Hobart Service modernizes service and integrates operations with Dynamics 365

Mature operations require fresh solutions

For years, Hobart Service ran its finance and operations on older, on-premises Microsoft solutions and field service on Hitachi FSA. The system had worked well, but as the company expanded into new regions and its software and hardware aged, pain points were becoming increasingly noticeable: 

• Locations in different regions used disparate processes and procedures.
• Dispatching capabilities had gaps.
• Dispatchers couldn’t see real-time inventory levels when booking service appointments.
• Technicians couldn’t process credit card transactions during service calls.
• Technicians in the field had little access to customer and other information.
• Sales and customer service teams relied on spreadsheets to manage their work.
• Both in-office staff and technicians had limited ways to communicate with customers.
• Technicians had to complete time-consuming, manual administrative tasks.
• Customers had no way to view and track service activity on the web.

In 2019, Leadership launched a project to move business operations to the cloud, modernizing and unifying its tools, teams, and technology to solve current pain points and position the division for scalable, sustainable growth in the future. After a successful launch of Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management in 2021, Hobart Service extended their Microsoft investment by selecting Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Field Service, with RSM as implementation partner.

The implementation team’s goals included making use of as much out-of-the-box functionality as possible and breaking the rollout into three phases, allowing the teams to learn and improve along the way.

With more than 1,500 employees eventually using the new system daily, change management would be key to adoption. Hobart created an effective training approach that involved a mix of onsite sessions and remote training in Microsoft Teams video calls with subject matter experts. This approach ensured that each region had local, expert support and every employee received the same information in the same way, leaving little room for interpretation.

Phase one went live in November 2023. Phases two and three followed and were completed by late February 2024.

Equipped with the right tools of the trade

The move to a cloud environment, where all data is centralized and much of employees’ daily work is done from a primary dashboard that requires a single sign-on, has been a seismic shift for the company. The new features and capabilities consistently receive positive feedback from executives to dispatchers, with the following benefits especially appreciated:

Employees are happier having clearly defined roles

In the past, employees often stepped in to fill a need in multiple departments to keep the business operating smoothly. Now, thanks to well-defined roles, training, and improved processes in Dynamics 365, employees can focus on their key areas instead of having to wear multiple hats. Their roles come with appropriate security and support, and leadership observes that job satisfaction is already improving. Teams are working more efficiently and feel less pressed for time while performing daily tasks. As Sarah Karns, Process Optimization Manager at Hobart explains, “Now, instead of people wearing three or four hats, they’re trained to be excellent in a focused area of expertise. It’s better for our people and our customers.”

Technicians accomplish more with less effort

Depending on the type of service call, a technician might perform an annual inspection or make repairs as part of an SLA or install new equipment that requires payment onsite. Each involves administrative tasks that took considerable time in the legacy system. For example, to take a credit card payment, technicians had to call in the number and expiration date to a dispatcher for processing. To complete an inspection, they had to scroll through a list of PDF forms to find the one they needed and fill it out on their mobile device. If photo documentation was required, technicians had to email it separately and manually add it to the form later. Technicians didn’t have visibility into how many billable hours remained in the month and had to “guesstimate” how much time was allotted for a service call. With Dynamics 365, all this happens in the easy-to-navigate Field Service mobile and desktop apps, and data that’s entered in the app is available in near real time to team members who need to take follow-up action. Employees are enthusiastic about the new tools and able to process more work orders per day.

Dispatchers optimize routes and inventory with better visibility

Dispatchers are the eyes and ears of service operations. With 1,500 technicians in the field on any given day, the legacy software solution’s lack of important capabilities meant that scheduling and work order management were manual, labor-intensive, and highly inefficient. The company had no way to track technicians’ time per service call or view real-time inventory for specific part and equipment SKUs. Reporting was limited and each location developed its own processes, resulting in many calls and emails to the office for information that should have been at everyone’s fingertips. Now it is, and all employees can be more efficient and effective working from the same near-real-time data. As Michael Nafziger of RSM says, “Hobart’s dispatch centers are praising the system and love that they now have real metrics and data about what’s happening in the field.”

On-demand reporting provides actionable insights

Although teams are still building reports for their individual departments, the data visualization available in Dynamics 365 and Power BI dashboards and views is already providing value. For example, having near-real-time inventory data helps technicians and dispatchers be more informed and efficient. Instead of searching a warehouse for parts or prepping for a service call only to discover a part is out of stock, all team members have the information they need to optimize scheduling and ordering. And visibility into resources and performance is enhancing decision-making and highlighting areas where more training can improve efficiency even more.

The IT team does less coding and more creating

In the legacy system, IT staff managed 18 complex interfaces to multiple, on-premises systems. They spent much of their time maintaining, updating, and repairing software and hardware or writing code to customize workflows or integrations. Now with most features, security, and infrastructure updates handled by Microsoft, the team can focus on value-added projects that benefit customers, like better communications and an upcoming web portal.

A consolidated solution reduces the need for third-party tools

Sometimes, it’s the little improvements that make the biggest impact. In the case of Hobart Service, employees now have fewer apps to sign in to and fewer screens to manage. For example, dispatchers used to track company truck locations in a third-party GPS tool open on one screen and Hitachi FSA open on another. Now it’s all built into Dynamics 365 Field Service, which saves on clicks and costs.

Focused on the future

Hobart is still settling into its new apps, processes, and reports, but further enhancements to its technology environment are already underway. “Dynamics 365 Field Service has laid the foundation for customer-back innovation in ways that have previously been out of reach," says Stephanie Peters, VP/GM Field Service.

Customers will soon have a web portal

Soon, customers will be able to view invoices, service call notes, budgets, and contracts, and book appointments. By the end of 2024, they’ll also receive and view messages from Hobart about appointment schedules and other details of their service visits.

Better communications are coming

Many customers use third-party service providers to manage their equipment maintenance and contracts. In the past, keeping them informed was challenging. Now, since Dynamics 365 Field Service facilitates multiple communication types, technicians will be able to contact customers directly with updates and other helpful information. The content will also appear in the web portal dashboard so that both customers and their contractors are informed and up to date. It will also enable customers to potentially troubleshoot certain questions or issues before involving a Hobart technician.

New reports and insights will be available

Many customers have begun requesting more in-depth data about their equipment, such as the total cost of ownership. Hobart is developing time and budget tracking automations to provide this and other information. At the same time, the company is building better tracking for its internal operations, which will improve visibility of sales, customer care, and service performance to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.

All of these technological and operational improvements will enable the business to run more optimally, such as eventually completing preventative maintenance on assets in a single visit vs. multiple trips over several months. With the foundational work of modernizing business operations and technology behind them, leadership at Hobart is confident the company is prepared to better serve its customers today, and well into the future.