Delivering on a promise

Field Service Business editor Dannielle Furness spoke with Zak Saboune, Founder and General Manager of Service Today.

Field Service Business: Tell me a bit about Service Today and what the company offers.

Zak Saboune: Service Today is a home services company. We provide plumbing and electrical services, along with heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) maintenance to residential and commercial customers. The company's head office is located in Sydney but we also operate in Melbourne and Adelaide, where we also have offices, and throughout Wollongong and the NSW Central Coast. We've got over 70 trucks on the road, spread across those regions.

FSB: What are the biggest challenges in running a team of that size across that many regions?

ZS: Our company name is also our brand promise. Our customers literally need service today. That means we need to be incredibly efficient in the way we run the business, including the way we handle our scheduling and logistics, as well as things like ensuring the ongoing maintenance of our fleet. Lost time is obviously costly, as is anything that prevents us from delivering on our service promise to customers, so keeping things moving is the key objective.

FSB: What has the company implemented to help meet some of those challenges?

ZS: We simply couldn't do what we do without leveraging the right technology. To operate smoothly, you need to have complete visibility of your fleet and your team. You need to understand the status of current jobs, as well as where every member of the team is at all times. To that end, the days of manual scheduling are well and truly behind us and have been for quite a while. I don't know how anyone could operate that way anymore and still effectively meet the needs of their customers.

FSB: Can you expand on that a little — specifically, what type of technology is helping you achieve your goals and how?

ZS: It's all about providing the best possible customer service, so we've opted for solutions that will give us improvement across the board. A vehicle-tracking system (we use Navman Wireless) provides benefits in a number of ways. For example, the ability to see in real time where all of our vehicles are means that we can ensure that the nearest technician with the most relevant skills can be dispatched to a job. That's pretty obvious, but it's more than that. That same visibility gives us clear insight into driver behaviour. Not only are we concerned with providing a safe environment for our mobile team but, with a large number of vehicles to maintain, it's extremely important that our vehicles are being driven with a focus on safety and efficiency. Because the vehicles need regular maintenance, we utilise an in-built reminder system that automatically generates and sends an email when it's time for a vehicle service, based on kilometres driven. The system not only alerts fleet managers, but also raises a purchase order and sends an email to our nominated mechanic, meaning he can schedule workshop time effectively. So it really improves our supplier relationships as well.

FSB: Presumably this all impacts on the efficiency of the back office team?

ZS: Undoubtedly. It's certainly made the lives of our state-based dispatchers easier. Although, when you start to look at ways to improve your business and investigate specific technologies, it's initially not apparent just how far those improvements will extend. First and foremost, we wanted to track our vehicles with the objective of servicing customers quickly. It's been an unexpected bonus to see the effectiveness of other operations boosted. All of this new technology comes with an extensive reporting capability; so you can cross-reference to verify timesheets, which helps with invoicing and rostering as well keeping an eye on personal vehicle use. It's not about policing as much as it is about streamlining. Anything that helps me grow my business is welcome.

FSB: What sort of improvements will you be looking at in the future?

ZS: I'm keen for more integration and anything that simplifies our internal processes. If it makes the business run more smoothly, then it affords us the time and capacity to grow. Who doesn't want that?