Technology pays off in hands of techs, sales reps

There's a growing trend in the security industry of companies leveraging the latest technology by putting it in the hands of their frontline employees out in the field. A recent story I wrote about ADT putting iPads in the hands of its 4,000 sales reps to help boost sales is a good example.

Here's another example, announced today by Vivint, the Provo, Utah-based home automation/home security giant. The company says it has developed a new app for field service technicians that makes them more productive.

Here's more from Vivint's April 11 news release:

The app was developed completely in-house, and was designed specifically to address the needs of Vivint service technicians, who are stationed throughout Vivint's service area. By using the app, technicians can receive schedules, manage inventory and interact with the customer service center remotely - spending less time in planning and logistics and more time working with customers. Built using HTML5, the web-based application enables technicians to access the information they need to do their jobs quickly and efficiently from wherever they are on any internet-enabled mobile devices.

“What we've developed with this Vivint app has really increased the functionality of what we had been using before, and we couldn't be happier with the results so far,” said Scott Taylor, director of field services. “This app will really help us give our customers the high level of service they have come to expect from Vivint. We've already seen response time increase by 20 percent.”

Since rolling out the new app, the first-time fix rate average for Vivint customers has increased to 95 percent. Other features that increase productivity and efficiency include a mapping option that provides the best route to get to a job and a tech-locating element that helps Vivint technicians connect with other technicians in the area.