Miller Information Systems Use Jonas eService Solution to Save Time, Save Money and Automate Management of 8000 Annual Work Orders
Executive Summary
A leading Pennsylvania-based communications infrastructure contractor, and current Jonas Software user, needed a high-tech work order management solution that would provide its biggest client with uninterrupted service. Jonas answered the call with its eService solution and a custom work order status screen.
Customer Profile
Miller Information Systems (MIS) is the largest, locally owned communications infrastructure contractor in Western Pennsylvania. Launched in conjunction with the divestiture of the Bell/AT&T System in 1984, company founders saw the need for advanced business telephone systems and focused on that market. When bandwidth requirements exploded in the early 1990s, MIS evolved with the industry by developing its cabling infrastructure business to support high-level telecommunications.
MIS has demonstrated a rapid and consistent growth rate, expanding from a few employees in 1984 to a staff of over 100. The business has grown by an average of 31 percent each year over its entire 18 years of operation. Today, the company provides its leading edge business communication systems and service, including VoIP technology and voice and data cable network systems, to major businesses in the health care, financial, educational, technology, industrial and transportation markets.
Business Challenge
In 2002, MIS replaced its existing accounting package, which wasn’t meeting the company’s growing needs, with an integrated accounting and service management solution from Jonas Software. “After evaluating several systems,” says MIS controller Cathy Mack, “we felt that Jonas Software offered the best solution for both our service sector and our operations side.”
Once Jonas was implemented, MIS’ operations department gained the ability to take a proactive approach to project management. “Project managers were now able to pull up real-time information to see if everything was on track,” Mack explains. “In addition, Jonas gave them the ability to see what was happening down the pipeline and plan in advance rather than having to put out daily fires.”
In January 2008, after several successful years on Jonas, MIS returned to the software developer with another problem: the company was struggling to manage the 8,000 work orders that get logged each year. What’s more, MIS’ largest client, Giant Eagle, Inc. (a full service grocery store chain that logs 2,000 annual work orders alone), was asking for a more efficient way to handle workflow. Every step of the current process – from the phone call to the dispatcher to entering the work order to following up with status updates – was very time consuming. “We knew that if there was some way to automate this process it would save both MIS and Giant Eagle many hours of work each week,” says Mack.
Jonas Solution
Jonas responded with its eService solution, a secure, Web-based portal that allows MIS’ customers to log work orders, view work order history and track accounts payable activity. With eService, Giant Eagle could enter its own work orders instead of calling the dispatcher. Corporate managers would have visibility into what was entered by location. And immediate status updates could be obtained on-demand in real time.
Based on the number of work orders Giant Eagle generated each week, Jonas recommended that a custom work order status screen be developed to improve the grocery store’s experience. “Jonas created a custom inquiries screen for us so that Giant Eagle could do specific searches on work orders to view the current status,” explains Mack. “The custom screen was a huge hit and created a big ‘WOW’ factor for us – and Giant Eagle.”
MIS prides itself on providing superior reliability and customer service. To protect its important relationship with Giant Eagle, MIS needed assurance that eService would also be reliable and trustworthy. While MIS’ clients rely on it to ensure zero downtime, MIS was relying on Jonas to ensure that the transition to eService was smooth – and that no work orders would get lost.
“With eService, we were worried that we might lose work orders if they didn’t come through to our dispatch board,” says Mack. “Although Jonas was confident that this wouldn’t happen, they took the extra step to create a safeguard for us. They developed an alert system that sends e-mails to both MIS and Jonas to make both parties aware of a potential issue. An alert would prompt us to check eService for work orders so nothing slips through the cracks.”
Benefits for MIS
MIS has already seen greater efficiencies from using eService to manage Giant Eagle’s work order needs. Instead of taking calls, logging work orders and running status reports for the grocery chain, the dispatchers now have time focus on other tasks.
The time savings achieved by MIS as a result of eService has also allowed company managers to stay up-to-date with new Jonas features and modules that would further improve its accounting and service management processes. Silent Partner is one module that MIS recently evaluated because of its ability to alert the company of upcoming critical reminder dates.
At Great Eagle, the individuals logging work orders using eService love the flexibility and time savings that that the solution delivers. “eService has put more information at Great Eagle’s fingertips,” says Mack, “and the custom inquiries screen allows them to quickly decide which of their work orders need additional follow-up.”
In addition to time savings, MIS is also pleased with the cost savings realized from the e-Service paperless workflow. Since there is no longer a need to print work orders, the company has reduced its paper costs while becoming a bit more “green.”
Looking Forward
Although Great Eagle is MIS’ first client to use eService, the successful rollout means that more clients will be added to the system over the coming months. This will allow the dispatchers to spend even more time working on other vital duties.
In addition, MIS is looking to implement Jonas Mobile within the next couple of years to increase efficiency of its 30 technicians in the field. With Jonas Mobile, technicians use a handheld mobile device to enter completed work order details, transfer those details to the home office in real-time and provide the customer with an invoice on-the-spot.
“As always, everyone at Jonas has really pressed hard to make sure everything’s working smoothly and that our issues are resolved,” states Mack, who has been with MIS for eight years. “That’s what pleased us in 2002 when we made our original conversion to Jonas – and what keeps us a Jonas customer six years later. We continue to get real-time information that helps us run the business, while offering our customers the most up-to-date information on the service we provide.”