Using an Electronic Tracking and Ordering System (eTOS) to Enable Your Customers to Become Your Partners

by Duane D. Knecht

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Edition 14

The primary function of a world-class services organization is to support its global customers with all of the hardware maintenance, technical support and/or professional services they require to keep their business systems—and business operations—up and running at all times. This is a daunting task, and one that only works best when both the services provider and its customers perform together in a partner relationship, rather than merely going through the motions in a disjointed vendor-customer relationship.

This is where we believe that the availability and use of an Electronic Tracking and Ordering System, or eTOS, can facilitate the establishment of a true working partnership that empowers both the provider and its customers to contribute to the common goals of consistently high performance quality, timely execution and response, and the ability to monitor the status of outstanding orders at any time—in real time.

In fact, we believe that virtually any services business can benefit from the availability and use of a real-time tool, like eTOS, that enables all applicable parties to:

• Share common data and information, along with the ability to enter, edit and update "live" product, service and support order data online;
• Track the status of current parts, logistics and repair orders; and
• Monitor inbound and outbound shipping information.

Even at the back-end, eTOS can also be used as a means for generating, collecting and reporting ongoing trend data to be used as input into each party's internal data systems (i.e., for both the services provider and the customer). The availability of this data and information on both a real time—and accurate—basis makes eTOS an even more valuable tool.

What Is an Electronic Tracking and Ordering System (eTOS)?

We believe that eTOS should be positioned in the organization as a global e-business solution that provides users with real-time, "need-to-know", data that allows management to make better decisions, dispatchers to schedule their field technicians more efficiently, and customers to know exactly when they are going to be receiving their ordered products, parts and support.

However, an effective eTOS must be designed to seamlessly connect the customer with the providerÕs IT systems via user-friendly interface. It must also offer effective process flows, and provide integrated on-line management to its users. The main applications of eTOS would be the ability to track all logistics, parts and repair ordering activities including, but not limited to:

• Entry of service orders and RMAs
• Monitoring and/or defining inventory level
• Monitoring inbound receipts of fulfillment equipment
• Tracking shipments and work-in-process
• Monitoring and/or management of the customer's inventories
• Measuring performance against Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

At its core, eTOS should be a web-based, platform-independent, electronic tracking and ordering system with a GUI front-end. It should be able to connect customers to their service provider's internal systems without any interface problems, providing them with one-stop, online, functionality and a real-time connection to their primary third-party logistics partners - along with the ease of seamless interface to their own, respective, customer IT systems.

eTOS should also be designed to offer a fully configured, customized repair and logistics solution that can be used by customers in a wide variety of applications including ordering parts or equipment, configuring a cabinet, and managing inventory on-line, etc. As such, eTOS can serve as a powerful tool that can be used to make internal operations run quicker and more efficiently, ultimately serving to increase customer satisfaction through improved service and support performance. An optimal eTOS tool would also be designed to provide users with dashboards, providing them with the virtual real-time status of key program metrics.

From a strictly technical standpoint, eTOS should be designed to support most web browsers and operating systems, including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Internet Explorer 5.0, or higher. The services provider should also have the ability to customize the eTOS interface, if requested, to exactly match a customer's specification for items including web scripting, database-database transfer, etc. In addition, it should be able to interface with all major ERP systems, such as SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Clarify, and others.

What Do Users Think about the Value of eTOS - and How Are They Using it?

In 2008, based on the results of a survey conducted by independent market research and consulting firm, Strategies For GrowthSM (SFGSM), approximately 50% of the telecom executives surveyed claim that they currently use eTOS, up from only 11.8% one year earlier - an increase of more than four times! What has made this increase even more dramatic is that a majority of these users further indicate that they are also directing their respective field techs to use eTOS (currently reported at approximately 83% usage). As such, we strongly believe that the use of eTOS is fairly widespread and expanding. According to industry analyst and SFGSM company president, William K. Pollock, "The survey results clearly show that the availability and use of eTOS has led to significantly increased customer satisfaction across the board - both on the part of the executive users, as well as for the thousands of customers their respective organizations support."

The survey also revealed extremely high levels of value for eTOS among our existing executive-level customer base as reflected by the percent indicating either "extremely" or "somewhat" valuable for each of the following areas of functionality (Figure 1):

• Monitoring and/or defining inventory levels 91.7%
• Tracking shipments and work-in-process 91.7%
• Entering service orders and RMAs 90.9%
• Monitoring inbound receipts of fulfillment equipment 90.9%
  

The field techs surveyed provided similar ratings for each of these functions, but the real proof of the value of eTOS is in the frequency with which they routinely use it in the field (Figure 2). For example, in 2008, 41% of the field techs surveyed claim they use eTOS multiple times per week, including 9% who use it more than 10 times per week. A similar count of approximately 43% indicate they use eTOS once or less per week; and only 17% report that they have not yet used the system. All told, the average field tech supported by eTOS uses the tool between one (median) and four (mean) times per week.

Summary

We believe that only by becoming a true partner with your customers, will you be able work together to provide world-class solutions. However, an eTOS application can provide the basis for such a partnership that can serve both the organization and its customers equally well. A well-designed eTOS can provide seamless accessibility, widespread utilization and increased satisfaction for the organization's global customer base.

Duane D. Knecht is Vice President Sales and Marketing for Communications Test Design, Inc./CTDI, a premier telecommunications service company that has provided groundbreaking, innovative maintenance and product service solutions to the global telecommunications industry since 1975. Duane can be reached at (610) 793-8327 or via e-mail at dknecht@ctdi.com. CTDI's website is accessible at www.ctdi.com.