Cloud-Based Scheduling Speeds Service

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

GCI has accelerated technician scheduling from two to three days to one day max with cloud-based field service management.

GCI is Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, providing voice, video, and data services across the state. The company utilized a paper-driven scheduling and dispatch solution for its 130 technicians that limited its ability to manage its growing customer base. In 2005, the company switched to an automated workforce management solution that helped alleviate its paper problems, but it still didn’t offer the scheduling flexibility the company needed. While deploying a centralized billing solution, the company began looking for a new field service system to help improve scheduling. “The previous solution didn’t give us much flexibility during the day to move appointments around,” says Kevin Sheridan, VP of combined service delivery at GCI.

The company selected a workforce management tool from TOA Technologies based on a recommendation from Cycle30, GCI’s billing partner. “Right away we were going to improve operations from the point of customer service through billing,” Sheridan says. As part of the deployment, the company expanded its operations to seven days a week. The new workforce management system would help GCI respond to service requests as they arrived.