Smart Moves

10 December 2010

Urgent Technology’s eMaintenance system automates the process of logging, tracking and reporting maintenance calls in real time. SPONSORED ARTICLE

URGENT TECHNOLOGY was founded on the basis of a great idea for a software solution that would automate the process of placing maintenance calls and enable all users of the system (retail sites, maintenance contractors and head office) to track and update the progress of their calls at every stage of the process.
Simple and Usable
Simplicity and ease of use is an important part of what makes eMaintenance such a good tool for maintenance management. The site manager's portal lets the user carry out three basic functions: placing a new call, chasing a call and cancelling a call. These actions can be carried out with just a few button clicks leaving busy managers more time to run their stores. They can view lists of jobs that are still outstanding and see instantly whether they are overdue under the contractor's service level agreement, enabling managers to make a more informed decision on whether a call needs to be chased or not.
Time Saving
Another time-saving innovation is the IVR automated telephone service that takes calls both from site managers who can place, chase or cancel calls when they are unable to access a computer with an internet connection, and more crucially from contractors who can ring the service and instantly inform the system that they are checking-in at a site to carry out a job and again when they have completed the job without having to log onto the web-based portal. This real-time updating of the system benefits all users by logging the exact time when a contractor arrived on site and completed the job, helping to avoid disputes later on.
Contractors can log into their web portal at any time to check the status of their outstanding calls, submit quotations for jobs and even submit invoices online.
Cost Saving
When a new call is received in eMaintenance the system automatically calculates the correct response time for the repair and the correct contractor to attend the job. It dispatches the call directly to the contractor via their preferred contact method – email, fax or SMS, or a combination of all three. By automating this process eMaintenance reduces the need for human intervention in the form of a call centre, greatly reducing the cost of providing a maintenance service.
A management portal is provided for the few cases where human intervention is required such as authorising cost estimates for contractors not on fixed cost contracts and offers
management reporting functions to enable head office to have an overview of the system and its use and to pinpoint problems with assets and contractor performance.
One of Urgent Technology’s clients, a major retail operation with multiple outlets commented; "eMaintenance has transformed the service and property maintenance function within our business. We have removed two third party helpdesks saving huge annual costs, whilst improving the service we can offer to our restaurants. Keeping the UTL brochure in my drawer was one of the smartest things I’ve done.”
If you would like to know more about the system and how it can benefit your company, the Urgent Technology team would be happy to visit your offices to arrange a demonstration.
You can contact them by telephone on 01908 391160 or email at info@urgtech.co.uk.
Alternatively, take a look at their website at www.urgtech.com for more details.