General Communications boosts accuracy and profitability using e-automate
With e-automate from ECI Software Solutions, General Communications lowered administrative costs, improved field service productivity, and gave its teams faster access to business data they could trust.
10%
increase in revenue and bottom line profits
20%
increase in inventory turns
10%
increase in billable tech hours
The challenge: Give teams better tools to compete
In 2014, General Communications needed better software to run its two-way radio business. Financial reporting was taking too long to prepare, sales teams did not trust inventory data, and field technicians had to keep returning to the shop for updates, taking time away from customer work.
Marty Bleck, who had served as national sales director and system administrator since 2009, knew the team needed better tools to compete, and began looking for software that would help them succeed. As he explored new software, he found the features he needed in e-automate from ECI Software Solutions.
E-automate offered just about all the key features we were looking for so it wasn’t a very difficult decision.
The solution: Faster workflows and information teams can trust
With e-automate, General Communications, also known as GenComm, could easily share data across the business. Accounting, sales, inventory, and field service teams could find what they needed faster, and with greater trust in the data. These changes helped teams spend less time checking details and more time getting work done.
Helping field technicians get more done
Before e-automate, technicians had to visit the shop to update work orders or check whether parts were in stock. The new system made it easier for service writers and field technicians to share updates. Staff could send service tickets faster, and technicians no longer needed those extra trips.
Bleck reported that better communication cut travel time by at least 15%. This freed technicians to spend more time on customer work. Billable technician hours rose by over 10%.
Our techs are so much more productive today than they were before we moved to e-automate. We’re not only able to push tickets out to them much faster but they no longer have to come in to our shop to let us know the status of a work order or to find out if a particular part they need is available.
Faster sales support and better customer access
The sales team also gained a clearer view of the business. With e-automate, staff could check stock levels and order status right away. They could trust the information they found.
“With our old system, our sales team never really trusted any of the information they would get on product availability and that was always a problem,” Bleck recalls. “With e-automate, our salespeople have instant visibility into what’s available and a high level of confidence in what they’re seeing.”
Rush orders that once took up to a full day to process could be handled in just 15 minutes.
Customers gained easier access to information, too. GenComm used the e-info™ Enhanced Web Portal to let them view account activity online. At the time of the case study, the company was adding at least two or three customers to the portal each month.
“They view the online platform as a paperless, ‘green’ solution and really like the access it gives them into account activity.”
Easier inventory tracking and faster reports
Counting inventory once took a lot of work and disrupted daily tasks. With e-automate, the process became easier. GenComm also added rolling reports to track items that had been hard to monitor.
The accounting team saw similar gains. Staff could create invoices faster and prepare more accurate financial reports. Reports that once took several days were ready in just 10–15 minutes.
Inventory management overall is a lot less time-consuming and our inventory valuation reports have become far more accurate since switching to e-automate.
35% lower administrative costs
More than 20% higher inventory turns
Over 10% more billable technician hours
10% growth in both revenue and bottom-line profits
Financial reports completed in 10–15 minutes instead of several days
e-automate’s technical support helped GenComm launch smoothly and on time, invoice on day one, and gain lasting value through ongoing support.
“With e-automate, we’ve never had any support issues - they’ve always been very responsive and consistently able to provide a solution.”
For Bleck, the value went beyond better software. GenComm had reduced costs, saved time, and increased profits, delivering the return on investment he wanted.
Moving to e-automate has definitely given us the kind of ROI we were looking for. We’ve seen significant improvements across the board and I have no reservations about recommending e-automate to other two-way companies like ours.
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