Swale Heating warms to Pinnacle Service Management Software and Mobile Data solution.

For almost 40 years Swale Heating has been installing and maintaining heating systems in Kent. It is now the largest independently owned installer and provider of gas-fired central heating and service contracts in the South of England. Swale Heating provides full service facilities for over 90,000 heating systems on a 24 x 7 basis and serves 35 housing associations as well as domestic properties. It has over 120 field service engineers and a further 50 installation engineers to manage and performs hundreds of jobs per day in Kent and further afield. To manage this workload effectively Swale Heating uses 'Service Director' Service Management Software from Pinnacle and Cognito's G21 Mobile Data solution.

Swale Heating is one of an elite few companies that has gained the highest level of Corgi Gas Certification (CCL) in the UK. In 1999 it decided to bring its service management solution up to the same level to support both its growth ambitions and deliver its target level of efficiency. However, although the company could specify its requirements, sourcing a solution that could adequately meet these was not straightforward.

"Gas equipment servicing is a complex operation for a number of reasons, particularly in the domestic sector, which accounts for much of our business," said Chris Riley, General Manager at Swale. "For example, call-out ratios tend to be very fast, so call handling has to be extremely efficient, and it is important to allow for the fact that our field engineers often find out the type and make of installation only when they arrive on site. This is quite understandable - after all, not everyone knows the details of their boiler - but it puts a real emphasis on the need for excellent inventory tracking and logistics. Pinnacle's Service Director product combined with Cognito's Mobile Data Solution scored significantly better in these respects than any other product we saw."
But although Swale's current needs were paramount, the company was also keen to invest in a system, which would allow future expansion including the ability to send new jobs, and emergency call outs to engineers already at work in the field. "We felt that it was important to build in the ability to implement a mobile data solution." explains Riley. Pinnacle has partnered with Cognito to offer a seamless, resilient and real-time job despatch system using the Cognito Mobile Data Network running on the O2 GPRS network.

Ian Pierson, Managing Director of Swale said " Pinnacle and Cognito have worked well together to deliver a resilient end-to-end solution which allows us to send and receive job data to and from the engineers in the field in real time and with guaranteed delivery. With the Cognito service we can even tell when an engineer has read his messages and is on the way to the next call! In a competitive environment it is important we can offer this level of service to our customers."

Swale Heating have already reaped a number of benefits across their organisation from the Pinnacle solution. These include better stock management of parts both in van stock and at the warehouse and a reduction in paperwork both onsite and at the office.Following the introduction of the integrated Mobile solution real-time job closure enabless them to deal with jobs more efficiently and the added value of ensuring the quality of data collected onsite means that the next time they visit they have a better record of the heating system they will be servicing.

Ease of implementation with Swale's existing systems was another important consideration; the company required the installation process to be as disruption-free as possible. "This has certainly been the case, and we were able to go live on our target date. Inevitably, with a project of this nature, there has been the occasional minor problem, but Pinnacle and Cognito's implementation teams have been outstanding and have resolved such issues almost instantly and where necessary have provided 24 hour support.."

David Cotton, MD of Pinnacle, regards Swale as an important and prestigious member of the company's client list." We have a long-standing and successful partnership with Swale. Regular meetings and ongoing dialogue at all levels ensure a clear and mutual understanding of the issues and opportunities for both companies." says Cotton
Jill Dixon, Operations Director, adds, "As a service-focused company ourselves, we understand the importance of giving customers exactly what they want," she said. "This implementation underscores yet again our ability to provide solutions which are precisely tuned to the needs of the customer."

Steve Alderson, MD at Cognito is delighted to welcome Swale Heating as a customer and to providing a first class mobile data service in the future.

Swale Heating is just one of a number of companies who have chosen the Pinnacle / Cognito solution for an end - to - end service management software and mobile data solution. Other companies include JLA, Wadkin, First Choice Coffee, Banhams Security, H-Tech, Triton Showers, Status Heating, Avenance Instant Supply, Ergoline, Francotyp & CH Lindsey.