Britex Carpet Care Pty Ltd has serviced both the professional and the Do-It-Yourself carpet cleaning market in Australia for over 30 years through the hire and service of carpet cleaning products and machines. Operating nationally through over 70% of all major Supermarket chain outlets, Britex has been the market leader for over 30 years. Britex carpet cleaning machines and cleaning products are available for hire from over 1500 retail outlets located Australia wide.

Situation:
As the Britex organization grew in size, field staff were finding it more and more difficult to exchange information back to head office. The problem of data error conflicts and paper chasing invoices resulted in staff confusion and loss of work productivity.

After researching many different solutions, Peter Anastasiou CEO of Britex Carpet Care Pty Ltd, decided to commission Advanced Mobility Solutions (AMS) to develop a Pocket PC wireless application. The main importance for development of the wireless application was to help increase staff productivity, reduce administrative costs, while at the same time eliminating the conventional paper style invoice, and machine service record errors, generated in the field.
 
The Britex Pocket Invoice & Service application (BPIS) was developed by AMS and runs on the I-Mate 2003 Pocket PC handheld device. After successful piloting in 2003, Britex introduced 30 I-Mate Pocket PC Handheld devices into the field equipped with (BPIS).

”We need to deliver essential business information to our staff in the field, while at the same time responding to our clients needs quickly and efficiently. We looked for an end-to-end solution which would improve communication while connecting easily to our office network,” said Peter Anastasiou.
 
“The Pocket PC handheld device allows Britex staff to accept orders out in the field and trigger invoicing, accounting and delivery at the point of action, in real time. It also allows Britex staff to track machine numbers, check Inventory levels, machine parts, breakdowns; machines added to stores, machines withdrawn from stores, etc...

The store manager signs the hand held device as proof of delivery. The Britex sales staff presses submit, and the information is sent back to the office in real time. Invoices are instantly sent to the store by fax or email as soon as the order is generated from the handheld device, totally eliminating the need for paper invoices. The Britex accounts dept can view the transaction totals from the control panel, and at the push of a button easily ledger the information into our current accounting system, saving on administrative costs.

Britex management can easily gain real-time access to field staff and data to monitor each staff member’s movements. Their location, time between each job, traveling times, and jobs completed daily weekly or monthly. This eliminates the need for field staff to complete daily or weekly job sheets, therefore increasing staff productivity.

Britex maintenance can also track machines, inventory and parts used by associates, on each visit to the retail store. It helps us identify repetitive problems with machines, and assists us to easily keep track of parts used and parts on hand instantly.

Head office staff can easily interact in real time with field staff while they are on the move regardless of their location. Urgent messages, machine breakdown calls, and other key information can be sent immediately to Britex staff out in the field.  It reduces the need for voice calls now that Britex sale staffs have real-time access to the information they require.

”The efficiency and speed of the solution has provided Britex Carpet Care with a productivity increased of 15% to 18%. The direct cost savings come from reduction in administration overheads as well as reduction in paper chases and printing costs (invoice books, credit notes etc...) which are totally eliminated”. Says CEO, Peter Anastasiou

Britex Carpet Care staff also use the devices for Information Management (IM) and Internet access. Pocket Outlook allows staff to send and receive e-mails and update their tasks and calendar information. It allows them to book appointments, store visits, take notes and set reminders and alarms for important meetings. Much of this can be carried out offline. The sales consultants simply connect to the GPRS within seconds to submit the Information in real time.

”Immediate data capture and improved visibility leads to better staff resource utilization, more flexibility and reduced business cycle times. These benefits have a positive impact on customer service as well as overall efficiency and higher profit to our business” said CEO, Peter Anastasiou

AMS are proud to showcase and support Britex Carpet Care, an early adopter of mobile computing devices in Australia.


Visit Britex Carpet Care Pty Ltd www.britexcarpetcare.com.au
Contact AMS to inquire about the “Always On” wireless access and the benefits it can have for your organization.