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Customer Profiles: Energy South

Energy South, a utility gas company in Mobile, Alabama, found Datria Ticket Management to be a good way to improve efficiency in its mobile business practices. Alan Hobbs, Director of Customer Service, reports that the Datria solution saves Energy South money by making its field service workforce more productive. With Datria, workers use their voice and a phone for real-time access to Energy South's work management system. Field personnel simply call a central number and talk to the system to report their accomplishments and request their next assignment. The system speaks to the field personnel to give them the latest information they need to do their job. By changing from an old paper-based trouble ticket system to the Datria voice-enabled solution, Energy South's field crews can complete more trouble tickets each day. Energy South also saved overtime costs because the Datria solution creates a more dynamic scheduling system in emergency situations.

The Slow Way

Before Datria came on board at Energy South, the field service workforce used a paper system to open, track, and close out trouble tickets. Workers arrived at corporate headquarters each morning at 8:00am to receive their trouble tickets for the day. This process usually took about 45 minutes. The field crews then dispersed to call on their first customers.

After completing their first call, technicians would move onto the next ticket, quite possibly without closing out the first ticket. That led to latency issues. Real time data was non-existent. In the best case, the hand-written data on the tickets was entered into the corporate system when the technicians returned to corporate headquarters each evening. More likely, the information from the trouble tickets was not entered into the system for two or three days, much too slow for the company to act and react quickly to fluctuating demands for service.

On top of the paper ticket's inefficiency, Energy South had a scheduling system that couldn't cope with a changing environment. Being a gas utility company along the Gulf Coast, weather emergencies only add to the daily emergencies all gas companies deal with. Since paper tickets were handed out at the beginning of the day, a technician had to complete them all, plus handle any emergencies that might crop up. Imbalances in the workload inevitably led to large amounts of overtime work. Additionally, Energy South had soaring clerical costs, ranging from office supplies to clerical staff needed to print, distribute, manage, and re-key the paper tickets.

The Datria Way

Datria's voice solutions solved multiple problems for Energy South. First, Datria Ticket Management changed the way field service technicians start their day. Instead of reporting to corporate headquarters, Energy South now has "Home Base Reporting". All that's needed is a phone and a voice. A technician calls into the system at the beginning of the day, from home, and receives the first trouble ticket. This allows the technician to be on a job site by 8:00 A.M., rather than 8:45 A.M. The extra time translates into more customers served each day.

The cell phone also replaced the paper-based trouble ticket Energy South had relied on for so many years. After each ticket is completed, a technician hops into his truck, calls into the system using a cell phone, closes out the ticket, and receives instructions on the next ticket. Done. The Energy South Service Order Database is now up-to-date with real-time data, and the latency issues are null and void. That's the power of voice. In addition, a technician can tell the system the parts used on each ticket, thus speeding up the parts replenishment process. They can also record a .WAV file, the format used to store audio files on a computer, with comments on the specific ticket. It's as easy as dialing a phone and talking to a call center - except the call center is a computer.

Real Results

The speech solution provides results in many areas, most notably in the increased productivity in the field service workforce. No longer do the technicians have to report to company headquarters each day. They start the day at home, on the phone, getting their first trouble ticket. Home Base Reporting allows the Energy South field service technicians to complete an extra 1 1/2 jobs per day!

Speech has also reduced or eliminated data latency issues. Now, after technicians complete a trouble ticket, they phone in all the necessary information and the Service Order Database updates the order immediately. Now, supervisors know which technician is on which job in real time. They also know how much has been completed and what remains to be done at any time of the day. Supervisors can deploy their resources more efficiently and respond to emergencies more quickly, all without any paper. This has allowed Energy South to cut its response time to emergencies in half, from one hour to a half-hour's time.

This all leads to the decreased clerical support and office supplies costs. Since the Datria voice solution takes paper tickets out of the mix, clerical labor costs have decreased 50% annually. Those employees are now working in more productive areas of the business. Office supply costs have also plummeted 33% thanks to the use of a cell phone and the human voice.

Finally, because of the increased worker productivity, service revenues at Energy South have increased 18% annually. Fitting more jobs into one day equals increased revenue - it's as simple as that!

• Increase worker productivity
• 18% increase in service revenues
• 50% decrease in clerical labor costs
• 33% decrease in office supply costs

Real-time job status and parts data

"I had several people that were concerned about not getting paper orders, and worried about whether the voice system would understand them. Within ONE WEEK, most of them were closing out their tickets with no problem, using voice and the head up/hands free mode of data collection. Now, I don't think even the original skeptical employees would want to go back to the old way." - Alan Hobbs, Director of Customer Service, Energy South