UKDN Waterflow has taken on the TaskMaster system to streamline its field-based processes.

UKDN Waterflow provide water and wastewater infrastructure services to the insurance and household, industrial and commercial, rail and water sectors.

They are the largest supplier of insurance related drainage services in the UK, working with over 75% of the leading insurance companies, but also work with facilities managers, FM companies and asset owners for planned and reactive maintenance.

With 600 staff working 24/7 across the whole of the UK their comprehensive portfolio of services includes reactive callout and planned maintenance, survey and report, and leading edge innovation in pipe rehabilitation.

UKDN Waterflow deployed the innovative TaskMaster platform from TBS Enterprise Mobility on smartphones to its engineers within an unprecedented timespan of just two and a half weeks. Through streamlining field-based processes, UKDN Waterflow has made significant operational efficiency gains.

UKDN Waterflow’s engineers relied on rugged PDAs to record mission-critical job information on site, providing a vital link with central office. However, these were cumbersome, fiddly, lacked important features and had been subjected to a tough working environment.

Nick Powell, business systems director at UKDN Waterflow, said: “We pride ourselves on delivering a consistently high quality of service to our customers, and using the latest technology is central to this. It was clear that the rugged PDAs being used were restricting our plans for growth, and replacing them with a newer version would not stack up financially.”

Taking a different approach, UKDN Waterflow decided to replace the outdated PDAs with smartphones, as Powell explains: “Although unproven in our industry, opting for consumer devices over new rugged PDAs made perfect sense. Smartphones offer a superb level of functionality and usability for a fraction of the price, enabling us to deploy more units. It would also mean our engineers no longer needed two devices, a mobile phone and a PDA.

UKDN Waterflow wanted a smartphone option which would stand up to the tough environment as well as a new mobile workforce management platform, all within an aggressive timescale of just three weeks. Finding the right technology partner was key for UKDN Waterflow to deliver this important phase in its innovation roadmap.

Following a consultation with TBS, UKDN Waterflow opted to deploy TaskMaster on the Nokia Lumia 625 running Windows Phone 8; a cost-effective, robust smartphone with sophisticated functionality. “We already use Microsoft back office systems, so carrying this through with the Windows Phone operating system would support a seamless integration,” Powell added.

TBS worked closely with UKDN Waterflow to enhance and streamline the capabilities of its existing application on the TaskMaster platform, with full back office system integration, ready to roll-out across 19 bases nationally, in a fast turnaround time of two and a half weeks. The solution was deployed to engineers in both UKDN Waterflows’ domestic and commercial divisions.

Powell continued: “There were some concerns about workforce engagement with the new devices before we decided to make the transition. However, over 60% of our engineers were already well accustomed to using smartphones in their personal lives and the devices were very user-friendly, so adoption was straightforward. Better still, we encourage staff to take care of their new devices,

by allowing them to keep them after the normal 18 month replacement period, so breakage levels are already a lot lower.”

UKDN Waterflow saw immediate improvements in its operational efficiency after deployment. On the TaskMaster platform newly streamlined processes resulted in up to a 50% reduction in overall job lifecycle and the associated paperwork.

Immediate financial savings have also been realised. The cost per device is reduced by approximately £500, while the substantial annual budget set aside for maintaining and developing the company’s previous mobile solution has been released.

TaskMaster has given us real-time visibility of individual engineers, empowering us to optimise our reactive workforce. Live progress updates from field engineers including images come straight through to our customer service centre, so that we keep our customers well informed and provide quotes for necessary work at the same time,” said Powell.

Embedding high quality image capture within processes has meant engineers are less reliant on returning to branch. Field maintenance teams are able to capture images throughout jobs showing the condition of water infrastructure, of completed works and of site drawings, information which is integrated with central office systems in real-time.

We are now able to target and personalise the customer experience,” continued Powell. “The journey of a domestic customer is different to that of a commercial customer, so TaskMaster workflows have been tailored around this. We can also target specific areas where customer service rates can be improved.”

Within four months of initial roll-out of the Nokia Lumia 625, UKDN Waterflow more than doubled the number of units deployed, and has plans to increase this figure in line with anticipated business growth.

Powell commented: “The flexibility of TaskMaster makes it easy for us to adapt to changing demands, we can modify and create new workflows remotely at any time. Smartphones are also suitable to a wider audience than PDAs, from blue collar workers through to executives. The TaskMaster platform can be rolled-out to other parts of the business rapidly, a huge advantage we didn’t have before.”

In the future UKDN Waterflow is considering harnessing the in-built sat nav application, Nokia Here Drive+, along with other productivity applications in Microsoft Windows Phone 8. Microsoft Dynamics will also be integrated in future, for stock management.

“TBS have been phenomenal, and their partnership approach was crucial to the success of our ambitious project. The rapidity of deployment in particular was incredible, providing a full enterprise mobility platform configured to our exact requirements in a very short space of time. TBS has brought everything together and opened up fantastic new opportunities for us.”