BlackBerry®

By arming each building supervisor with a BlackBerry smartphone, Affineco has streamlined communications, improved customer service and reduced waste, consequently strengthening cost-efficiency. The devices facilitate instantaneous contact from any location via phone and email, which is especially helpful in emergency or crisis situations. Further, Affineco uses BlackBerry smartphones to initiate its morning reports. In all applications, using these mobile devices prevents the unnecessary faxing of information. In the past, multiple daily faxes accounted for a great deal of wasted paper and ink, not to mention wasted time.

Every Affineco client has the option of receiving morning reports that provide daily summaries of cleaning and maintenance information. At the end of shifts, each building supervisor sends an email via his or her BlackBerry to Executive Assistant Elizabeth Mahon to report on-site problems or concerns, the status of particular work in progress and any important accomplishments or developments. Mahon filters through these messages to create professional customer- and site-specific reports, which she then sends electronically to the respective clients. Property managers who elect to receive Affineco's morning reports are able to start each day fully informed.

Michelle Savino is General Manager for Carter's Property & Facility Management Group at RiverPark in Norwalk, CT. River Park is a five-story office building comprising more than 400,000 square feet and is serviced by Premier Maintenance. Savino has been receiving Affineco's morning reports for just over a year. "The E-mailed reports are great for communication with the night staff, as we no longer have to maintain paper logbooks. All the special requests and other maintenance issues are summarized neatly. I can then dispatch any open items to the day staff," said Savino. "I also save all the morning reports so that I can refer back to them in the event that we have recurring problems. This was any easy way to cut down on paper. Kudos to Premier for implementing this great communication tool!"

SageQuest

Affineco utilizes a state-of-the-art GPS solution from SageQuest to track and manage its fleet of vans. An award-winning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, SageQuest's Mobile Control allows Affineco to boost efficiency, increase productivity and improve client satisfaction, all the while reducing costs. GPS devices in each van not only provide drivers with the shortest driving routes and directions-including rerouting vehicles to avoid traffic congestion and accidents-but also integrate with Mobile Control to offer Affineco both real-time data and automated reports that support ongoing fleet management. What's more, Mobile Control helps the company run a greener fleet by preventing wasteful practices and reducing carbon emissions.

Mobile Control's Real-Time Mapping allows Affineco to continuously monitor each vehicle's location and driver. This is particularly helpful if a client has an emergency situation to which a vehicle needs to be routed. In such cases, Affineco can immediately locate the closest vehicle, alert and redirect the driver, and provide the client with an estimated arrival time. Alerts warn of wasteful and unsafe behavior, like excessive idling or speeding, and even reveal towing activity. Travel and Stop Reports provide detailed location and time data that help the company in a number of ways, including being able to reconcile and manage time spent at a specific location with the related workload or project. Fuel Consumption and Fuel Slippage Alerts show vehicle-specific fuel purchases and identify any suspicious fuel purchases. Mileage Reports provide data on the mileage per state and per vehicle for state tax reporting, expense calculations or record validations. Further, Affineco sets alerts tied to mileage so the company knows exactly when a vehicle is due for service or maintenance.

"The GPS technology from SageQuest has more than exceeded my expectations," said Premier Maintenance Director of Operations Frank Cepero. "As a Director, being able to know exactly where each company vehicle is at all times is priceless. Additionally, the savings we realize, such as on fuel costs, ultimately result in savings for our clients."