Tampa Bay Trane: FieldConnect – Experts at Change Management – in Field Service

Tampa Bay Trane: How FieldConnect modernized its field service operations.

Tampa Bay Trane is a 45-year-old, Florida-based, Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractor. Initially, its offerings centered on supporting the sale of Trane equipment; however, over the years Tampa Bay Trane has developed its offerings to include servicing of digital temperature control systems, start-up & first-year warranty service, preventative maintenance, energy analysis, & 24-hour emergency repair service.

The Challenge

As Tampa Bay Trane’s offerings evolved, so did the makeup of its workforce. The company grew to employ 70+ field technicians in its service department with another 20+ in the controls department, all of whom were using 3-part paper forms to document service calls. Using paper to document service calls resulted in errors and details being missed, as well as manual data entry into the accounting & payroll system, and hours of copying & filing. Field techs were spending time on paperwork in the main office that could have been spent serving customers in the field. And due to the lengthy process of relaying paperwork orders to the back office, the billing cycle (activity to the invoice) was weeks long.

Management looked to replace paper with electronic work orders and time card solutions but worried about technology adoption. For more than 30 years, Tampa Bay Trane had operated with paper-based processes. How would 90+ field technicians adopt and embrace new technology as part of their day-to-day work?

The Solution

Tampa Bay Trane management evaluated and selected FieldConnect’s Mobile Technician Software because of its direct integration with their existing Microsoft Dynamics SL accounting software, as well as its intuitive user interface.

“I found that members of FieldConnect’s implementation team are experts in change management,” says Service Sales & Operations Manager Tim Barnes. “They walked us through every stage of the rollout, from the kickoff call, through the multiple waves of technician adoption, until FieldAccess was being successfully used by every single member of our field force.”

The Results

The effects on Tampa Bay Trane’s business were substantial. Overall efficiency improved as activity-to-invoice time decreased and applied billing rates increased. The success of the FieldConnect integration even gave Tampa Bay Trane access to new business opportunities.

“I have technicians telling me they would never go back to paper,” says Barnes. “Having FieldAccess has empowered them to manage their own schedules and workloads.”

“I have technicians telling me they would never go back to paper. Having FieldConnect has empowered them to manage their own schedules and workloads.”

Tim Barnes

General Manager