Case Studies

At Datria we have nearly 70 customers, the great majority of whom are using voice recognition technologies to communicate with mobile field technicians.

For more detailed information, select a customer case study at left.

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!

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

Bell Canada uses Ticket Management in French and English to reduce transaction time by 50%.

"We estimate that we save $10 to $15 million per year compared to the old laptop system.” — Bell Canada

When looking to improve communications with its field service workforce, the largest telecommunications provider in Canada decided speech was the best answer. Bell Canada, an early advocate of voice-enabled applications, now utilizes one of the most sophisticated voice-enabled field service applications in the world. Nearly 3,000 Bell Canada field representatives use Datria Ticket Management™ to perform more than 20 business functions, using only a voice and a phone.

Single-line and small business telephone technicians within Bell Canada previously relied on laptops to perform the same functions. By and large, the laptops fulfilled the functions adequately. Unfortunately, they were also expensive and inefficient. Each machine cost over $4,500 including maintenance costs. Additionally, computer glitches like long waits for boot-up and connection, screen damage, dead batteries, and broken modem clips made the solution unreliable. When the laptops didn’t work, neither did the technicians

With Datria Ticket Management, Bell Canada’s field representatives now use a telephone to talk directly to the company’s existing workforce management systems. Technicians simply call the system and begin speaking – in French or English. Datria responds in the same language. Technicians can work with trouble tickets, and retrieve or report information on customers, billing, parts, time and attendance, or vehicles. Ticket Management converts their voice to data and updates the appropriate backend system. Ticket Management then “reads” the backend system, converts the data to voice, and speaks it to the technician. Technicians need to use only their voice and their ears.

The path to a voice-enabled solution was not always clear, however. Bell Canada initially approached the problem with a traditional data processing framework. As Serge Lafleur, the General Manager for Customer Operations/Ontario East, explains: “We already had the applications running on our laptops. At first we thought we simply had to put a voice prompt on every field in each application. Datria helped us understand how to design a true voice application. Voice is different than traditional GUI-based applications. It’s not harder; it’s just different. Once we understood that, we moved very quickly.”

Today approximately 2,100 technicians use Ticket Management during the winter months. As activity increases in the spring and summer, the number rises to approximately 2,900 technicians. Previously, Bell Canada had to buy laptops for the maximum number of users. A significant number of those systems went unused for six months a year. Today, the company simply turns on additional phone ports as demand rises. When demand falls, the company turns those same ports to other uses.

The Datria system has also boosted productivity, primarily by recapturing lost time. With the laptop system, it took technicians an average of 20 minutes to log in and report their work. With Datria Ticket Management, it takes only 8 to 10 minutes. Technicians are expected to call in after they finish each trouble ticket. Depending on the number of tickets closed each day, technicians can recapture as much as 70 minutes of lost time per day.

The main benefit of the system, however, is cost reduction. As LaFleur notes, “We estimate that we save $10 to $15 million per year compared to the old laptop system.”

Encouraged by the results with single-line and small business installation, Bell Canada rolled out Ticket Management to its coin technicians — the field technicians that repair payphones. Within a few weeks of deployment, the coin technicians could complete an extra job per day because of the time they saved managing tickets. For Bell Canada, that’s a compelling business case for voice self-service for field operations.

As Lafleur says, “Speech provided us with the independence we were looking for, without removing the business function that the technicians need. The PDA solutions we looked at didn’t give us the independence and low cost that we wanted. With Datria, it’s as easy as speaking into a phone.”

Business Benefits

Thin Client Benefits

Giving CRM and Field Service a Voice

Operations Managers are faced with a serious challenge—how to effectively communicate important real-time information to large populations of mobile workers. Sales professionals need access to contacts, sales forecasting tools, product information, and ordering systems. Field Service Technicians need access to work order management data, time reporting, and parts ordering systems. Not only do these workgroups need to be able to query the intelligence housed in the PeopleSoft CRM application suite, but they often need the ability to manipulate and enter data from the field as well. To address this communications challenge, companies frequently create a myriad of solutions ranging from faxed paper forms, to internal call centers, to wireless PDA and laptop-based mobile applications to get information to and from the field.

