WHITE PAPER Ruggedised Mobile Computing: Telstra Case Study

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER Ruggedised Mobile Computing: Telstra Case Study Sponsored by: Panasonic Michael Sager June 2005 Level 3, 157 Walker Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 Australia P In 2001, Telstra realised it needed to refresh the full fleet of mobile devices for technicians in its Metro and Regional Field Services divisions. The 3,500 users in these divisions often worked in difficult conditions that resulted in a very high level of wear and tear on mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), which were used to access the Telstra intranet. After reviewing the situation and costs of PDAs, Telstra decided to upgrade to notebook PCs in Initially, the Telstra management team wanted to evaluate the viability of notebook PCs primarily on the upfront cost of the devices. This was because the Advanced Services Group technicians within Field Services used non-ruggedised notebook PCs at the time. However, the National Field Mobile Computing (FMC) Implementation Manager noted early on that while the upfront cost of these devices was low, the failure rates and costs associated with downtime were extremely high. This led to the decision to consider a ruggedised notebook PC from Panasonic as one of the models for implementation. Samples from each of the respective vendors were sent to select managers within the FMC group for testing. Their initial impressions of the Panasonic Toughbook s durability, battery life and readability of the display in bright sunlight were positive. The most important evaluation criterion for Telstra was the failure rate of the device. In Field Services, the Advanced Services Group had experienced failure rates of 25% per annum over a four-year period with non-ruggedised notebook PCs. This meant every device in the field had failed at least once during this period. In contrast, the failure rate for ruggedised notebook PCs in FMC is 1.5%. Benefit Highlights -Projected AUD$2.7 million in benefits over four years -Failure Rates of Panasonic Toughbooks of 1.5% versus 25% for non- Ruggedised devices -TCO Savings of $780 per device for FMC over four year lease -Technicians benefit from durability and robustness from device intended for their line of work According to a study by independent consulting firm IDC, the implementation of Panasonic Toughbooks over a four-year period is expected to deliver Telstra s FMC division A$2.7 million in benefits and cost savings. This essentially translates to total cost of ownership savings per annum of more than A$680,000 (A$195 per device) when compared to non-ruggedised notebooks. Background and History The Field Services business unit within Telstra has the task of servicing all ADSL, ISDN and phone cable installations across Australia. This division is made up of two distinct units, known as Metro and Regional, which service urban and rural areas respectively. The Metro group is primarily involved in phone cable installations while

2 the Regional team is responsible for a full spectrum of services from cables to data exchanges. In 2004, the Advanced Services group, which covers ADSL, ISDN and data exchanges, was added to the Field Services portfolio. In 1999, Telstra decided to E-enable its field staff. This project involved giving advanced users the ability to access their and the intranet while they were out in the field. The program was later extended to cover all field staff. The Advanced Services group was given non-ruggedised PCs while the Metro and Regional groups used PDAs. At this stage, the FMC solution for field staff included: HP Jornada 568 PDAs; and Siemens (GSM) or Kyocera (CDMA) mobile phones. The HP Jornada 568 PDAs used by Metro and Regional Field Services staff contained software applications that aided in the repair of cables. As part of the project, these devices were leased for four years. Due to myriad problems arising from the deployment of PDAs, Telstra began evaluating a replacement mobile solution for the Field Services group in late This case study will focus on how Telstra dealt with this problem via the deployment of Panasonic Toughbooks and assess some of the key benefits realised. Field Service Legacy Environment Initially, Telstra discussed replacing the PDAs used by Metro and Regional field staff with Pocket PCs. However, upon further analysis, Telstra quickly found that implementing Pocket PCs would be ill advised. This was because: Costs were high and continuing to escalate; The devices were not robust enough (broken screens were a common occurrence); and The hardware infrastructure was impractical for field use. Subsequently, a decision was made to replace the HP Jornada 568 PDAs with notebook PCs. Telstra reviewed notebooks from Acer, IBM, Panasonic and Toshiba. The following details a list of the models that were submitted for testing from the participating vendors. TABLE 1 Trial Devices For Telstra Field Services Vendor Model Acer TravelMate 733 IBM ThinkPad T40 2 #IDCAU/ IDC

