Article

WEWATCH, so deployers don't have to

TBG Reliance Corporation has designed an Internet-based dispatch and tracking system called WEWATCH (Web-Enabled Work Activity Tracking Control Hub) to help ATM deployers automate the service process.

November 25, 2001

After two years of examining how many ISOs manage their service programs, Rick Bennett concluded that one of the great mysteries of life was what happened from the time a service technician was dispatched to the time a problem was resolved – sometimes several days later.

Most programs were surprisingly paper-based and labor intensive, said Bennett, president of Ozona-Fla.-basedTBG Reliance Corporation, with some ISOs relying on such low-tech tools as legal pads and Post-It notes to track their techs' progress.

"We found that many smaller ISOs with 500 machines or less tend to keep track of their service on a legal pad. With 1,000 machines, they go to two legal pads. When they get to about 2,500 machines, the wheels start falling off," Bennett said.

To help ISOs streamline the dispatch process and keep better tabs on their techs, Bennett created WEWATCH (Web-Enabled Work Activity Tracking Control Hub), an Internet-based system that funnels service calls of client companies through TBG's central server.

"We can set up business rules to match up with the service levels a customer wants to deliver," Bennett said. So, for example, if a tech doesn't respond to a call in an hour, the system will notify the client automatically.

Customers can analyze how long it takes a tech to complete a service call from initial response to resolution, breaking out such factors as labor and travel times. According to Bennett, customers can send any information that can be attached via email, including purchase orders, installation instructions and photos of ATMs (to document damage) to and from service techs through WEWATCH.

A customer dials in to the central WEWATCH server through an 800 number, the call is acknowledged and a ticket number is issued for tracking purposes "within about five seconds," Bennett said. Clients can choose whether to receive updates via email, fax, phone or pager. Techs can be contacted using the same methods.

Clients pay $19.95 a month for access to WEWATCH, $4.95 each time a ticket is completed and an additional $4.95 if they want to process the ticket into their accounting system to produce an invoice, payment or parts order. Like other areas of the ATM business, volume discounts are offered for heavy users, Bennett said.

In action

Two of TBG's biggest clients areE*TRADE ATM, which reduced both the number of staff on its help desk and the number of independent service providers it uses to maintain its machines, andTriton Systems, which tracks repairs made by its authorized service contractors to ATMs under warranty.

Wayne VanDekraak, service and IT manager for E*TRADE ATM, said his company is trying to consolidate its service network as much as possible and has reduced the number of service companies it employs from roughly 70 to just five. Since implementing WEWATCH in February, the company also has reduced its help desk staff from 11 to nine.

E*TRADE ATM, like many ISOs, formerly relied upon a system of faxes and multiple follow-up phone calls to dispatch service techs for installations, repairs and other maintenance. "We spent an enormous amount of time and energy to make sure the techs were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be," VanDekraak said.

By improving E*TRADE's communication with its network of service techs and making techs more accountable for their time, VanDekraak said WEWATCH has helped his company achieve its primary objective of getting techs to machines faster. The average response time for a tech to acknowledge receiving a service call through WEWATCH is under 10 minutes, he said.

In addition to improving the communications process, VanDekraak said, WEWATCH has helped E*TRADE ATM maintain a more consistent level of service. Noting that E*TRADE requires its techs to carry certain parts and to respond to calls within a certain timeframe, he said, "(WEWATCH) has allowed us to set much higher standards and to hold groups to those standards."

Mary Edith Dressel, Triton's vice president of corporate resources, said that WEWATCH has helped Triton refine its TASC (Triton Authorized Service Contractor) program. Triton maintains a list of approximately 100 certified service companies in the U.S. and Canada that are connected to WEWATCH.

Using WEWATCH, Triton distributors can select and dispatch techs for services covered under warranty, then track the delivery of the services. Invoices are submitted, again via WEWATCH, and Triton takes care of reimbursing the contractors. "It's a collaborative effort among all three parties," Dressel said.

Using WEWATCH, Dressel said, Triton can track the performance records of its authorized contractors, including such criteria as which parts they carry.

While both E*TRADE and Triton have sophisticated computer systems, Bennett said the minimum requirements for the Windows-based WEWATCH system are a dial-up connection and 28K modem. This allows a variety of service providers, from the low end to the technically sophisticated, to connect to the system.

This is especially important in the retail ATM business, which is served by a highly fragmented network of third-party service providers with "a myriad of accounting systems, business models and priorities," Bennett said.

Bennett, a former service manager for Verifone who orchestrated the deployment of thousands of pay-at-the-pump point-of-sale systems in the '80s and organized help desks for Amoco and other petroleum companies, said that service is a neglected element of many businesses.

"A lot of companies buy technology and hire salespeople to move it, but then they forget about the service," he said. "We watch service providers closely so equipment owners can attend to their core business."

Approximately 25,000 ATMs are currently connected to the WEWATCH system, Bennett said, and TBG hopes to double that number in 2002.

Ultimately, he said, TBG hopes to work with ATM manufacturers, ISOs and others to adapt the WEWATCH system for other labor intensive, dispatch-based areas of the ATM business, such as vault cash delivery.

In fact, Bennett added, WEWATCH will work not only in the retail ATM business but in any industry with a fragmented service force. TBG has demonstrated the system for USA Today, for tracking delivery of its newspapers, and the American Automobile Association (AAA), for tracking its service calls.

Included In This Story

---

Triton Systems

Triton FI based products • NO Windows 10™ Upgrade • Secured locked down system that is virus/malware resistant • Flexible configurations - Drive-up and Walk-up • Triton's high security standards • NFC, anti-skim card reader, IP camera and level 1 vaults are all options • Triton Connect monitoring • Lower cost

Request Info

Learn More