With mobile communications and pc application, fuel oil dealers can automate substantially of their delivery and management processes to improve efficiency and productivity. Implementing such technology also accelerates the invoicing approach, which is usually a boon for the bottom line.
Digital Dispatcher
Digital Dispatcher is marketed as an economical option, the company’s literature says, mainly because there is “no enormous hardware investment. Most prospects currently have the cell phones, computer systems along with other hardware tools essential to implement the program.”
“We commonly make use of the mobile phone network plus the cell phone itself because the field mobile device, which you are able to choose up in the neighborhood Verizon, Sprint or AT&T store,” said Tom Duffey of Digital Dispatcher, based in Jenkintown, Pa. “That’s our point of differentiation. Smart phones and rugged tablets are very inexpensive. You can get a rugged tablet for under $200.” In comparison, ruggedized handheld computer systems and ruggedized laptops cost thousands of dollars, Duffey pointed out.
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Digital Dispatcher includes a full back office suite, which interfaces with customer accounting software. This includes a fuel delivery field management solution for home heating oil deliveries, which features a comprehensive interface to existing customer accounting software packages.
For example, Duffey said, work orders are picked up by the Digital Dispatcher program, working in conjunction with the accounting software. The Digital Dispatcher program features tools to help execute those work orders, including route optimization, which is growing increasingly useful, Duffey said. “There are a lot of companies that are doing additional same day, will-call deliveries in addition towards the pre-defined routes,” he said, and Digital Dispatch is especially suited for that scenario. What would typically involve “a cumbersome, labor-intensive voice communication between the dispatcher and a driver in the field is usually managed with a couple of clicks of a mouse,” Duffey said.
The system also makes use of a Bluetooth connection in the field to interface with electronic registers on the oil trucks, and printers to print reports and delivery tickets. In addition to fuel delivery field management application, Digital Dispatcher offers application for managing oil burner and air conditioning service departments and their technicians in the field.