3 TABLE 1 Trial Devices For Telstra Field Services Vendor Panasonic Toshiba Model Toughbook CF-18 Satellite A10 Source: IDC/Telstra The notebook PCs had to be able to run 114 applications used by the Metro and Regional field staff. They were also required to be compatible with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system Telstra used for user authentication purposes. Beyond these basic requirements, management had an underlying desire to keep cost a key criterion for evaluation of the units. This philosophy, however, did not take into consideration the harsh environments in which these notebook PCs would be used. After examining and testing these units, the FMC group began to understand better how the devices were being used, and it became apparent that new evaluation criteria would be necessary to aid the decision-making process. Telstra decided to look beyond the upfront cost and take into consideration the needs of field staff. The new criteria included: Durability and robustness of device. Downtime and product failure rates emerged as perhaps the most important concerns for Field Service users. Ability to read in sunlight. As opposed to normal office workers, field staff need to access and view data in all sorts of weather conditions, including bright sunlight. Extended battery life. Mobile devices would need to last almost a full workday (six hours) as field users would have limited opportunities to recharge batteries during the day. Touch screen functionality. Field staff had used touchscreens on IBM ThinkPads and PDAs over the past seven years and expected any new solution to have the same functionality. It was found that the Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 performed well and mostly met Telstra's expectations, but some of the specifications were lower than other nonruggedised notebook PCs. Firstly, the device was slower than its non-ruggedised counterparts. Secondly, the form factor of the ruggedised notebook PC was a 10.4" screen, which was smaller than the competing non-ruggedised notebook PCs. While these were considerations, it was outweighed by Telstra's need for a durable device IDC #IDCAU/2005 3

4 Notebook Failure Rates Decreased by 23.5% The ruggedised Panasonic Toughbook is now used by all Telstra Metro and Regional Field Services staff except the Advanced Services Group. Up to 3,500 staff in FMC who conduct repairs, customer equipment services, residential services and work on exchange equipment use the devices in the field. These users operate in harsh environments and have the highest probability of seriously damaging their notebooks. The failure rate of notebooks in the field was a primary concern for Telstra. Access to and the intranet for field staff is a core function in the FMC group. The Advanced Services Group used traditional non-ruggedised notebooks, and over the period of a four-year lease the devices were found to have a failure rate of 25%. This failure rate experienced in the FMC user community formed the basis for evaluating the cost of implementing non-ruggedised notebooks in the Telstra Metro and Regional Field Services units. The findings of this study indicate that the 25% failure rate of non-ruggedised PCs is far greater than the 1.5% failure rate of the Panasonic Toughbook CF-18. A 25% failure rate means that every non-ruggedised PC had failed at least once during the four-year lease period. "The Toughbook handled everything we threw at it and we are overly pleased with the device in the field." Bob Pedrycz National FMC Implementation Manager, Infrastructure Services, Telstra The Toughbook handled everything we threw at it and we are overly pleased with the device in the field, said Bob Pedrycz, National FMC Implementation Manager, Infrastructure Services for Telstra. TABLE 2 Notebook PC Failure Rates Type Failure Rate Notebooks Affected Per Annum Total Notebooks Affected in Four-Year Lease Non-Ruggedised Notebook PC Panasonic Toughbook 25% 875 3, % Source: IDC/Telstra Panasonic Toughbook Yields A$680,000 Cost Savings Per Annum The IDC study identified strong improvements in the downtime, failure rates and durability of the devices used by Telstra. The demanding work environments in the field often lead to abnormally high failure rates and quality-related issues in nonruggedised notebook PCs. The costs related to these high failure rates and downtime were a major consideration for moving towards ruggedised notebook PCs. The costs from non-ruggedised PCs failing in the field were unacceptably high, said Pedrycz. "The costs from nonruggedised PCs failing in field was unacceptably high." Bob Pedrycz National FMC Implementation Manager, Infrastructure Services, Telstra 4 #IDCAU/ IDC

