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Automation of a dispatch service, or How a service company can reduce transportation costs by 30%

Again connected product analyst domestic service desk. Last time, we talked about our client, the Brant service company, which introduced our platform during the active growth of its business.

Simultaneously with the increase in the number of applications, Brant also increased the number of service facilities - quantitatively and territorially. As a result, it took longer trips to b about lshie distance, and budget for fuel costs are significantly increased. How automation of the dispatch service helped protect it from these costs, I want to tell in this post.



So, Brant is a fairly large service company. She has more than 1,000 objects in service — stores, offices, salons, and pharmacies — and in each of them periodically it is necessary to carry out ongoing repairs, emergency repairs, or warranty service. On average, 100-200 applications are received per day.

How it was BEFORE the automation of the dispatch service


The network of objects of a particular customer was combined into a separate project . A separate dispatcher was assigned to each project and a staff of service specialists was formed. For a long time, this option of the service structure was considered by Brant to be the most effective.

A team formed for a specific project could accept incoming applications in a format that is convenient for the customer, and service specialists knew all the specifics of fulfilling applications precisely at these facilities. This allowed us to solve maintenance problems in a quality manner, but with a lot of “manual” work.

The Brant dispatcher received an application, then checked the list of objects: which specialist is assigned to this address? Does it catch up on time with the current boot? If not, then to whom can the application be transmitted from neighboring sites?



Manually this process is not fast and you cannot call it transparent either - you have to turn to the same bulky tables and ask the performers if they are ready to accept the application.

In 2019, Brant sharply increased the number of service facilities, and this showed the failure of the existing structure. Namely:

  • Territorial overlays of objects began. It happened that in one regional city 2-3 service specialists went to fulfill applications from different customers. Similarly, 1-2 dispatchers managed these specialists, who in the same city are literally in neighboring buildings.
  • it was necessary to increase the staff of service specialists, as well as engineers and dispatchers, project managers and specialists;
  • as a result, fuel and lubricant costs rose sharply;
  • it became impossible to quickly obtain analytical data on the execution of applications: there are now too many employees and information.

How it all became AFTER automation of the dispatch service


It became obvious that to solve problems it is necessary to do as follows:

  1. collect all incoming applications in one place, and not as part of a single working draft
  2. translate all received applications in a single format
  3. introduce a standard for the execution of the application, regardless of which customer received this application.

This will allow you to create a geographically-formed network of service specialists who are ready to fulfill all applications in their area without being tied to the specifics of a particular customer.
The restructuring was carried out quickly and without compromising the quality of the services provided. This allowed to reduce the cost of fuel and lubricants and to avoid an increase in the staff of engineers and dispatchers. A single dispatch center was created for all customers. Employees of all levels were assigned on a territorial basis.



The administrative panel of our HubEx platform provides flexible configuration of automatic distribution of applications. The list of objects that is imported into HubEx from an Excel file already contains a field indicating the responsible person, therefore, when creating a request for his object, the Service Specialist receives it immediately, without the participation of the dispatcher.

The subsequent distribution can be set in the settings. For example, if within a few hours the appointed contractor does not transfer the application to the “Accepted for work” stage, another suitable contractor “inherits” the application. Settings allow you to choose a backup responsible, or the nearest, who has the necessary skills for repair on a specific application. Here's what it looks like:



Thanks to GPS navigation, you can always control whether an employee was actually at the facility, and where exactly he is at a given time.

And again - time optimization of all company employees, and significant. Improving the transparency of the implementation (or non-performance) of work at all stages.

Using the platform, it became possible to implement technical supervision of work and operational technical support to a service specialist.

If an employee encounters problems in fulfilling the application, he will inform about it in the application itself, the dispatcher promptly connects to communication at the request of the engineer. At any time, any customer question is promptly given feedback on any application. Project managers, while still accepting a request from the customer, can open an application and give all relevant information on the work. This is especially true when performing emergency and laborious applications.

Advantages of Online Dispatch



Thus, the automation of the dispatch service saved not only the time of employees, but also significantly reduced fuel costs. The analytics system aggregates all data and gives a visual representation of the status of all applications, thereby helping Brant to control the quality of its services and plan further work.



Read part 1 of the Brant story: What if your business grows?
Part 3: How can a service company avoid fines from a customer?

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