Virgin Media expects big savings from workforce management system

The SaaS system looks at skill sets and job history to estimate the time an engineer will take on a job

Virgin Media's SaaS workforce management system aims to give customers better treatment from 'man-in-a-van'

Virgin Media has rolled out TOA Technologies' SaaS-based Mobile Workforce Management system to more than 1,000 field engineers who are responsible for fixing and installing cable broadband connections.

Virgin said the service should improve customer satisfaction by narrowing engineer appointment windows.

The system analyses learned historical performance patterns, overlays skill sets, job history and customer proximity to enable accurate prediction of the amount of time an engineer will take on each job - it then personalises the schedule accordingly.

Staff can compile field workforce schedules at the start of the workday and relay normal day-to-day changes during the workday by sending pre-set 'I've arrived', 'I've finished', 'I'm leaving' statements.

Virgin Media chief customer and networks officer, Paul Buttery, said: "The system will improve customer experience and give us the scope to improve the working day of our technicians by giving them tighter routes with less travel time."

TOA Technologies Europe president Richard Alden said the system will drive up efficiency. "A lot of the things TOA does automatically Virgin Media was doing manually," he said.

"The system is set up to optimise installer use – but always with the customer in mind," Alden added.

Although TOA's system is set up to minimise customer problems, it can also be set up to crunch other parameters such as installer drive time, cost, overtime and other criterion.

The system also gives customers the opportunity to press a button and re-schedule the appointment if necessary.

Alden said TOA consistently provided annual savings of, "tens of millions of pounds."