Service Connect provides measurable business process improvements for repairs and maintenance management within the housing and local authority sector. Service Connect integrates with housing management and IT systems to provide a seamless solution for mobile working requirements within the sector.
Efficiency gains have included:
- Improved productivity through reduced paperwork and minimised travel
- More accurate appointment bookings for repair site visits
- Time commitments being met increases tenant satisfaction
- Keeping service teams more informed and better prepared while in the field increases first-time-fix rates
- Elimination of double entry of data and administration time
With a rapidly expanding base of social housing associations, Blackbay has a thorough appreciation of the issues faced by the sector and can advise on appropriate implementation strategies to maximise the potential for success.
Service Connect can also provide for other public sector mobile work requirements, including:
- Voids management
- Pre and post inspections
- Gas and electrical certifications
- Cyclical maintenance
- Surveyors and asset managers
- Housing inspectors/officers
- Rent arrears/collection officers
Case Studies:
Capita – BBC TV Licencing
Capita Business Services run the majority of the administration and collection of TV Licensing, including the field force of Enquiry Officers. With over 1,200 employees working on the contract Capita’s role includes processing queries, applications and payments and maintaining an accurate licence database which identifies those addresses which are unlicensed. Capita’s TV Licensing field force of enquiry officers are expecting to complete circa 4 million visits to unlicensed premises this financial year. Capita wanted the mobility solution to deliver real-time visibility of its field operations staff, cut the high level of manual processes they had to carry out, replace the existing paper based system to help improve staff self efficiency, increase manager efficiency and reduce back office workload and costs” Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Capita BBC TV Licencing |
Chubb
Chubb Protective Services is one of the largest security providers with a 24 hour Patrol Dispatch Centre. Chubb also has the ability to effectively draw on global experience with representations in 70 countries worldwide. In Australia, Chubb services 70 local body authorities, while in New Zealand Chubb services 19 local body authorities. “A system was needed to both reduce risk of personal danger and enable track and trace of guards and time to meet the required KPI. It also had to guarantee customers and crime investigators with irrefutable security records of designated checkpoints. With a large manual element in job administration, including hand-written report logs of times and observations by guards, we realised we needed expert assistance,” said Mike Rutherford, the National Patrol Services Manager. “Blackbay won the contract on the basis of their expertise and impressive track record.” Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Chubb |
Dyson
Dyson has a team of over 170 field engineers across the UK. With increasing business activity, the company recognised that it needed to improve efficiency if it was to keep its same day service and repair promise to its customers. Dyson were looking for a paperless solution that would eliminate the two hours spent daily by their engineers filling in forms by hand and double entering the data into the computer when they returned home. They also wanted to save the four hours that the call-centre staff spent telephoning engineers to relay job changes and cancellations. “What we ideally wanted was a fully managed service where the supplier would manage the entire solution - hardware, software, customisation, support, hosting - the lot,” said Thompson. Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Dyson |
Excell Corporation
Excell assists its customers in both the public and private sectors to manage and maintain key infrastructural assets such as parks, recreational facilities, buildings, roads, water and wastewater networks and waste management systems. When Manukau City’s Water and Drainage Service contract came up for tender, Excell knew that there would be strong international competition. Excell believed that the key differentiator in the battle for the contract would be by providing innovative technology and solutions to improve the level of community service and maximise efficiencies to best practice levels. They wanted the ability to locate the nearest rapid response service vehicle, track and allocate service jobs in real-time and provide up-to-the-minute progress updates to customers. “Water and drainage services are a lifeline for the community,” said Tim Gibson, Business Manager, Water, Drainage & Associated Services. “Blocked drains and burst water pipes can be distressing, so we wanted to be more efficient and proactive by keeping Manukau rate payers better informed of work progress.” Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Excell |
Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta markets and services photocopy and printing solutions throughout New Zealand and has the largest mobile service force in the copier and printer market. Konica Minolta has always been a market leader in their use of innovative mobile technology. This need for innovation goes back to 2001 where Konica was one of the first companies to take advantage of the new cellular data networks. Konica sought to take a leadership role by changing the service model and becoming a purely customer focused business, without the inefficiencies and inaccuracies of the past. Konica researched their business and found areas were they could significantly improve their efficiency and accuracy in handling data. An exercise looking closely at their stock management process found that when a spare part was used in the field and then replenished back to the technician the part could be handled up to 14 times. Konica wanted to get this back down to being handled only once. Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Konica Minolta |
O'Brien
O’Brien® is recognised as the market leader in automotive and building glass. O’Brien® is the brand name used since 2002 for the consolidated service brands, Windscreens O’Brien (automotive glass repair and replacement) and O’Brien Glass (Home, Shop and Office glass replacement). Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for O’Brien Glass |
First Assistance
First Assistance is a leading provider of assistance products - working with clients around the world and around the clock to provide a seamless link between them and their customers. First established in New Zealand in 1992, today First Assistance is a multi-national company that specialises in travel and medical assistance, automotive assistance, vehicle risk/accident management, property assistance, claims assistance and business assistance. First Assistance’s automotive assistance workforce consists of a large number of third-party service providers that carry out service duties for First Assistance’s New Zealand based clients. Service duties include mechanical breakdown assistance, vehicle lockout and vehicle transportation amongst others. These service providers do not work directly or exclusively for First Assistance, so a system was required that not only enabled First Assistance to centrally manage their jobs; Blackbay also had to provide a system that was efficiently priced and easily used by the contractors so they could manage their other work that was independent of First Assistance. Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for First Assistance |
Tyco Wormald
Wormald, a part of Tyco International is a leading provider of fire protection solutions. For over 120 years, Wormald has been supplying specialist fire protection services to the mining, marine, industrial, commercial and retail industries. Wormald Australia has over 600 technicians in the field managing 19,500 fire alarm panels,11,200 sprinkler systems, 10,000 fire doors and over 460,000 pieces of portable fire equipment. Wormald had previously been managing their mobile field force through the Blackbay mobile phone based mService solution. This system electronically transferred service calls directly from the company’s ERP system (PRONTO) to a mobile phone carried by field service technicians. Whilst this system enabled technicians to accept and execute work requests in the field, Wormald wanted to enhance this system to automate the dissemination, collection and processing of test and inspection data and increase the depth of capability for field staff. “We recognised the need to upgrade the system and provide a solution that; enhanced and managed the work flow across the whole of the business, reduced rework and increased accuracy in the back office, delivered complete visibility of where time was being spent and enable us to provide real-time reporting and analysis for our customers” James Sara, IT Director, Wormald Australia. Streamlining both the field and administrative processes was a critical factor. Wormald had significant amounts of paperwork and clerical processes for each job, causing large amounts of laborious data processing and end of month activity. Download to read more on Blackbay’s solution for Tyco Wormald |






