A white paper for retail executives in Canada

Transcription

1 fi v e To Look For In Your POS Field Service Behind-the-Scenes Factors Partner A white paper for retail executives in Canada

2 factor 1 Pushing the envelope Any forward-thinking field service team must be committed to continuous improvement. People must be ready to learn new things and develop best practices to improve their effectiveness. They must implement these best practices in refined procedures and updated software. And that cycle must continue indefinitely. At MSC, several business analysts are working full-time on these challenges. Every day they ask, How could we make this faster? Or smarter? Asking those questions has paid off in numerous new and improved ways of working. The rest of this white paper highlights several of the innovations MSC has created to make its field service operations even better than before. Any forward-thinking field service team must be committed to continuous improvement. 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 2

3 factor 2 Automated dispatching Every service organization needs a dispatch system to find the right technician for every service call, and then tell them where they re needed. These decisions aren t as simple as you might think. For example, a service team can have conflicting goals, such as minimizing response time to any call vs. maximizing the directness of every route to save gasoline. And what about sharing the workload evenly, so that every technician gets roughly the same number of calls? In the old days, human dispatchers had to do all this. But they struggled to balance many different factors, and were often forced to redo their calculations by hand. Some companies today still use a spreadsheet to keep track of their calls, and dial up all their technicians by hand. But this is slow and tedious work, prone to many mistakes. MSC found a better way. In 2009, the company launched an automated dispatch system that can balance many factors and match the right technician to any call in less than a second. This dispatch system weighs many factors, including: Complexity of the problem Available pool of technicians Skill level of available technicians Current location of technicians Estimated travel time to store Contracted response time in service level agreement (SLA) Availability of parts in technician s trunk After finding the best choices, the MSC dispatch system notifies the selected technician by automatically calling his smartphone. The technician accepts the call, and plans his own route to get to that store as soon as possible. When the technician arrives at the store, they call into MSC, and the system updates their location. So without anyone having to fuss with a map, the system always knows where every technician is. So without anyone having to fuss with a map, the system always knows where every technician is: either on call at a certain point, in transit from A to B, or at a customer s site. All in all, this automated system is much faster and more precise than human dispatchers. Any company without one or with a poorly-designed one is wasting precious time on every service call. 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 3

4 factor 3 Dynamic allocation of technicians Today their territories are no longer rigid, and not all service reps start from the same point. The old way of organizing a service team was to slice up the map into boxes, and assign so many technicians to each box. At the start of their shift, all the technicians in each territory would report to a central station, and then take off from there to answer service calls. But a technician might drive to work through many towns or past many shopping centers, and then have to drive right back out again on every call. And with everyone starting from the same point, this gave no flexibility to reach different towns or neighborhoods any faster. MSC thought of a better way. Today their territories are no longer rigid, and not all service reps start from the same point. Instead, software analyzes all the store locations we need to cover, and then assigns different service reps different starting points to help them respond faster to calls. Some reps still report into a central office. Others park their trucks at a major shopping centre or some other strategic point and wait there for any calls. This saves a lot of time and gasoline, helps MSC respond faster to service calls, and makes sure that every lane in every store is back up and running as quickly as possible. MSC calls this dynamic allocation of technicians. Not every company does it, but you want one that does. 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 4

