Computer Pros On Call Discovers an Unexpected Financial Asset: LiveViewGPS

The problem

The human brain is funny when it comes to gauging time. Five minutes in a dentist’s chair seems like an hour, and an hour with a new love seems like five minutes. The same phenomenon can occur on service calls.

That was one of the challenges Computer Pros On Call, a Mooresville, NC-based computer repair service dealt with.

Locally owned and operated Computer Pros on Call has been providing onsite assistance for commercial and residential customers since 2003. They take pride in responding to service requests within two to four hours instead of two to four days it takes some of their competitors.

Their motto is “Why hire a geek when you can hire a pro?”

The company offers a wide variety of services for small businesses and office environments such as installing servers and workstations; helping with email set up, backup solutions and resource sharing; plus network security and trouble-shooting.

For residential customers they assist with a multitude of computing issues such as Internet connection problems, PC repair/optimization/upgrades, wireless networking and more.

“Our primary goal is client satisfaction,” explains Khristin Meyers, Computer Pros on Call dispatcher. “Naturally that includes showing up on time and doing the job right the first time. But accurate billing is also an important part of our service.

“We realized our engineers sometimes had difficulty remembering how long they spent at various service calls. That’s not terribly surprising because once they’re confronted with a computer problem they tend to focus on the solution. Often they get so wrapped up in the job they lose track of time. As a result, they sometimes needed assistance calculating actual time spent onsite and LiveView was a great tool for this. “Our owner, Steve Wickersham, decided a GPS vehicle tracking system would solve the problem because of its accurate and detailed reporting functions.”

Wickersham investigated several GPS vendors before selecting LiveViewGPS. “What we wanted was a solution that gave us the most value and performance for our dollar,” says Meyers. “Nothing the other vendors proposed compared with what LiveViewGPS offered.”

The LiveViewGPS solution

Computer Pros On Call installed Live Trac RTV-5 Vehicle Trackers in five service vehicles.

RTV-5 Vehicle Trackers have a history of proven reliability in thousands of vehicles, often working in environments where other GPS units fail. They effectively monitor and record all driver activity in 10-second increments.

The trackers operate on LiveViewGPS’ new Live Trac Platform, a next-generation, real-time vehicle tracking system offering 1-, 5- and 10-second vehicle tracking capabilities on highly sensitive receivers. The Live Trac GPS Platform features reliable 99.9 percent server uptime and requires no software to install and no contracts to sign. System updates are free, and live support is built into the platform.

Users log on via their computer or web-enabled mobile device and, once connected, can track multiple vehicles in real time on a high-resolution satellite map, set geofencing (zones), find addresses, see aerial or road map views, and scrutinize historical data up to 90 days.

A personal dashboard allows users to set and manage mapping, reporting and alert features to meet business or personal needs. Reports typically include start/stop, mileage, idle time, route histories and more. These reports allow companies like Computer Pros On Call to document extra overtime and payroll expenses, assists with maintenance scheduling, allows tracking of personal use for proper expense reporting, and allows better efficiency with engineer routes which helps keep the fuel costs down.

The benefits

“The LiveViewGPS Live Trac system is great compared with systems I’ve used at other companies,” Meyers states. “It gives us fast updates and allows easy logon to the Live Trac site for billing purposes.

“Accurate billing is an essential part of our customer service; with the LiveViewGPS start/stop reports I get an accurate paper trail I can show customers. The up-to-the-minute reports detail how long our engineers spend on every service call. If a job takes longer than scheduled, we know how much overtime to bill. If a customer asks us to perform additional tasks while we are there we can accurately track our time. These features generate additional revenue which exceeds the cost of the GPS service.”

The LiveViewGPS’ RTV-5 Vehicle Tracker system obviously assists Meyers in scheduling service calls. By tracking company service vehicles online, she knows where each one is, how long the engineers have been at a site, and how far away they are from their next service call. As a result, Computer Pros On Call typically responds to repair problems in a few hours instead of a few days.

“LiveViewGPS has been great to work with,” Meyers concludes. “Their system is really easy to use and it’s accurate—a major plus for us.

“Their service department is also great. Whenever I call I always get a human, not a machine, so they respond to problems quicker. For example, when we had a defective part, they replaced it immediately. They’re good, and they’re fast.

“There’s no doubt in our minds that selecting LiveViewGPS was definitely the right choice.”