Case Study
VIVAWEST Creates Fully Automated Field Service Processes to Save Time
As a leading housing provider, VIVAWEST decided early on to embrace innovative technology to offer customers fully automated end-to-end processes, from online damage reporting to on-site repair at their preferred appointment time. All-round service through technological leadership that delights customers and stands out from the competition.
The Company: 120,000 Apartments in the Rhine and Ruhr region
As one of the leading housingproviders in North Rhine-Westphalia, VIVAWEST manages 120,000 apartments in the Rhine and Ruhr region. In approximately 100 municipalities between Aachen and Ahlen, VIVAWEST provides a home for about 300,000 people.
The real estate service companies integrated into the VIVAWEST Group also offer a wide range of services that are required in the management of larger residential property portfolios. These include green and open space maintenance, the maintenance and modernisation of apartments, the provision of cable television and internet, as well as the creation of heating and operating cost statements.
Convenient Tenant Service balances Field Service Control
Not only by phone, but also online in the customer portal or the customer portal app, VIVAWEST tenants can report damage and arrange a preferred appointment for repair. What is quick and easy around the clock today requires a complex interplay of innovative optimisation technologies. To be able to offer a suitable preferred appointment for each damage directly upon reporting, comprehensive planning parameters must be taken into account.
Different Apartments, Multi-trade Repairs
A typical problem for the housing industry is the varying condition and equipment of apartments and buildings. They differ not only in their year of construction but also vary depending on the building type and regional location. Furthermore, an accurate representation of the qualifications and skills of the employees, as well as comprehensive access to the necessary consumables in the system is required.
210 Technicians Complete more Maintenance
At RHZ Handwerks-Zentrum GmbH, approximately 210 technicians manage, among other things, small repair management and the maintenance/servicing of about 70,000 apartments. Multi-trade repairs, which require staggered deployments of several technicians, pose additional challenges for planning.
Only if all these planning parameters are taken into account can service center employees provide customers with a specific time window for the repair during the first phone contact.
Online communication and self-service preferred? No problem: VIVAWEST tenants can also arrange a preferred appointment for repair directly when reporting damage via the online damage report in the customer portal or the customer portal app.
The Solution: VISITOUR and MOBILE FLOW
With VISITOUR and MOBILE FLOW, it is possible to map all requirements for RHZ’s service process in a planning software and to display already tour-optimised preferred appointments directly in the customer front-end, such as the customer portal and customer portal app.
Based on a cascading damage description, the required trade and the damage key (skill in VISITOUR) are determined. This key represents a scheduled damage repair time.
Based on this information, as well as the tenant’s postal code (and the technician assigned according to this postal code), the next possible, already optimised appointments are displayed, taking into account the tenant’s preference.
Mobile App for Field Service
All technicians were equipped with MOBILE FLOW. Thanks to its user-friendliness, there were noreservationsamong the 210 employees regarding the mobile app. It was quickly recognised in the field that the software enables increased transparency for planning one’s own workday.
And it guarantees qualified contact with the customer, as all order information is available on mobile devices. With the real-time transmission of status messages, dynamic appointment and field planning in VISITOUR is supported.
The software permanently and fully automatically optimises upcoming tours based on feedback from the field. This increases planning efficiency and offers the back office the opportunity to provide customers with valid information about on-site appointments at any time.
The Benefit of Efficient Appointment and Field Planning
The objective for using VISITOUR was equally clear and ambitious: An increase in customer satisfaction through binding appointments and an increase in the first-time fix rate; plus a reduction in process costs through more efficient damage repair in fully automated end-to-end service processes.
“The tenant knows already when reporting the damage when the damage will be repaired at their preferred appointment time. At the start of the assignment, the technician has an optimised tour with all information about tenants and damage cases they visit immediately available on their mobile device. Back office and scheduling are fully automatically informed.”
Fewer Customer Calls, more Transparency
And further: “The number of customer calls regarding appointment scheduling could be significantly reduced, and customer satisfaction and the first-time fix rate significantly increased. And all this with consistently digital, fully automated, and transparent end-to-end processes,” Eller explains the milestones that could be achieved through Solvares Field Service technology.
Eller also emphasises:
“We regularly and significantly invest in our processes and service experiences. The figures from the quarterly customer satisfaction survey confirm this: The rating for the maintenance department consistently shows over 95 percent customer satisfaction.”
What you can take away from this for your service
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Results
- Reduction of waiting times, tour-optimised preferred appointment offers, increased first-time fix rate
- Consistently paperless service processes from Field planning to documentation
- Increased efficiency in scheduling
- The customer satisfaction rate in customer surveys in the maintenance department consistently exceeds 95%
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