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One standardized form for the entire business |
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30% faster inspections reporting |
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Ability to adhere to legal requirements |
About the company
Unica Group is a technical service provider that builds and maintains larger building installations in the utilities industry. Based in the Netherlands, it has forty active operating companies.
An important part of its field technicians’ work is carrying out inspections. New legislation has required Unica Group to improve its reporting standards in documenting customer installations.
But each of the forty operating companies had its own way of working, and their inspections processes varied. It was hard to maintain a uniform quality of inspection reports across the Group.
This all changed when they implemented Resco Inspections.
In this story, Ricardo Pel, Manager IPM at Unica Group, explains how Resco helped them unify inspection processes and increase quality standards across the Group. This reduced the time to run an inspection and create a report by 30%.
Problem
Time-consuming inspections reporting
Before finding Resco Inspections, each operating company carried out inspections differently.
“Each company had its own documents. Some used Word or Excel files, others still used printed paper forms. As we had no unified Group-wide format, each report included different information. Documenting inspections was often time consuming, or even nonexistent.”
This problem was two-fold. “First, we lacked standardization. Without it, it’s difficult to have a uniform level of quality. Second, delivering inspections took a lot of time,” Ricardo says.
Their goal was to improve the quality and efficiency of their processes.
“Our aim was to digitize our inspections. We wanted to reduce the time to carry out the inspection and create a report,” Ricardo adds.
That’s when they came across Resco Inspections.
Solution
One standardized process for the entire business
The team needed a solution that would integrate with Dynamics 365, which they planned to set up. Rather than a basic field service app, they wanted to provide their workers with inspection tools, such as questionnaires.
That’s why they chose Resco.
“With Resco Inspections, we could set up a standardized way of working by creating one form for all operating companies. Our focus was to get rid of all the Excel and Word files. We wanted to keep all the reports in one place and one format,” Ricardo says.
As Resco Inspections is an out-of-the-box solution, they could customize it to their needs.
“We created an interface that enables us to deliver inspections without using the workflow module. Thanks to this, we launched Resco Inspections fast. Our workforce could get familiar with the new tool even before the full migration to Dynamics 365,” Ricardo says.
Two major use cases of Resco Inspections
There are two key ways Unica Group uses the Inspections app.
1. Using Resco Inspections for all commissioning activities
This involves frequent inspections to determine if new installations have been built correctly.
“We need to provide evidence to our customers that we have done the job right. So, before we can make a technical installation operational, the service engineer inspects it. Then, the engineer saves the report and forwards it to the customer,” says Ricardo.
2. Using Resco Inspections for periodic service visits
The technicians also work on preventive maintenance. There, they check installations if they still perform correctly and with no malfunctions. “We’ve built questionnaires each technician needs answered to complete the service visit,” Ricardo explains.
Since the implementation, two-thirds of their field technicians have been using Resco Inspections. “The app is easy to use. Most new users train themselves to use it. Eventually, we aim to have all our field technicians working through Resco,” adds Ricardo.
Benefits of using Resco Inspections
One standardized form for the entire business
“The major advantage is that we can provide one form to the entire business. This helps us create a minimum quality standard that we can uphold company wide. It’s important to us, since we have multiple operating companies to serve our customers all over the Netherlands.”
Offline functionality in places with no internet
“The most useful feature of Resco Inspections is the offline functionality. This is important for our business, as we don’t always have internet access in the places we work. The ability to work offline is critical for our business to continue.”
Direct impact on the product roadmap
“One of the best things about Resco is how they use our feedback in their roadmap. When we need an important new feature, Resco develops it. That’s one reason we chose Resco. Together with their team, we can determine what should be on the roadmap.”
Less time for running an inspection
“Thanks to Resco, we’ve reduced the time our field technicians need to carry out an inspection. They no longer have to create the reports themselves, and they can access them via their mobile devices. No more scanning and retyping printed forms into the computer.”
Ability to adhere to legal requirements
“A tremendous benefit of using Resco is that we can live up to our legal requirements. It also helps us protect ourselves from getting claims from customers. Now, we have proof from our inspections that the installations were done correctly.”
A centralized view of all inspections
“Another benefit of using Resco is the ability to oversee all inspections from one central view. We can see if everyone uses the right forms and works to our quality standards. Before Resco, we had no clue. We relied on the technicians to do the job right. Now, we have the knowledge.”
Result
30% faster inspections reporting
Thanks to Resco Inspections, Unica Group’s technicians save time on inspection reports.
“The main quantifiable benefit is that we have reduced the time to run an inspection and create a report by around 30%. This came out of an A/B test we ran with one of our operating companies. Of course, this differs per inspection,” Ricardo says.
Because of working with Resco, Unica Group has improved their processes. As a result, they now have a company-wide minimum quality standard for inspection reporting and comply with the new legislation.
“We aim to scale this and enroll other business units in Resco Inspections. Our goal is to have Resco Inspections as the main inspection tool for Unica Group,” Ricard adds.
As Ricardo puts it: “I would recommend Resco Inspections to any service management company that struggles with keeping uniform quality standards. Especially if you can connect the field services with your ERP systems, you can seriously profit from its benefits.”