Pattern People
May 5, 2010 by Yuval BriskerAs creatures of habit and pattern – there are some patterns that we, people, recognize, but many that we don’t. And though these patterns may stand out to others, we ourselves may be oblivious of them. Maybe we are even in denial of them.
Why? A way of keeping us from being exposed to too much information, a protection mechanism from things we don’t want to know or just because we move around our world not always 100% aware of everything we do…
At the end of the day - it doesn’t really matter because the patterns are there and they can be harnessed for the greater good.
So when Irad and I started TOA Technologies with the goal of solving what is commonly referred to as ‘the cable guy problem’ (or customers waiting at-home from 12-4 or all day for some kind of appointment without knowing when it will actually happen) we thought that, if we could only identify those patterns and connect we could use them to help solve this daily but incredibly annoying and costly problem.
Our assumption was that even in the most dynamic environment – like a field operations environment – there will always be behavior or “performance patterns” that could pretty easily be recognized and documented, ultimately help better plan, schedule and manage the work-day of the many field service people out there. We thought that by identifying these performance patterns and building a mechanism to communicate them, we could help the companies be more predictive and respectful of everyone’s time. By being able to identify specific performance pattern of the specific people who provide the services or goods – we came to the conclusion that we could accurately predict when an appointment would happen and how long it would take. We could then offer up that information to all the stakeholders in the appointment – the planners, the managers and supervisor, the dispatchers but most importantly to the Customers.
Two weeks ago – after a long 6-year gestation period the US Patent Office finally recognized the uniqueness of our idea and the spefic combination of methodologies and technologies that we combined to solve this problem and awarded us a Patent Number 7,693,735 . The first of many.
I want to thank Irad here for the great work he did in steering this to completion. Though the concepts and the composition of the patent is/was ours jointly, the last two years of negotiations and execution was Irad’s alone. Thanks!
Since we got the patent I have been saying that I now know for sure that those who get a patent deserve a patent. Either because they were truly geniuses who came up with something completely and radically new or because they had the perseverance and the conviction to believe that what they had was unique and fought for it without compromise. In both cases the award is honestly due.
Irad Carmi and Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel
April 22, 2010 by Yuval BriskerToday Irad and I are at Intel’s Software and Services Day. Intel is our largest shareholder.
We had the privilege of hosting Paul Otellini, Intel’s CEO. I am attaching a picture of Irad explaining TOA to him. Paul, like most people, ‘got’ what we do in less then 60 seconds! He told us that he’s looking forward to his next ‘Cable Guy’ appointment…as long as that Cable Guy is powered by TOA (and Intel…). 
It’s inspiring to be here at this event in the heart of the Valley with the other software providers that Intel invested in like Zend, Panorama Software and Perspective Pixel.
Irad and I are energized from being part of this group and getting a peak at some of the world’s most cutting edge technologies.
Making your field workforce more efficient and increasing customer loyalty. My talk at Mobile 10
March 10, 2010 by Yuval BriskerToday I am speaking at the Mobile10 event at Olympia in London about efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Some people would think this is a strange combination… efficiency AND customer service/satisfaction? Most people actually think that these two actually negate each other!
But for TOA this is our bread and butter! Literally! We make our living not just combining the two – but making them work in harmony to both reduce operating costs and enhance the customer experience.
This is because our basic premise is that these two issues are equally and completely intertwined. You cannot have one without the other:
And in TOA’s world it’s focus on the customer experience and making sure that customer commitment is MET and that the customer not only has what he or she needs -but has it when and where you promised to deliver it. This is the only TRUE PATH TO EFFICIENCY.
When we started this TOA our goal was to solve the problem of customers “waiting at home without knowing” when a technician (engineer in UK-speak) would arrive at their door.
That was the original seed of the idea: Why not solve the problem of customers “waiting without knowing” by providing them with real-time up-to-date information about the status of their appointment in a pro-active, personalized, dynamic and interactive way?! Such a simple idea!
But what we found was that underlying that lack of information to the customer – was a lack of accurate information by ALL the stakeholders in the appointment event: dispatchers, managers, technicians/mobile employees, call center customer service reps, etc. No one had an actual, up-to-date, easily accessible, real-time picture of the field.
And that’s what we created with TOA’s web-based SaaS solution: A system that collects analyzes , processes and disseminates real-time, time-based, actionable, predictive, intelligent information of what is happening in the field with a focus on the customer and the customer experience.
This is the first true web-based information hub to aggregate all the relevant information about the appointment or field event So that no one is left out in the dark wondering: What is actually going on? When is that appointment or activity going to happen? Why do I have to wait all day without knowing?
We ended up creating one probably the most sophisticated system focusing on predictive analytics, on time and time-based performance pattern recognition and integrated customer communications. All with the goal of keeping customer commitment! That’s the key!
Admiring those “Customer Service Champs”
March 1, 2010 by Yuval BriskerA bank that lets you deposit checks by snapping a picture of the check with your iPhone and uploading it to their site?
A credit card company that hires Customer Service Representatives who worked in the hospitality industry rather than in calls centers?
An airline that has a Senior Vice President of Proactive Customer Service?
What unites these companies?
They are Businessweek’s 2010 Customer Service Champions and clearly they have something to teach us all. A clear continuation of my favorite theme…Genuine Caring.
Interesting read.
