Martlet Homes Introduces Real-Time Mobile Working Solution From Blackbay

Monday, 23 April 2007 11:05

Martlet Homes is rolling out Blackbay’s Service Connect field service mobile worker solution to its mobile tradesmen, which will drive greater productivity and provide improved customer service to over 5,000 homes.

Martlet Homes is a successful Registered Social Landlord, committed to providing and maintaining quality, affordable homes in West Sussex.  The new system interfaces with Martlet’s Orchard housing management and OptiTime scheduling systems and enables tradesmen to receive their jobs on a hand-held device and service managers to receive job status information in real-time.  Adjustments to tradesmen’s schedules can be made throughout the day to ensure they are kept fully occupied and the net result is improved efficiency at lower cost, a reduction in paperwork and critically, a reduction in the average number of days taken to complete each job.

Achieving high standards of cost control, efficiency and professionalism are vital to the organisation’s ongoing success in today’s fast-moving business environment.  Says Valerie Adler, Business Initiatives & Programme Manager at Martlet, “While organisations like Martlet Homes are not commercial by nature, we still have to be credible players in our industry.  Increasing bottom line relies on either making more, or spending less.  We believe that adopting this new way of working will enable us to do the latter, and at the same time deliver an even better service to our customers.”

The initial pilot project sees Service Connect rolled out to 20 users, increasing to 45 in April and building to a total of 80 users by the summer. On their decision to go with Blackbay, Adler comments, “Blackbay offered a combination of competitive pricing and robust technology. What impressed us most about Blackbay was their interest in our current business processes and their focus on delivering a tailored solution that could evolve as we identify areas for further improvement.”

Larry Klimcyzk, Managing Director of Blackbay says, “We’re delighted to be working with Martlet Homes on improving its service management systems.  By working closely with Martlet to ensure our solution fits exactly with their current processes, we aim to deliver real business value.”