UK’s leading property repair and maintenance specialist looks to challenge
the status quo in the building industry with superior management of its
technicians and exceptional communications with its customers
Burlington, MA, January 25th, 2010 – ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd.
(NasdaqGS: CKSW), the leading provider of workforce management and service
optimization solutions, today announced that Rok, a leading provider of
building, repairs and refurbishment, and maintenance services, has selected
its ServiceOptimization Suite. Rok’s business model and strategy will be
supported by the software which it believes will create a leap forward in
the building and maintenance services sector through improvements in
customer service, cost reduction and enhanced workforce productivity.
ClickSoftware will address a number of the perceived failings of the
building industry by making sure Rok’s technicians can react faster to
requested appointments, give more accurate arrival times and arrive when
promised. Rok believes the software will assist 1,500 of its technicians and
enhance relationships with the end customers by allowing it to deliver
exemplary customer service. In addition, ClickSoftware will allow Rok to
provide a better working environment for its employees, supporting health
and safety procedures and real-time visibility of lone workers.
Rok will use ClickSoftware’s workforce management suite initially to carry
out repair and maintenance work for the insurance sector, the general
public, commercial property owners and housing associations. It will ensure
technicians arrive on time, with the right skills and materials to get the
job done first time.
Across all sectors, Rok is keen to find ways of reducing operating costs
while still improving the level of service to the customer. Housing
Associations, for instance, require Rok to demonstrate where it is saving
them money. Rok tackled this by looking at parallel industries (Utilities
and Hi-tech) for solutions that it could use in its own business to help it
adapt and thrive. After identifying workforce management and service
optimization, Rok chose ClickSchedule, ClickMobile, ClickLocate,
ClickAnalyze, ClickContact and Street Level Routing from ClickSoftware.
“With ClickSoftware we realized that we had identified a partner whose
technology and expertise could support our business strategy,” said Nigel
Lemmon, Managing Director Maintenance & Build at Rok. “The company was also
able to demonstrate that their clients had been using the software to
achieve considerable competitive advantage.”
Rok will manage a full range of jobs with the application, from tasks
involving just one technician and lasting a couple of hours to more complex
projects with multiple stages, involving a number of technicians and lasting
a few days. ClickSchedule will automatically optimize the arrival of the
right technician in the right sequence to get the job done in line with
Rok’s Service Level Agreement commitments. All the required project
information will be available to the technicians via ClickMobile on their
handheld devices. They also plan to use these to update progress, such as
closing off a job which will then support Rok’s billing system for fault
free and faster invoicing. ClickLocate will provide a real-time, holistic
view of the technicians’ locations and Street Level Routing will show the
fastest path for them to reach the customers. All this field information
will then be passed to a business intelligence tool, ClickAnalyze, which
will provide Rok’s leaders with a valuable insight into the delivery of its
services and where improvements could be made. Rok can readily demonstrate
to its customers precisely where its services are driving efficiencies.
A significant leap forward for the industry will be ClickContact which will
give Rok’s customers’ accurate arrival times for technicians via SMS or the
internet. Customers will be able to track expected arrival times and change
appointment times online.
“Through this investment in cutting-edge technology, we believe we have
stolen a march on our competitors. ClickSoftware will enable us to provide
better service to our customers 24/7, reduce our own costs, provide a better
working environment for our employees and easy access to the key performance
indicators that are the spine of our business,” said Lemmon.
Hannan Carmeli, President and Chief Operations Officer of ClickSoftware
said, “The business benefits to the building and maintenance services sector
of ClickSoftware’s technology are huge. Rok is well known for pursuing
aggressive modernization strategies that give it competitive advantages. We,
like them, think this deployment will be a cornerstone for their continued
success.”
