PHOENIX and CLEVELAND, April 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When Cable ONE decided to transform its field operations and customer experience, it evaluated its core IT and operational systems – billing, CRM and mobile workforce management. The cable operator, with 650,000 customers across 19 states in the U.S., quickly identified that replacing its current mobile workforce management software with a solution that provided a focus on Cable ONE's customers was imperative to the success of this major initiative. Deployed in the cloud and proven to successfully enable the transformation of field operations and enhance the customer experience, TOA Technologies and its ETAdirect solution were selected by Cable ONE to meet its long-term field service management goals.

"My job is to make sure that each of our 800-plus field technicians get to the right job on-time, every time. With our current mobile workforce management system, we weren't routing and scheduling customer appointments as optimally as possible due to capacity/quota being stuck in the billing system. This made it difficult to accurately get our field technicians to the right job, because the billing system doesn't have the intelligence to create an actual, real-time view of capacity/quota," said Tad Drescher, manager, process improvement and workforce management at Cable ONE.

"When we spoke with the TOA Technologies team about their approach – optimizing field resources by learning each technician's performance and using predictive analytics to create profiles for each person – we knew that if we wanted to gain both operational efficiencies and better deliver on our promised appointment windows to customers with a single system, ETAdirect was the solution for Cable ONE," said Gary McDonald, senior director, technical operations at Cable ONE.

Cable ONE plans to deploy ETAdirect across its 19-state operations. The cable operator will benefit from:

• A more accurate view of capacity/quota – Instead of using the old point method in the billing system, ETAdirect will learn, pattern and predict capacity/quota by time measurements, calculating capacity/quota down to the minute for the most accurate routing and scheduling possible.
• Better tools to communicate with customers – Previously, field technicians and dispatchers had to manually call customers with pre-appointment reminders. Using ETAdirect's predicted time of arrival capability, the solution will automatically remind customers about their appointments, giving them the option to confirm, cancel or reschedule the appointment.
• Easier mobile device management using a cloud and HTML5 browser-based application – With more than 800 Panasonic Toughbook CF-19s in the field, Cable ONE's IT team spent a lot of time making sure the current mobile workforce management system was up-to-date. Because the ETAdirect mobile application is in the cloud and delivered via a browser, it will be automatically updated, saving IT time and ensuring the solution is always current. In addition, because ETAdirect is device-agnostic, Cable ONE has the flexibility to adopt any new mobile device in the future without worrying about compatibility with ETAdirect.
• Improved reliability – ETAdirect's 99.996-plus percent uptime is unmatched by any cloud-based enterprise software solution and, based on internal testing, will be a dramatic improvement compared to Cable ONE's current mobile workforce management system.

"As a consumer, I know that continuous and transparent communications, and shorter appointment windows, are keys to a positive customer experience," said Yuval Brisker, co-founder and CEO of TOA Technologies. "That's why we designed TOA's field service management solutions to focus on bringing the customer into the service loop."

"But it's what is behind our industry-leading field service management solutions that allows us to realize the promise of a customer-centric approach: our time-based predictive analytics. ETAdirect measures how long it takes field employees to perform work and then uses that information to create personalized performance pattern profiles for each and every person. With statistical analysis and our patented predictive algorithms, ETAdirect then delivers the most accurate, optimized and automated schedules possible. This allows smart companies like Cable ONE to run more efficiently, make more dependable promises to customers and communicate real-time information to them throughout the process. This is the holy grail of any service business."

Today, cable, broadband and telecommunications providers around the world rely on TOA Technologies as their mobile workforce management solution partner. For more information about TOA Technologies and how its proven solutions enable better service management for cable companies, visit http://www.toatech.com.

About Cable ONE
Serving 650,000 customers in 19 states with high speed internet, cable television, and telephone service, Cable ONE provides consumers a wide range of the latest products and services, including wireless Internet service, High-Definition programming and phone service with free, unlimited long distance calling in the continental United States. Cable ONE is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

About TOA Technologies
TOA Technologies is a leading provider of field service and mobile workforce management software solutions. ETAdirect, TOA's complete cloud-based field service management application suite, holistically manages the entire service delivery process from start to finish: from the moment an appointment or service is requested, through planning, routing and scheduling, to real-time customer communications and field management. ETAdirect measures everything that happens in the field, from travel times to appointment length, and creates unique performance pattern profiles for each and every person in the field. TOA's patented statistical analysis engine then uses these personalized profiles to predict when things will happen and how long they will take. With the most accurate schedules and ETAdirect's browser-based and device-agnostic field service mobile app, mobile employees are empowered to get the job done right, on-time and the first time. ETAdirect is quickly deployed, highly configurable and easily integrated with existing CRM, ERP and other systems.

Across six continents, TOA Technologies and its ETAdirect solution suite manage diverse mobile workforces in the satellite/cable/broadband, telecom, utilities, insurance, home services and retail industries, helping them achieve their goals of reducing operational costs while dramatically enhancing the customer experience. TOA Technologies is headquartered in the United States and has offices throughout Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Media contact
Kayleigh Fitch
216.902.8547
kayleigh.fitch@toatech.com

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SOURCE TOA Technologies