Safelite AutoGlass Deploys New Mobile Applications Based on Dexterra Concert Platform

Dexterra, a provider of business mobility products, announced that its Concert solution has been used by Safelite AutoGlass, a supplier of vehicle glass repair and replacement services in the United States, to successfully develop and deploy mobile applications for its field service personnel.

 

An open development platform, Dexterra Concert supports any mobile device. Safelite successfully developed its client’s applications as a result of support from the Dexterra DevNetwork Program.

This comprehensive partner enablement program provided Safelite with access to Dexterra’s platform and tightly integrated development tools, application design assistance and ongoing mentoring services.

 

Founded in 1947, Safelite AutoGlass provides mobile vehicle glass repair and replacement services throughout the United States. The company employs more than 2,000 field service technicians who service more than two million customers a year.

Before the implementation of the Dexterra-based solution with RIM BlackBerry devices, these field service technicians used paper work orders, maps and cell phones to communicate with dispatchers as they moved job site to job site.

"It's common in service organizations that work days are pretty fast paced. Dispatchers are trying to determine exactly when technicians will arrive and leave a customer site, and are constantly interrupting technicians for status updates while they are in the middle of working with a customer," said Rod Ghani, AVP business development, technology applications for Safelite, in a Tuesday statement.

Ghani continued: "We knew there were significant gains to be made in customer service and employee productivity if we could help dispatchers get a handle on technicians' location and status without disrupting technicians in real-time."

By equipping technicians with handheld devices, Safelite made their field operations more efficient. Technicians gained the ability to text message, process work orders electronically and check parts status immediately.

To achieve their mobile and application development objectives quickly and painlessly, Safelite turned to Dexterra. The Dexterra DevNetwork Program was created to help development partners to quickly build mobile applications based on the Dexterra Concert platform.

Safelite faced the challenge that many of its legacy back-end systems are developed internally, which can make integrating with new applications and devices difficult.

Mentoring from Dexterra enabled Safelite to complete their application development and roll out their new mobile applications to field service personnel.

By capturing Safelite's field service processes, the new mobile applications give users access to all the functions they need, whether they are connected to the network or offline. A streamlined, intuitive application interface also helps users come up to speed quickly, typically in just one hour.

"Our partner enablement program gives companies like Safelite an enormous head start in building their mobile applications," said Jim Lambert, vice president of marketing at Dexterra, in Tuesday’s statement. "Using our technology tools and services, developers can focus their efforts on creating mobile applications that address specific business needs for themselves or external end users. By sharing our expertise with Safelite, we were able to help them capture their field processes quickly and accelerate the application development cycle."

Safelite’s field service organization today has a real-time information flow that allows them to balance the service pool and enables technicians to work more efficiently. The reduction in paperwork saves as much as two hours every day, significantly increasing productivity and job satisfaction.

Due to Dexterra's open platform approach, Safelite also has the flexibility to swap out mobile devices without changing their software code, a key selling point for the company.

"The mobile world doesn't wait," noted Ghani. "Through the course of this project, we've replaced three very different handhelds and made a number of changes in the back office. With Dexterra, our code worked flawlessly every time. This means we can satisfy our current needs and still be ready for the future."

As companies throughout the world are expanding the mobility of their workforce, the demand for applications and technologies that help to drive efficient mobile solutions continues to grow.

 

Dexterra offers solutions based on an open platform approach that allows the organization to develop mobile solutions that will meet their unique and specific needs. It is this approach that will enable Dexterra to drive demand for its solutions and strengthen its market presence.