Sutton & East Surrey Water improves productivity and cuts costs … · Sutton & East Surrey Water...
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At a Glance What they wanted to do • Implement a system that would simplify working practices and help improve productivity and efficiency What they did • Deployed Google Maps Coordinate on tablets amongst the meter fitting and water maintenance operations What they accomplished • An annual ROI of 500% on using Google Maps Coordinate • 17% increase in operational efficiency of meter fitting team • $39K (£25K) annual savings in administration time for employees on all levels • Improved customer service thanks to more up-to-date information • 58% reduction in Fixed Penalty fines due to improvement in data records Customer Sutton & East Surrey Water supplies water to 655,000 consumers in 280,000 properties across 322 miles in the South East of England. Challenge The company was keen to improve efficiencies in two areas of its business: meter fitting and water network maintenance. The meter fitting team change approximately 400 meters each month, as part of the company’s commitment to replace 24,000 meters for maintenance purposes over a five year period. At the beginning of each month the Network Manager would prepare and print off 600 pages of work orders, which were then sorted by the Works Section Manager into work batches according to rough geographical location. The fitters would visit headquarters each morning to pick up their daily batch and then work out for themselves, using maps and local knowledge, the best order in which to complete their jobs. After each fitting, they filled out a paper form, which they handed in the next day to be checked and then entered into the billing system. The entire process was seen as inefficient and unnecessarily time consuming. The works maintenance crews, responsible for repairing burst water mains, excavating mains and general maintenance, faced a similar scenario. Each job involved a lot of paperwork covering permits, technical information and health and safety, all of which they’d also have to collect each morning from HQ, fill out by hand on the road, and then hand in the next day. For both operations, the dependence on paperwork and manual processes meant that HQ were unable to have an up-to-date picture of which jobs had been finished at any point in time. This meant the Customer Service Team Sutton & East Surrey Water improves productivity and cuts costs with Google Maps Coordinate Case Study | Google Maps Coordinate
Transcript of Sutton & East Surrey Water improves productivity and cuts costs … · Sutton & East Surrey Water...
At a Glance
What they wanted to do• Implementasystemthatwouldsimplifyworkingpracticesandhelpimproveproductivityandefficiency
What they did• DeployedGoogleMapsCoordinateontabletsamongstthemeterfittingandwatermaintenanceoperations
What they accomplished• AnannualROIof500%onusingGoogleMapsCoordinate
• 17%increaseinoperationalefficiencyofmeterfittingteam
• $39K(£25K)annualsavingsinadministrationtimeforemployeesonalllevels
• Improvedcustomerservicethankstomoreup-to-dateinformation
• 58%reductioninFixedPenaltyfinesduetoimprovementindatarecords
CustomerSutton&EastSurreyWatersupplieswaterto655,000consumersin280,000propertiesacross322milesintheSouthEastofEngland.
ChallengeThecompanywaskeentoimproveefficienciesintwoareasofitsbusiness:meterfittingandwaternetworkmaintenance.
Themeterfittingteamchangeapproximately400meterseachmonth,aspartofthecompany’scommitmenttoreplace24,000metersformaintenancepurposesoverafiveyearperiod.AtthebeginningofeachmonththeNetworkManagerwouldprepareandprintoff600pagesofworkorders,whichwerethensortedbytheWorksSectionManagerintoworkbatchesaccordingtoroughgeographicallocation.Thefitterswouldvisitheadquarterseachmorningtopickuptheirdailybatchandthenworkoutforthemselves,usingmapsandlocalknowledge,thebestorderinwhichtocompletetheirjobs.Aftereachfitting,theyfilledoutapaperform,whichtheyhandedinthenextdaytobecheckedandthenenteredintothebillingsystem.Theentireprocesswasseenasinefficientandunnecessarilytimeconsuming.
Theworksmaintenancecrews,responsibleforrepairingburstwatermains,excavatingmainsandgeneralmaintenance,facedasimilarscenario.Eachjobinvolvedalotofpaperworkcoveringpermits,technicalinformationandhealthandsafety,allofwhichthey’dalsohavetocollecteachmorningfromHQ,filloutbyhandontheroad,andthenhandinthenextday.
Forbothoperations,thedependenceonpaperworkandmanualprocessesmeantthatHQwereunabletohaveanup-to-datepictureofwhichjobshadbeenfinishedatanypointintime.ThismeanttheCustomerServiceTeam
Sutton & East Surrey Water improves productivity and cuts costs with Google Maps Coordinate
Case Study | Google Maps Coordinate
couldn’tgivecustomersthemostup-to-dateinformationonqueries.Thebusinessalsofacedincreasednotificationrequirementsforanyexcavationsintheroadfromlocalcouncils,whichifnotaccuratelycompletedwithintherequiredtimescaleswouldresultinfixedpenaltycharges.
“Weclearlyneededtochangeourbusinessprocesses,particularlyintermsofadministrationandremoteworkingcapabilitiesforourfieldstaff,”explainsJeremyHeath,NetworkManager,SuttonandEastSurreyWater.“Manyworkforcemanagementsystemstrytodotoomuchandtaketoolongtoimplement.WewantedaplatformthatwaseasytomanageanduseandwouldimproveefficiencyandprovideademonstrableROI.”
