Nalco Delivers Improved Responsiveness To Its Customers With A Retriever Communications Mobility Solution

Mobile handheld solutions have streamlined the field service process in Australia by capturing personal service report information on a mobile device and instantly sending it directly to the customer and back office. As one of the first in its industry to adopt these types of solutions, Nalco, an Ecolab company, nationally deployed a Retriever Communications wireless solution to boost productivity for its field service technicians.

“We needed a solution to help streamline our processes and eliminate a lot of the manual input that was required of our field technicians,” said Thomas Gent, Director Business Strategy & Optimization at Ecolab PTY LTD Australia. “Retriever has an excellent collaborative atmosphere in their operations team, so we knew they’d be a flexible and comprehensive partner for us.”

Moving from what was a paper-based process, Nalco technicians now use a mobile device to record the results of their service work, and are able to send service reports to customers and information back to the office in real time. The Retriever solution improves field responsiveness for all routine and non-routine service at Nalco customer sites. The Retriever solution also enables real-time tracking of compliance to the relevant legislative requirements for each state in Australia. All this detailed time-sensitive information is now available back at the office as soon as it is completed.

The Solution
The Retriever solution operates as a wireless cloud application customized for Nalco to reflect their previous paper-based process. Specifically, the solution replaces paper-based service reports for field service staff. No longer do technicians need to head back to the office to hand in service reports, close off service orders, fill out time sheets or request invoices. This is all done in the field.

“By automating reports we’re able to move more service orders through the system and as a result, it improves the communication output of our service reports,” Gent said. “The Retriever solution is great because technicians can take a device on site and order product or collect data through the application. They can even do this regardless of wireless connection, as the device will sync with the next available connection.”

In the past, late return of service reports to the office was a big issue in effective management of open service orders. This has improved dramatically since reports are now sent digitally to the customer and the office as soon as the job is complete. Furthermore, any urgent service orders such as Legionella corrective actions or retests can be sent to the technician’s mobile device, using Retriever’s web-based scheduler, so work can begin immediately.

Results and observations
“By using an automated system we’re cutting down on labor costs while producing much more,” said Gent. “For example, Retriever allows one person to complete thousands of transactions at a time. Our employees are able to batch up hundreds of service reports, which even the most well-known companies like SAP can’t provide.”

Key organizational improvements include:

• Urgent jobs are attended to immediately with non-routine work orders allocated to a technician as soon as they are requested
• Office staff can view Retriever’s web-based scheduling system and know where each technician will be throughout the day, what work is planned and how long it is estimated to take
• Job safety forms are integrated into the workflow process, ensuring compliance with Nalco standards and relevant requirements
• Records near-misses to alert management of unsafe situations before incidents occur, ensuring the highest safety for workers
• Order requests for chemical, equipment, or reagents are able to be sent directly to the Order Management Group
• All information is electronically sent straight to the office, without requiring technicians to return to hand in paperwork

Ecolab PTY LTD Australia has implemented the Retriever mobility solution across its field staff nationwide. Because Retriever operates as a cloud solution, Nalco does not worry about software infrastructure or complex internal IT projects. All information is stored securely on Retriever’s infrastructure, complete with in-built redundancy, offsite backup and 24-hour operations monitoring, ensuring the utmost reliability.

“Without Retriever we’d definitely have to employ more back office staff, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to give the service reports to the customer at the end of service calls,” said Gent.  “We’re saving the cost of multiple employees in the operations team.”

About Ecolab
Ecolab is the world’s largest sustainability services company focused on industrial water, energy and air applications. Field personnel have experience across the broad spectrum of water using industrial equipment , and employ control technology that measures water chemistry in real-time. For more information, visit http://www.ecolab.com/

About Retriever Communications
Retriever Communications is a leading field force automation company that has received substantial international industry recognition. Pioneering the technology since 1996, Retriever continues to be the leader in wireless field technology to improve field worker productivity. Their capability, scalability and reliability combined with high quality service standards have allowed them to gain outstanding customer satisfaction ratings. For more information, visit http://www.retrievercommunications.com/