 |
|
  Kingston enters new service management era with Pinnacle Voice and data network specialist, Kingston Business Communications, sees Pinnacle's service management solution as a key element in its growth plans Watford, 17 March 2000. Kingston Business Communications, the voice and data networking subsidiary of Kingston Communications, has committed to a major investment in a new service management system as a key part of its strategy for growth. The company will implement an innovative solution based on the latest generation of software from Watford-based Pinnacle Computer Systems Limited to underpin the next phase of its business development. In fact, Kingston will use the latest release of Pinnacle's established service management solution, Service Director, coupled with a financial package from Epicor. The resulting system required significant co-operation between the two companies, and was developed to meet Kingston's specific requirements. These recognised the critical importance of resource planning and management in a company with an expanding national field service management force, already in excess of 100 maintenance engineers. "Although service management was extremely high on our agenda," commented Kingston Business Communications' Financial Director Paul Hudson, "we were also keen to take the opportunity to rationalise our systems. This meant integrating our sales and financial operations with our field service operation. However, a problem soon emerged in that every serious integrated system we evaluated had, in our view, a weak service management element, while service management systems could not provide a seamless interface with the front and back office." Much of this problem was eliminated, however, when Hudson and his team came across Service Director. The Pinnacle product was so far ahead of its competitors in terms of ease-of-use, functionality and expandability, that Kingston felt that the product was difficult to ignore. In fact, with the right approach, Hudson felt it could hold the answer to the Total Solution question. "Earlier in the evaluation process we had been impressed with Epicor's financial product. We felt that, if Pinnacle and Epicor could interface their respective products, we would have a winner. And so it has proved. Within two weeks the two companies had developed a demonstration system effective enough to convince us that it was the right way forward." "We are currently undergoing data cleansing of our existing system, and the new solution will go live in June," said Paul Hudson. "Extensive trials have shown that we will benefit immensely from the Pinnacle/Epicor combination, and we are certainly glad that we are able to take advantage of the state-of-the-art in service management software. There is no doubt that the planning, analysis and reporting capabilities of Service Director will help us move into a new dimension of field service management with consequent improvements in business efficiency." Already, Kingston is considering the viability of implementing a mobile field service management solution. "This is yet another advantage of the Pinnacle product," concluded Paul Hudson, "as it is designed to allow such a system to be added quickly and cost-effectively." About Pinnacle Established in 1980, Pinnacle Computer Systems is now the UK's leading supplier of control and management systems for the service industry. The company's flagship product is Service Director®, a comprehensive and integrated packaged solution for managing the business of field service operations. Service Director is a complete system in a single package, covering the entire spectrum of activities needed for cost-effective and efficient service management. The package includes: breakdown calls, planned preventative maintenance, contracts, repairs, provision and sales spares, installations and quotations. With headquarters in Watford, Pinnacle has a global blue-chip client base, including Serco Railtest, Servowarm, Siemens, Kingston Business Communications, Rentokil, Meiko and Triton plc. For further details, please contact David Cotton, Pinnacle Computer Systems, BRE Complex, Bucknalls Lane, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD25 9XX, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1923 686000 |
|
contacts | about us | partners | site map |
|
|
