Puntonet improves operations by 47% with Oracle

Puntonet is an Ecuadorian telecommunications company that generates solutions for both residential and corporate customers. The company provides data networks, internet connections, cloud services, and managed security, among other offerings. Founded in 1999 as an internet service provider, Puntonet obtained permission to operate as a telecommunications carrier in 2004.

Today, the company provides nationwide coverage and has a network of data centers located in the main cities of Ecuador, including Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Ibarra, and Santo Domingo. In fact, over its 21 years of operation, Puntonet has become one of the three most important telecommunications companies in the country. Puntonet has approximately 100,000 customers nationwide and provides about 8,000 field services monthly.

With the digital transformation that has accelerated over the last 10 years, Puntonet was faced with the challenge of evolving its services to respond to new consumer demands. As a result, the company had to maximize its operational efficiency, optimize its processes, and improve its relationship with customers. It selected Oracle Field Service as the best tool to help with this process.

One of the company’s main challenges was to maximize the operational efficiency of its technical team in the field so it could to carry out more activities with the same staff, as well as to improve and automate processes and optimize the service offered to its customers. With the company’s legacy system, many of the processes were carried out manually: Activities such as scheduling personnel and assigning technical equipment to a service depended on the discretion of the staff, and this generated deficiencies in the service.

Although the company evaluated other options, the fact that Puntonet already had Oracle Service, and that it could be integrated with the field service solution, was a determining factor in the decision. Other factors included the functionalities Oracle Field Service provides, Puntonet’s confidence in the quality of the product, and the availability of highly qualified personnel with Oracle implementation partner BDS Consulting.

One of the main benefits obtained with Oracle Field Service is the georeferencing of activities, which allows Puntonet team leaders to monitor whether technicians follow the planned route to their assignments or deviate from them, which is the first step toward optimizing the operation.

Previously, technicians would take an hour to move from one activity to another. With Oracle Field Service, they now take, on average, 29 minutes per transfer. This has had a direct effect on productivity: each Puntonet technical team can now make more service calls per day. With the increased productivity, the company also has achieved a 30% savings in the hiring budget, because now Puntonet can provide more services with the same number of people.

Another key benefit the company has achieved with Oracle Field Service is that technical visits can be assigned according to the skills of each employee. This means that each activity is led by a technician who is fully qualified to perform it, which has an immediate impact on job and customer satisfaction. Additionally, with Oracle’s solution, Puntonet sends an automatic text message (SMS) to customers who schedule a visit with the name of the technician and the day and time for which the service is scheduled, which improves the relationship with the end user.

Oracle Field Service also allows Puntonet real-time visibility into all work in the field—an advantage that was not available before, when scheduling was a manual process. Now the technician and the dispatcher can see all availability in real-time and understand at a glance if there are any issues that need to be resolved. As a result, the company has reduced technical staff delays by 93%.

All of these benefits have had an impact on customer satisfaction. Puntonet’s call center used to receive approximately 160 calls a day with complaints about delays in technical visits. Today there are, on average, 10 calls, and there are even days when there are no calls at all.

“Having a technological ally like Oracle has given us peace of mind, knowing that we have the quality products, specialized services, and highly qualified personnel we need for operational efficiency and for maximizing our operation,” says Leonardo Quintero, deputy national operations manager at Puntonet.

BDS Consulting worked with Puntonet on its implementation of Oracle Field Service.