Fleet managers at Terminix, a pest-control service, face a difficult challenge: the employees they manage are rarely in the office. Instead, they are out and about serving clients throughout the city, and that can make many managers feel out of touch. That’s why ServiceMaster, the parent company of Terminix, opted to roll out its Smart Truck Initiative and enlisted the help of @Road’s Web-based Mobile Resource Management (MRM) solution to both help fleet managers perform their jobs and produce better business outcomes. Improving Customer Service
With the Smart Truck Initiative, ServiceMaster aimed to provide better service to its customers, improve productivity in the field, and have drivers arrive at the right place at the right time. To do so, Terminix will be the first ServiceMaster business unit to utilize a suite of @Road MRM solutions, including location intelligence technology, integrated Wi-Fi and EDGE/EVDO high-speed data communication capabilities, and on-demand, Web-based tools and field-service reports. Leo Jolicoeur, @Road chief marketing officer, says this technology yields immediate results. “Since @Road offers MRM solutions in an on-demand environment that leverages the power of the Internet, the solutions are expected to provide ServiceMaster with a rapid ROI through deployment of the @Road MRM solution suite in Terminix branches in North America.” Wi-Fi Capabilities
Both mobile service technicians and Terminix branch leadership benefit from the new technology - approximately 6,000 employees in all. “Mobile service technicians may use @Road MRM solutions to communicate in real-time to back office applications using any Wi-Fi-enabled field service device,” Jolicoeur said. These capabilities include:

• Taking orders with a Wi-Fi-enabled Pocket PC and completing transactions.

• Providing delivery receipts on-site and communicating transactions to the corporate office.

• Managing inventory and updating enterprise applications.

• Accessing technical manuals and information via company Intranet.

• Closing job tickets on the spot.

• Selling, assigning, ordering, and provisioning new service features, product enhancements, and package plans. Fleet managers benefit, too. They can keep better track of workers in the field as they complete transactions. They can also generate reports about field staff location and activities to track metrics and improve business outcomes. An Internet Location Manager (ILM) feeds data to branch managers so they can track the location of field personnel and their stops, starts, speed, and landmarking - a tool that sends an alert to the branch manager when the technician arrives at a scheduled location. MRM Solutions Benefits
  Jolicoeur says ServiceMaster plans to see several benefits from @Road’s MRM solutions, including: 1.Improved productivity of mobile resources by using location, personalized mapping landmarks, and path sequencing features to maximize the time spent completing work orders in the field and minimize non-productive time. In turn, improved productivity leads to better employee effectiveness by allowing completion of more jobs per day - while decreasing overtime. 2.Decreased costs of mobile resource operations. Two-way communications services allow low-cost transmission of completed business forms, job completions, and messaging. Additionally, routing efficiencies, improved workflow management, decreased overtime, fuel savings, and less customer churn result in reduced costs as well. 3.Reduced risk. Branch managers can pinpoint the location of their vehicles in the field 24/7. 4.Improved responsiveness to customers. Terminix employees can use location and workflow information to update customers about pending work orders or deliveries. 5.Increased employee retention. Automation reduces mundane in-field paperwork. Field technicians also encounter fewer customer complaints because they arrive at the right time, at the right location, with the right tools and equipment. With GPS capabilities, field technicians see improved routing, which means less downtime getting lost in the field and arriving late at a customer’s location. Overall, employee job satisfaction increases. 6.Increased customer retention. All these benefits lead to improved customer service and commitments. In addition to these perks, ServiceMaster does not need to install software to implement the technologies, again reducing costs. “With @Road on-demand MRM solutions, there’s a lower cost of entry for businesses because they don’t have to spend large amounts of money on supporting IT infrastructure and software licenses. @Road hosts, maintains, and upgrades the MRM application.” Jolicoeur said. In the end, Terminix will be able to provide better customer service while reducing its costs and realizing better business performance. “Our solutions give management visibility into their mobile workers and their work in the field,” Jolicoeur said. “It’s visibility that is also measurable. And if you can measure it, you can improve it.”