Using state-of-the-art speech-recognition from Datria, companies now have a better option for communicating this information to their mobile workers. By integrating Datria's speech application platform with PeopleSoft's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions, mobile professionals can, for the first time, use simple and intuitive speech commands to interact via the telephone with their PeopleSoft applications.

How Does it Work?

Datria’s technology is a standards-based Speech platform incorporating best-of-class speech recognition, text-to-speech, telephony, and specific applications designed to help PeopleSoft CRM customers quickly and easily deploy and support speech applications. Datria's technology is widely used and is the most deployed speech interface for enterprise information systems, with tens of thousands of users accessing information daily using technology from Datria Systems.

To use the system, your mobile workers simply access the speech solution from any telephone (cellular, wire line, etc.). Voice-print driven biometric security ensures that your company’s sensitive data remains in the hands of your employees. Depending on the applications deployed, mobile users have complete access to any number of data sources within the PeopleSoft CRM suite. A friendly voice guides the user through the various tasks of updating service tickets, placing orders, reviewing customer contact information, scheduling follow up activities, and time reporting.

To understand how a user might interact with the Datria system, consider the following scenario:

Bill, the account manager is traveling to meet a prospect. While driving, he connects to the Datria system using a hands-free microphone on his cellular phone. After securely identifying himself to the system, Bill can review his past notes on the customer, confirm the address ,and check the status of any current orders from the customer as well as query the HelpDesk system to determine if any outstanding issues exist for his prospect. After his meeting, Bill calls the system again and updates his calendar to reflect a follow-up meeting, updates the forecasting tool to add probability and opportunity information, and sends an e-mail to his regional manger requesting follow-up on an issue raised during the meeting.

Using Datria's voice interface to the PeopleSoft CRM product suite, all of this is possible by just speaking out a few simple voice commands.

Solution Benefits

Deploying a Datria speech interface to a PeopleSoft solution affords companies immediate benefits in the areas of operational efficiencies, cost reduction, and worker safety as well as longer-term enterprise benefits including increased customer satisfaction, reduced billing cycles, and other areas where accurate and timely information from the field can impact business operations.

Operational Efficiencies

A speech interface to your PeopleSoft CRM suite allows your company to offer real-time access to important customer and service information from any telephone at any time. By deploying a speech application, companies can dramatically reduce the on-hold times associated with internal call centers and eliminate the confusing and limited touch-tone menus found on traditional IVR systems. Eliminating the inefficiencies of paper-based and live call agent environments means that mobile workers can focus on satisfying the customers and not on time-consuming data entry tasks.

Cost Reduction

Speech-based applications provide a cost efficient alternative over other traditional mobile solutions. Datria’s applications can work in conjunction with existing PDA / laptop-based mobile deployments or it can replace those costly devices allowing end users to perform all of their data entry and inquiry tasks from their mobile telephones. For those organizations that use internal call center resources for their field service operations, a speech solution allows call center resources to be redeployed to more challenging projects while the speech system automates the majority of calls typically handled by agents.

Experience it Today

Imagine, you can dispatch, manage and support your mobile workers using field proven speech recognition technology. No more hold times, no more lost or unreadable paper-notes, no more lost or damaged field computers, just seamless access to your PeopleSoft information using the most intuitive user interface on the planet.

Better Information, Faster Billing, Lower Cost

As the largest telecommunications company in western Canada – and the second largest in the country -- TELUS faces fierce competition and continually looks for ways to improve customer service and increase productivity while controlling costs. TELUS turned to Datria in 2002 for voice-enabled field service applications that would help the company improve operations by improving and accelerating the information flow.

Prior to implementing Datria, TELUS used multiple management processes for field service. As with many large companies, different methods evolved in different service regions. In some areas, field service representatives used laptops to report their work and open and close trouble tickets. In other areas, they called and spoke with a dispatcher. Other areas distributed paper trouble tickets at the beginning of the day and collected them at the end of the day.