5 factor 4 Flexible replenishment cycle A basic concept in field service is that everyone needs enough spare parts to cover the field replacements they ll likely make. Technicians don t waste time fiddling with complex electronics in your store. Unless they quickly spot the problem, like an unplugged cable or broken wire, they unplug the problem unit and swap in a good one. That means every service rep needs spare parts in their truck. The broken units are all shipped back to a central depot where staff have all the test jigs, special software, and tools they need to test and repair and sometimes dispose of any units sent in from the field. Of course, all the serial numbers are tracked carefully so the company knows what s what. And any units that can t be fixed have their memories totally zapped, and are then sent for environmentally-friendly recycling. They unplug the problem unit and swap in a good one. The old way of replenishing depots was to ship out a fixed number of spares to fixed locations on a fixed schedule. In other words, on Monday, ship 20 spare pin pads to Ottawa; on Tuesday, ship 10 to Halifax. The actual numbers were calculated once or twice a year, by hand or using spreadsheets. But what if Monday is a holiday? If you re on a fixed schedule, Ottawa has to wait until next Monday for their spares and hope they don t run out this week. Or what if you only have 10 spares on Monday, and no more coming until Wednesday? Do you ship all 10 to Ottawa on Monday just because they re bigger and none to Halifax on Tuesday because they re smaller? Or do you split the difference, send five to each depot, and cross your fingers that s enough? It s easy to see the limitations of a hard-and-fast scheme to restock depots with spares. MSC saw those limitations too. That s why the company implemented a more flexible replenishment cycle, based on what each depot actually needs. With MSC s refined process, the actual parts used by each depot are continuously monitored by software, with their replenishment adjusted as often as needed. Shipments are sent to the depots with the greatest chance of running out, not always to the biggest first. This process treats everyone equally: big and small, far and near. And it enabled MSC to reduce emergency shipments, and stay on top of replenishing depots across the country better than ever. This process treats everyone equally: big and small, far and near. 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 5

6 factor 5 Balance software with human insight These automation projects sound wonderful. After all, software can do mind-numbing calculations, weigh multiple factors, and suggest the best scenario in the blink of an eye. But the key to any successful automation project can be knowing where to stop. Where do you draw the line between what software does best, and where people still need control? Any top-down project done entirely at head office can overlook the expertise of people in the field and their knowledge of local conditions. People may need to over-ride systems to deal with things the computer doesn t know about: weather, fires, floods, or seasonal events like moose migrations. For example, an MSC technician can actually reject a service call that comes in during a bad storm, or if traffic would prevent him from reaching the store in good time. In that case, the dispatch system automatically moves on to the next technician and tries them. In other words unlike many automated systems MSC builds its software to allow for the fact that it doesn t know all and see all. And no machine can ever replace the perception and ingenuity of a human technician solving problems in the field. So MSC listens carefully to its field service reps, and then designs flexible systems that give people their say when they need it. Conclusions No machine can ever replace the perception and ingenuity of a human technician solving problems in the field. If you re looking for a POS field service partner to support your stores, make sure to look behind the scenes for the kinds of innovation that may not always be visible. The best partner will have a commitment to continuous improvement, automated dispatching, dynamic allocation of service reps, a flexible replenishment cycle and a recognition that skilled people are still a key part of the equation. Find out more about how MSC s innovative POS field service can benefit your retail operations by connecting now! 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 6

7 About Moneris Services Corporation (MSC) MSC is a leading service and hardware provider of POS solutions for Canadian retail markets. With more than 30 years of experience, MSC offers complete, customized solutions across Canada implementing, managing and supporting cutting-edge secure solutions that ensure businesses run at optimal performance. Working with MSC enables merchants to maximize uptime, get the best ROI on equipment and have access to 24/7, on-demand support. For more information, visit. Contact information Gilles Landry Vice-President, Business Development for Central Canada Tel: Fax: gilles.landry@mscservices.ca Normand Duplessis Vice-President, Business Development for Eastern and Western Canada Tel: x1287 Cell.: Fax: normand.duplessis@mscservices.ca MONTREAL (Head Office) 7350 Transcanada Highway Saint-Laurent QC H4T 1A3 toronto 3300 Bloor Street West 5 th Floor West Tower Toronto ON M8X 2X2 calgary nd Avenue SE, Unit 13 Calgary AB T2C 4X Moneris Services Corporation. All rights reserved. The information in this document is for informational purposes only, current as of the publication date and may not be suitable for all audiences. Please contact your Moneris Services Corporation representative to discuss an installation plan that is suitable for the needs of your business. MSC & Design is a registered trade-mark of Moneris Solutions Corporation used by Moneris Services Corporation under license. 5 Behind-the-Scenes Factors to Look for in Your POS Field Service Partner 7