SolutionTotacklethechallenge,SuttonandEastSurreyWaterturnedtoGoogleMapsCoordinate,aworkforcemanagementtooldesignedtoimprovecommunicationbetweenbusinessesandtheirfieldstaff.BuiltonGoogle’smappingandgeolocationinfrastructure,GoogleMapsCoordinateenablesemployeesinthefieldtobeaccuratelylocatedinreal-time.TheITteamatSuttonandEastSurreyWaterwrotetheAPItoallowmanagerstopulloutjobdataoutofthecurrentjobcontrolsystemandplotitstraightontoaGoogleMapthatcouldbeviewedbyworkersontheroadvia3G-enabledseveninchtablets.TheITteamwasalsoabletocustomisethefieldsthatthemobileteamsneededtocaptureandcollectdirectlyintheapp,withthisdatathenbeingfedbackautomaticallytoHQ.
“Wehadnoextramoneyavailabletointroduceanewsystem,butthemoneywesavedonnothavingtoprintoutworkorderseasilycoveredthecostofGoogleMapsCoordinate,whichpleasedthemanagementboard,”saysJeremy.“Theproductwassimpletoconfigurefromatechnicalstandpoint,andwewereabletorollitoutwithinweeks.Ittooknexttonotimeforourfieldstafftolearnhowtouseit.AsmostpeoplehadusedGoogleMapsatonetimeoranother,theyhappilyswiped,zoomedinandupdateddataontheappassoonasIpresentedthemwiththeirtablet.”
BenefitsThemeterfittingteamnowreceivejobsdataelectronicallytotheirtablet,automaticallyplottedontoamap.Thismeansnomoretime-consumingmanualsiftingthroughendlesspagestoworkoutthemostlogicaljoborder,andnotimewastedformanagementprintingoffjobs.Productivityinthefieldhasimprovedby17%andthecompanyhasbeenabletodispensewiththeservicesofanexternalcontractorwhoassistedtheteamasaresult.
“�We’ve�seen�tremendous�benefits�since� using�Google�Maps�Coordinate�and�see� huge�potential�for�improving�our�working�practices�even�further�in�the�future.�When� you�look�at�all�the�savings�across�the�board�we’ve�seen�an�annual�ROI�of�500%,�which�is� very�impressive.” —Jeremy�Heath,�Network�Manager,�Sutton� and�East�Surrey�Water�plc
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Asthecustomerserviceteamhaveaclearerpictureofwherethefittersareandwhichjobshavebeencompleted,theycanprovidemuchswifter,detailedanswerstocustomerqueries.
Thewayinwhichthewaternetworkcrewoperatehassimilarlyimproved.Teamslog-inviathetabletwhentheyarriveattheirlocationandprogressreportsareupdatedinreal-timetohelpCustomerServices.Althoughthecompanypreviouslyreceivedonlyalownumberoffixedpenaltycharges,theuseofGoogleMapsCoordinatehasreducedthenumberoflocalcouncilchargesby58%sincedeployment.Reducingthenumberoffixedpenaltychargesisadditionallyimportantbecauseitisfrequentlyusedasabenchmarkbylocalcouncilsagainstwhichtheyjudgeutilityproviders.
“GoogleMapsCoordinatehastransformedtheproductivityandefficiencyofourfrontlinestaff,”explainsJeremy.“Weestimatewe’llsaveabout$24,800(£16,000)inoperationalcostsinthefirstyearalone.Butit’snotjustaboutcosts;bygivingouremployeesthetoolstheyneedtowork,we’remakingtheirjobseasierandmoreenjoyable.”
GoogleMapsCoordinatehasalsoprovidedfurtherbenefitstotheworkscrewstandbyteams,whocanbecalleduponatallhoursofthedayornighttodealwithemergencies.With2,147milesofwatermainstocover,someofthelocationstheyneedtoreacharesoremotetheydon’tevenhaveapostcode.Inthepasttheteamreliedonaccuratemapreadingandtimewasfrequentlywastedsearchingfortheoptimumroutetoalocation.However,withthesatelliteviewprovidedbyGoogleMapsCoordinate,findingtheselocationsismucheasier.Also,whenajobiscalledin,thestandbycrewgostraighttothescene,ratherthandrivingtoHQtocollectpaperwork,saving$11,600(£7,500)worthofmanhoursintraveltimeannuallyandfurther$2,480(£1,600)savingsinfuel.
“We’veseentremendousbenefitssinceusingGoogleMapsCoordinateandseehugepotentialforimprovingourworkingpracticesevenfurtherinthefuture,”saysHeath.“Whenyoulookatallthesavingsacrosstheboard,fromfueltoprintingtoavoidingparkingfineswe’veseenanannualROIof500%,whichisveryimpressive.”
About Google Maps CoordinateGoogleMapsCoordinateisaworkforcemanagementtoolthatimprovestheefficiencyofmobileteams.PeopleareshownonaGoogleMap,makingiteasytoassignjobstothenearestavailableteammember.Bygettingreal-timevisibilityintowhereteamsareandwhatjobstheyaredoing,workcanbescheduledinasmarter,moreefficientway.
Formoreinformationvisitwww.maps.google.com/coordinate