Using multiple methods reduced efficiency and increased costs. The cost to support laptops, for instance, was significant. For many field processes, laptops were viewed as overkill — there just wasn’t enough information in the process to require a laptop. Other costs included the clerical personnel needed to distribute, collect, and re-key information from paper trouble tickets. In addition to the direct costs, there were significant indirect costs associated with delays in entering the data and with the errors that often crop up when re-keying handwritten data. One of the most important indirect costs was that billing cycles could be significantly delayed.

Ultimately TELUS wanted a universal solution that field service representatives could use in any service region and any type of office – urban, rural or home offices. TELUS also wanted a system that could enhance the company’s investment in major software systems, such as SAP and the AWAS scheduling system. Part of TELUS’ vision is to use true voice recognition wherever appropriate. TELUS turned to Datria for a modular set of voice self-service applications that could be implemented in a step-by-step process.

TELUS began with a vehicle maintenance application — a slim portion of Datria’s Field Administration suite. The application, rolled out early in 2003, allows field service representatives to quickly report information about their vehicle. The application eliminates a paper form and doesn’t require a press-a-number IVR system. Most importantly, the application helps solve a business problem. In one easy step, TELUS supervisors can now easily identify which vehicles need maintenance, which leases are close to completion, and how to allocate vehicle charges to multiple projects and departments.

The vehicle maintenance application was essentially a trial to determine how voice self-service applications would be accepted by TELUS employees and how they would perform in the vast TELUS service area. Encouraged by the results, TELUS rolled out a more complex application that directly affects the revenue stream: Field Billing. Field Billing allows field service representatives to initiate a new bill as a result of up selling services at a customer’s residence. For instance, a representative might visit a home to install a new phone. While there, he or she has may sell additional services. The representative then calls Datria Field Billing to report the additional work, the parts used, and the amount of labor required. Datria Field Billing calculates the price; if the customer accepts, the system immediately initiates a new billing cycle and sends a bill the next day. TELUS reports that the application shaves an average of five days off the billing cycle and, in some cases, can save as much as 60 days.

Another benefit of Field Billing is that TELUS is assured that all field representatives are using up-to-date tariffs and business rules. The system stores the tariffs and rules on the Datria server. If they change, the company simply updates the server – all the changes are made in one and only one place. After the change is made, any field service representative that calls Datria Field Billing gets the latest information.

After its initial success with the two Datria applications, TELUS recently launched four additional applications, Attendance Reporting, Dispatch, Inspection, and Time Reporting.

Attendance Reporting allows employees to call in when they are unable to report to work due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances. The application then notifies affected departments, allowing them to plan for the absence. The application also notifies managers and, where appropriate, requests their approval.

Dispatch provides a voice recognition interface to the AWAS dispatch system that TELUS uses. Technicians can use a phone – rather than a laptop -- to call the dispatch system to determine their next job. Rather than speaking to a live dispatcher, the technician talks to a Datria virtual dispatcher.

Inspection automates a number of manual processes. For instance, a field service representative can now call in a vehicle inspection. Traditionally, a supervisor needed to inspect the vehicle, fill out a complex form, take the form back to the office, and enter the information into a business system. The Datria application allows the user – not supervisors -- to complete the process by voice while still in the field. Field service representatives can also use Datria Inspection to enter other inspection reports involving work sites, buildings, or compounds.

Time Reporting allows TELUS field service representatives to enter the hours they have worked on a specific job or within a specific day. The application automatically reports this information to the TELUS accounting and payroll systems.

With the launch of each new application, the list of potential applications also seems to get longer. TELUS sees significant benefits from voice self-service, including cost control and improved productivity. TELUS recently deployed a trial of another new application called Service Express. Field service representatives use Service Express to order parts to replenish their inventories or to be delivered to a specific job site. Service Express brings voice self-service to the complicated process of inventory control and parts replenishment.

TELUS is continually evaluating voice applications which provide business value and continues to develop and launch applications which produce significant returns on investment. As Gregory Johnson, the TELUS program manager notes, “This is a viable technology — it’s commercial grade — it’s good stuff! We believe we’re just scratching the surface here. I can tell you there’s … a long list of potential applications showing up at our doorstep and the list of applications could be endless.”

