How This Reseller and Service Tech Company Started Closing Service Calls Faster and Cutting Inventory Costs

The company began serving the South Carolina Lowcountry in 1968 and today has 14 technicians in three branches ranging from North Carolina to the Georgia border. Founders Lyles D. and Mae B. Saulisbury created and maintained a personal approach to business. Today, their son, Dale Saulisbury, continued the family’s service-centric mission while growing the business.

The company is known for their friendly, prompt, professional and knowledgeable service, earning a 5.0 rating on Google, in no small part due to the leadership of Service Manager Steve Phillips. Steve started in the business in 1989 after exiting the U.S. Navy, where he served in the submarine service. He recalls, “Like most people, I don’t think I went out seeking a job in the copier industry but fell into it and spent an entire career doing it, so it’s worked out well.”

Choosing the right business software solutions to run Saulisbury Business Machines has always been a key to their success.

“One of the greatest challenges this industry presents,” Steve says, “is a greater focus on software.” He cites the choices he and his staff have made as integral to their ability to deliver superior customer service. “It’s not only the products we sell our customers, but the software we use to run our business that has made us such a value-added asset for our customers. Products like RemoteTech and now MobileTech have given us abilities to do more for our customers than our competitors throughout our history.”

Today, Steve says it’s becoming even more critical that Saulisbury Business Machines uses software designed by experienced experts in their industry. General software would simply not enable this team to deliver the same, superior customer experience.

The MobileTech app, which is replacing the older RemoteTech browser tool, integrates with e-automate™ software to streamline the process of managing service calls by providing technicians with real-time, remote access to customer data. The application enables techs to create, view, and address service calls from any location. Comparing MobileTech and RemoteTech, Steve says, “MobileTech provides better features than RemoteTech and greater expansion to become an even more robust product. Usually, robust software comes with a steep learning curve, but once we got it installed and presented it to the technicians and dispatchers, it was incredibly easy to begin using right away. It was a seamless transition.”

“ECI has been terrific as far as the development of industry-specific software for us,” Steve says. “One of the things I’ve been so happy with MobileTech is that we can do dispatching and independent working of field technicians and have that all marry into the software back at the office.” Ease of use is vitally important, especially with a growing company that is integrating new employees in its three branches. “The application is so easy to use; it walks anybody right through it so they can’t make a mistake,” Steve remarks.

The application allows Saulisbury’s technicians to work in the field and report back information easily, in minutes. Steve recalls, “One of the shortcomings of RemoteTech was that partial information could be filled out and the service call submitted. With MobileTech, that ended. The app, which our technicians use on mobile phones or tablets, walks each user through a series of questions so that it collects all the information for the service call before it gets submitted. The times, odometers, problem and solution codes, meter readings, problem descriptions, and the parts used. Everything has to be entered before that call can be closed.

“This has been a time-saving feature that makes the team that much more efficient. Before MobileTech, if information was missing after the service call, the dispatcher working with e-automate would have to call the technician, collect that information, and manually enter it so the call could be closed. That was extremely time-consuming and was a process that left too much opportunity for human error. From a call closure perspective, it probably saves our team at least 15 to 30 minutes a day. That’s wonderful!”

He also raves about the inventory control features and benefits of MobileTech. “One of the things I love most is that we have better control over parts. With RemoteTech, our technicians were able to use parts that may not have been entered in stock. Now, if they don’t have it entered in their truck stock or in the warehouse, they can’t use the part. MobileTech is a very clean system, and we end up with far better control over our inventory, which helps us to monitor costs.”

Because ECI provides software engineered by industry experts, for industry professionals, the support experience is superior. Steve says “ECI’s support personnel know the industry, not just the software, so they can answer technical and business questions. They have always been very diligent at following up whenever a problem has been reported, and they are quick to come up with a solution. ECI support has been wonderful!”

“Now technicians are closing calls faster than ever,” Steve happily reports. When asked what he might say about MobileTech to a similar business, Steve said, “Having this application for your service department makes you much more efficient in terms of time, labor, resources, and ease of use. It just makes 100% sense. I think it’s a product that’s been needed for a long time.”