Optimizing Field Service Management

Challenge

Aramark is one of the world’s largest service organization and the largest independent provider of healthcare technology services in North America employing over 250,000 people.

To manage field service operations, Aramark used a legacy application which housed customer and inventory data, contracts and services schedules, as well as a knowledge base of maintenance best practices. The application itself proved to be increasingly challenging to maintain as it lacked vital capabilities for modern service deployment. Employees were forced to leverage a series of manual and tedious processes and they could not access important information easily nor on-the-go. These issues and others were hindering efficiency, employee engagement and ultimately leading to rising ownership costs.

In an effort to modernize its field services Aramark management made the decision to replace this business-critical application with a custom cloud based, mobile ready solution. The overall goal of the project was to reduce risk and improve the overall operational efficiency of the organization.

“The iDESK project was a complete success. We were able to deliver on our promise to the business and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We couldn’t believe how smoothly the roll-out to the business went. Now we can focus on extending the solution and providing more business value.”

Solution

AppCentrica was engaged in a multi-year program to design, build and support the new cloud-based service platform, called iDESK.

AppCentrica worked closely with Aramark to understand and map business processes, identify opportunities for automation and efficiencies. Based on this data AppCentrica designed a comprehensive reference architecture for iDESK. This architecture was vital to the success of the project because it enabled management and end-users alike, to visualize and understand the benefits of the new system and justify the business expenditure.

In addition, AppCentrica configured a series of integrations for iDESK with Aramark’s financial, HR and supplementary operational systems. These additional integrations, initially with Microsoft GP and subsequently with Oracle Financial, enabled an end-to-end flow of data which eliminated the need for repetitive and tedious data entry.

Outcomes

Once the core web-based version of iDESK was completed AppCentrica developed a mobile version of the application and a customer portal. The solutions collectively serve over 1600 Aramark users and an additional 600 customer users. The solution includes a comprehensive suite of field management modules including:

• Contract management
• Service scheduling and dispatch
• Parts procurement
• Labor subcontract management
• Work orders and work instructions
• Equipment inventory management
• Purchase orders
• Reports and dashboards

“We are excited about what iDESK means for us and our ability to meet our customers’ needs. AppCentrica has delivered a foundation for us to both grow our top-line business and create efficiencies that increase profitability. We’re set for the future.”

Overall, the solution empowers staff to better serve their customers, enabling an industry leader in healthcare technology to transform field services.

The iDESK solution provides front line workers with better access and control of the information and processes they need to deliver great service to their customers. A more automated procurement approval process, robust and dynamic reporting, and tighter control over work orders are just a few of the key benefits that are already translating into cost savings for Aramark.

iDESK has been running successfully in production since early 2015. Since its launch Aramark has seen a noticeable improvement in field service efficiency and a subsequent uptick in customer satisfaction.

“AppCentrica was extremely easy to work with. They challenged us to think about things differently, but were always focused on getting to the right solution. We were impressed with their resources and their ability to understand our business so well and translate that into a rock-solid application.”

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