Business Benefits

Voice self-service helps TELUS:

Medical Supply Company

When doctors need drugs in an emergency room, they need them in a hurry. As controlled substances, however, many drugs must stay under lock and key. Too much security can delay life-saving procedures. Too little security can lead to theft and substance abuse.

A major Datria customer develops and maintains machines that balance the need for security with the need for rapid access to critical pharmaceuticals. The machines are sophisticated and secure dispensers that allow authorized medical staff to access controlled substances using a password or biometric identification. The dispensers ensure that patients get the correct medicines quickly and consistently but only when properly authorized.

Everyday, these dispensing machines play a critical role in countless life-or-death situations. As such, the company must ensure that their products are always in good working order at some 5,000 customer sites. To do this, they deploy more than 400 field service technicians in the United States and Canada, each of whom handles three to six service calls per day.

To coordinate and dispatch their field technicians, the company used to maintain a call center that was staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Field service technicians called in to receive new service orders, and update or close out existing orders. With 15 dispatchers covering multiple shifts, the center managed the multiple calls required for each service order. Call center staff members gathered information from field technicians and entered it into PeopleSoft® Field Service 8.4, the company’s scheduling and dispatch application.

The system worked but it didn’t work efficiently. In particular, the system didn’t scale well. For instance, the average hold time was about 30 seconds but could stretch to as long as ten minutes during heavy call periods. Even 30 seconds reduced productivity significantly. With as many as 2,000 calls per day, the field organization could spend as much as 16.6 hours per day just waiting on hold.

To address these issues, the company decided to search for a real-time, self-service system that would improve productivity and information accuracy while reducing overall costs. The search was bounded by several practical parameters:

The company ultimately selected Datria Ticket Management 2.0, a voice-enabled application for field service management. Ticket Management uses voice recognition technologies to communicate with technicians via telephone. Technicians can use any phone, anywhere in the world, at any time of day or night.

When a technician calls, Ticket Management answers — with no hold time at all. Using biometric voice verification, Ticket Management identifies the technician and begins a conversation designed to gather information for PeopleSoft Field Service. For instance, Ticket Management may ask questions about a given service order. The technician simply answers in natural language. Ticket Management converts the voice information to data and updates the appropriate fields in PeopleSoft. In addition, Ticket Management “reads” the data in PeopleSoft, converts it to voice, and speaks it to the technician.

Another feature of Ticket Management helps improve customer satisfaction. After receiving a service order, technicians are supposed to call the customer to give an estimated time of arrival and to gather additional details. Using the traditional system, this was sometimes difficult to accomplish. Ticket Management facilitates the process by automatically transferring the technician to the customer. This helps ensure that customer expectations are appropriately set and that the technician is prepared with the right tools and parts when he or she arrives at the job site.

Ticket Management met the company’s requirements for true real-time information, short training cycles, and a unified solution for all technicians. It also improved the value of the company’s investment in PeopleSoft. With real-time data in the application, anyone in the organization can check PeopleSoft at anytime to get an accurate update on the status of service orders.

Ticket Management began to absorb calls quickly. In the first full month after going live, the system handled 12,558 calls or about half the normal monthly call volume. In addition to improving productivity, the company was able to reassign half the dispatchers in their call center to customer-facing tasks. This not only reduced the cost of supporting the field technicians, it also improved communications with customers.

Business Benefits

Real-time information flowing to and from field service technicians

Off-load majority of call volume

Solution based on phones and voice

Florida Electrical Utility
A major electrical utility uses Datria to respond more effectively to weather-related power outages.

After Hurricane Irene stormed ashore in 1999, a major power utility in Florida commissioned Arthur D. Little to study how the company could respond more effectively to weather-related outages. Among the major recommendations: deploy a voice-enabled system that technicians can use during the recovery effort. A voice-based system can promote better communication and faster data flows. That, in turn, leads to greater efficiencies and, ultimately, faster recoveries.

The need for voice communications comes from two factors: 1) how the electrical grid is structured; 2) how power companies lend employees to each other during an emergency.

