
Visser sees machine communication and Internet of Things concepts becoming a more common reality: “There is a continual stream of new techniques and security and privacy are gaining in importance. In the future, devices will be sharing more data enabling predictions of failures (predictive/preventive maintenance) and enabling systems to be read and managed remotely. As a service organisation we want to move with these developments and make use of the latest techniques.” Den Bieman is seeing this happen not only with the devices but also with products, platform and portals. With Sigmax, organisations choose a partner that enables them to work towards the future.
