“The simplicity and affordability of the digital pen is unrivalled. It has transformed our processing and cash flow” Ian McGregor, Contracts Director, Delron Services Limited.
Delron Services Limited (DSL) is a leading contractor in the provision of servicing and maintenance of commercial boilers. Working across both the commercial and public sectors, key aspects of their service include providing clients with high levels of workmanship and meeting the ever-growing list of UK and European regulatory standards.
DSL has 30 engineers working across the South East and Kent, servicing and repairing commercial boilers every day. Each boiler is legally required to have a Service Record, which must be retained on-site with the boiler at all times.
DSL's engineers work from their vans in the field, and receive jobs from head office via a PDA. In the past, when they had serviced or repaired a boiler, they completed the Service Record using traditional pen and paper – leaving a paper copy of the service report on-site and retaining a carbon copy for their records. This would either be posted to head office, or hand delivered when they next went into the office, which could be up to a week after the completion of the job.
This reporting process meant that DSL couldn’t invoice for the work completed by their engineers until the paperwork had been returned to the office, and was processed by the administration team.
Another issue was that when the paperwork arrived at head office, it could sometimes be illegible. This meant that the administration team would then have to liaise with the engineers - who were working in the field and therefore not easy to contact - to resolve any queries. Paperwork that was posted was often mislaid and carried an associated postage cost.
This lengthy process resulted in an average time delay of up to two weeks from service completion to invoicing.
The PDAs used by engineers to receive jobs and up-date notes were unable to aid data capture, processing and reporting from the field to head office, or to provide an instant and traceable paper trail. In order to increase business efficiencies and cash flow, this was a major aspect of the new solution that DSL set out to look for.
As they reviewed their options, a key requirement was to keep things simple to avoid major changes to working practices or the need for training. Most important of all, a paper trail had to be retained for inspection with the boiler and at DSL offices to satisfy UK and European regulations.
DSL’s Contracts Director, Ian McGregor, discovered Destiny’s digital pen based on Anoto technology, and was instantly attracted to its simple, traditional approach to data capture and reporting. He decided to trial one pen amongst the company’s engineers.
After each job, using the digital pen and digital forms, engineers fill in the service form, take pictures on their PDA if needed, leave a copy of the completed form on-site to meet the legal requirement and upon completion tick the “send” box on the digital form. This automatically transmits the handwritten details on the form along with any selected pictures from the pen to the PDA via Bluetooth to Destiny’s secure servers, where Vision Objects MyScript handwriting recognition software converts the handwritten notes to data.
The data is then routed to DSL’s servers in the form of a graphical image where the administration team can check that the data marries-up with the information recorded in the field. This is then processed and an invoice sent to the client - the same day that the job has been completed. With no need for manual re-entry of information, this dramatically speeds up the process and still maintains the legally required paper trail.
With engineers writing out the service forms in the field, transmitting them instantly upon completion, and having the data automatically uploaded to DSL’s servers, the administration team no longer has to input the data or trace missing or illegible paperwork. They can concentrate on billing and customer service, with efficiency gains both for service engineers and back-office staff which amount to an overall 100% improvement.
The trial was a success. The service engineers were delighted with the digital pen and eager for DSL to integrate it alongside the PDA.
DSL now have 30 digital pens and five digital forms, produced by Destiny, in use throughout their workforce in the field.
To reduce the processing and invoicing lead time from two weeks to the same day the job is completed has required a very small investment of £699 per month for a three year period and has resulted in a much speedier billing process. This figure is fully inclusive of the initial form design, supply of hardware, hosting and hardware insurance. This in turn has improved cash flow – a critical need for every business.
To cater for any additional notes that the engineers need to make, DSL have now also integrated Destiny’s digital note-taking solution, using a digital A4 note pad that enables the engineer to make handwritten notes and diagrams which can also be sent remotely back to the office.
“I would struggle to find a solution that is as cost-effective and efficient as the digital pen”, said Ian McGregor, Contracts Director, “and provides such an easy way of meeting the regulations that require us to produce and retain legal servicing documentation.
“This technological advancement on traditional pen and paper was an unbelievable fit and easily adoptable by our service engineers. We ruled out laptops in particular because of all the issues to do with cost, risk and support requirements. Our service engineers and even more importantly, our clients are comfortable with filling out forms manually – so digital pen technology based on a traditional way of reporting was a natural and unobtrusive fit for us.”
“Time and time again,” added Destiny founder and CEO, Edward Belgeonne, “we are finding that trials of the digital pen quickly covert to wider roll-out. The main reasons are the affordability and simplicity of the technology. The investment is far lower than other alternatives, and people quickly see a return - which is imperative in this climate.
“We are working hard for companies of all sizes to be able to take advantage of digital pens. Rather than just selling in a piece of technology, we look closely at the business and its processes, and work in partnership with our clients to see how best we can help improve their efficiencies.”
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