Electrical Grids

Most electrical grids use multiple levels of protected devices. A home is connected to a power box with multiple fuses. Ten to a hundred homes might be connected to a transformer with its own level of protection. Multiple transformers are connected to a lateral switch with another layer of protection. Multiple lateral switches are connected to a feeder.

Generally, power companies don’t have sensors below the feeder level. They depend on phone calls to alert them to power outages. Not every phone call relates to a different location, however. If a transformer disconnects, for instance, it may generate numerous phone calls but only one location to visit. In September 2001, for instance, Hurricane Gabrielle generated 15,000 phone calls to the Florida utility which translated to 4,000 actual locations to visit.

Major Outages

Some weather events are so massive that the local utility assumes that all power is out. They organize crews to react across the entire service area; the crews’ first responsibility is to scout the service area and identify damage. They then relay the information to a central facility which builds an inventory of the needed repair work. Once the inventory is established, planners can assign priorities and begin dispatching work.

Voice-enabled systems can dramatically improve communications and productivity during a major outage. During the scouting process, for instance, it’s simpler and faster to call in a damage assessment than it is to report the same information via a laptop or hand-held computer.

Voice is especially helpful when crews are walking (or slowly driving) a line. They can speak into a voice system continuously, something that’s impossible to do a laptop. Datria’s scouting system uses voice recognition technologies to accept the report, convert the voice to data, and update the work request database. Datria also allows technicians to create trouble tickets directly from the field -- the fastest way to get problems into the queue for scheduling and resolution.

Voice is also helpful in dispatching work. In major outages, utilities outside the service area lend work crews to help restore power. These crews certainly understand how to repair T&D infrastructure but they typically don’t know how to use the receiving company’s dispatch and scheduling system.

Prior to implementing Datria, the Florida utility handed out paper tickets in the morning and collected them in the evening. They had very little visibility into the work conducted during the day and could not respond quickly to changing situations. With Datria, the company asks on-loan employees to bring mobile phones and gives each worker about half an hour of “tailgate training” on Datria. The training focuses on how to receive a trouble ticket, how to report work completed, and how to close out a ticket.

The company can typically dispatch workers on their first call within an hour. The technicians call Datria to report their status. The Datria application uses a synthetic voice to ask questions about the work completed. Technicians simply answer the questions in natural language. Datria automatically logs the information in the system. Datria then reads the system, selects the next ticket for the crew, and reads the information to them. It’s fast, simple, and natural.

The Florida utility used Datria for the first time after Hurricane Gabrielle. The day before the storm, the company had a normal contingent of approximately 150 technicians in the area hit by the storm. The day after the storm, 2,000 technicians were working the same area – most of them on-loan from other companies. As one of the company’s supervisors noted, “They didn’t know the intricacies of our reporting system. We didn’t have time to teach them. Datria simplified the whole problem; they just had to talk and listen.”

Scattered Outages

The Florida utility also uses Datria to help respond to scattered outages. In some ways, scattered outages can cause more headaches for local utilities than massive storms. It’s difficult to keep track of what’s been repaired and what’s not. It’s also difficult to tell if a phone call reporting an outage is actually a new outage or one that’s already being repaired. The reason is the way electrical grids are typically structured and monitored.

The company supervisor explains the problem succinctly: “You really have two databases – one in the computer and the other in the technician’s back pocket. You don’t know which one is up to date. Meanwhile you’re still getting more phone calls. Let’s say Mrs. Smith calls to report an outage. We know that she’s on a given lateral and we know that lateral is being fixed. So we assume that her power will return once the lateral is up. If that’s not the case, we have to wait for Mrs. Smith to call us a second time to tell us the power still isn’t back on.”

The old system could lead to delays and poor customer service. It could also lead to duplicate effort – the same job might be scheduled twice. With Datria, the technician calls in immediately to report completed work. Instead of two databases, there’s one and it’s always up to date. When a phone call comes in, the company can immediately tell what’s been repaired and what hasn’t. They can schedule work more effectively and give customers more accurate, more up-to-date information. As a result, the company can actually reduce its costs while also improving customer service – a rare combination.

Business Benefits

With real-time information flowing to and from emergency crews, the Florida utility can: