From Access Control and CCTV Systems to Fiber Optics and Visitor Management, Phoenix Systems provides a complete turnkey installation including conduit, wiring, training and IT support. At Phoenix Systems, service is a 365/24/7 business. If a customer has an emergency, Phoenix Systems will be there as needed, using mobile service centers that are fully stocked with spare parts and staffed with certified, trained technicians.

Business Challenge

Dan Gardner is Vice President at Phoenix Systems & Service. When he joined the company 13 years ago he was tasked with developing a basic Purchase Order database, which he created in FileMaker Pro. As the business grew, he implemented FileMaker in other areas, which, in turn, created even greater demand for FileMaker solutions.

"We developed a database to track our service calls," says Gardner, "but while we were tracking the initial calls, the technicians still had to hand write the ticket at the customer's site. From there that multi-part ticket would be distributed to the customer as a receipt, to our service department for review, and to our billing department for invoicing. We were using a lot of paper, and so many people were "touching" it through the process that it could take a week or more to complete. The challenge was how to streamline the process to increase efficiencies, better service our customers, reduce waste and be more environmentally friendly."

Successful Solution

The solution Gardner implemented was to utilize FileMaker Pro Server Advanced with FMStudio from FMWebschool, to create an online connection to the service database. "Each technician is issued a laptop and through a virtual private network (VPN) connection they have a real–time personal Web page which provides a list of calls they have been assigned," Gardner explains. "They also have access to the history of service calls for a particular site as well as hosted tech tools and documents. Once the service call is complete they fill out the service ticket via the live connection to FileMaker, a receipt is generated and emailed instantly to the customer. Our customers get real time updates for the work provided, we are better able to track our call back log, we have up to date records of the work preformed and we are ready for billing review and invoicing immediately rather than waiting up to a week."

We've seen faster development, and a lower cost of development since we do it in–house. We've also seen enhanced productivity because tickets and billing are reviewed electronically so we don have as many people "touching" the paper. In turn this allows us to provide first class customer service. And we see cost savings from no longer using paper and forms.

— Dan Gardner, Vice President, Phoenix Systems & Service, Inc.

Customer Benefits

Dan says there have been great benefits both for the company and for the customers. "We've seen faster development, and a lower cost of development since we do it in-house," he says. "We've also seen enhanced productivity because tickets and billing are reviewed electronically so we don have as many people "touching" the paper. In turn this allows us to provide first class customer service. And we see cost savings from no longer using paper and forms."

As for their customers, Dan says they now get real–time updates on their service calls. "The customer no longer has to be physically at the site to get an update," explains Dan. "They are free to proceed with other work because they know that they will get an e-mail with the update. It also allows customers with multiple sites to consolidate their management of those sites. Instead of having to collect paper tickets through the postal mail or in–house courier they just use e–mail. Our customers have been very pleased. We are the only firm in our market with such a solution."