Case Study: Tablet PCs Mean More Time, Less Paper

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

Paperwork and manual processes can be productivity killers for a field service operation. Technicians have to spend time filling out forms to record their work. Those forms then have to be manually entered into a billing system by other staffers, hours or days later. Field staff have to rely on timeconsuming phone calls to manage their schedules and exchange information with dispatchers.

Washington, D.C.-based commercial mechanical/HVAC contractor CTS Services has significantly boosted its efficiency in the field, using a tablet computer-based field service solution to eliminate paper work orders and lengthy phone calls. The company first began evaluating automated solutions for its field force in 2009, as part of an effort to improve productivity and eliminate paper work tickets the company used to track its work orders.