5 The durability and downtime of notebook PCs within FMC are critical, as are the costs and revenue attributed to each user. The effectiveness of technicians in the Metro and Regional Field Services divisions decreases by 20% each time their notebook PC is down. This not only affects the billable revenue for Telstra, but also the revenue and overhead attached to each respective FMC technician. The implementation of Panasonic Toughbooks within Telstra has not only significantly decreased the failure rates of devices, but also increased the uptime that Telstra technicians can bring in billable revenue. Additionally, there have been noteworthy cost savings from having better utilisation of the salary and overhead costs for each of the 3,500 technicians in Metro and Regional Field Services. According to the study, the combined saving to Telstra from the rollout of the ruggedised notebooks is more than A$680,000 per year in the FMC group. TABLE 3 Total Cost of Ownership for Telstra FMC Per Annum Category Non-Ruggedised Notebook PC Panasonic Toughbook Failure Rate 25% 1.5% Direct Costs Leasing Costs Confidential Confidential Indirect Costs Cost of Processing Failure $200 $200 Loss from Downtime 1 $1,291 $1,291 Loss in Time to Repair Equipment 2 $500 $500 Total Cost Per Incident $1,991 $1,991 Total Cost of Ownership Result 3 Confidential Confidential Per Device 4 Confidential Confidential Notes: 1 Loss from Downtime includes the technician value, salary/overhead costs and an assumed 20% loss in productivity resulting from an average three-day downtime period. 2 Includes cost of technician and time in total to return to base and re-image device. 3 The combined Total of Direct/Indirect costs by the number of devices in field (3,500). 4 The difference in failure rates for non-ruggedised and Panasonic Toughbooks related directly to the 'per device' TCO per annum. Source: IDC/Telstra 2005 IDC #IDCAU/2005 5

6 Strong Potential for Savings With Further Deployment of Toughbooks There are presently 10,000 technicians in the FMC group at Telstra. In the current environment, the conditions for revenue and costing across all technicians is identical. There is a potential to extend the deployment of ruggedised notebook PCs in the rest of the FMC technician user base, which would mean an additional deployment of 6,500 Panasonic Toughbooks. The assumption is that Telstra would experience significant savings from deploying ruggedised notebook PCs with the remainder of the FMC technicians. The savings resulting from the current deployment in Metro and Regional Field Services paint a solid argument for the potential savings. The savings would vary with the number of devices deployed, usage models of devices, and price of the devices over a four-year lease, among other areas. However, the overall conclusion is that Telstra would see a cost savings as a result of ruggedised notebook PCs in part of or the entire user base in the FMC unit of Telstra. Telstra Enjoys Significant Customer Service and Brand Equity Gains Given the increased service levels, improved response rate and uptime for FMC technicians, it is safe to conclude that Telstra will enjoy gains in customer service and brand equity from the deployment of Panasonic Toughbooks. Telstra has seen a rise in competition in many business areas and needs to focus on customer service and retention. With full privatisation likely, it is critical that Telstra maintains a positive view in front of customers. IDC believes the gains made in customer service from the implementation of ruggedised notebook PCs has helped Telstra greatly in its interaction with customers and raised the brand equity of the company as a whole. BENEFITS SUMMARY According to IDC s study, the FMC unit within Telstra is projected to save A$2.7 million over the next four years due to the implementation of Panasonic Toughbooks that e-enable the Metro and Regional field technicians. The main benefits include decreased notebook downtime, reduced repair costs, lower failure rates and an increase in the effectiveness and productivity of Metro and Regional service technicians within FMC. The above benefits and TCO savings are compelling validations of Telstra s decision to implement ruggedised computing technology. However, these cost savings do not cover the additional advantage of having devices which are intended for use in outdoor conditions. Providing technicians with a device that has a long battery life and which allows them to read information in sunlight has brought further benefits to FMC. The implementation of the Panasonic Toughbooks thus far has been restricted to 3,500 users within Metro and Regional Field Services in the FMC group, excluding 6 #IDCAU/ IDC

7 the Advanced Services Group. If this program is extended to the remaining 6,500 users in the FMC group, the cost savings for Telstra could be far greater than the projected A$680,000 per year. Additionally, the revenue generated by the Advanced Services Group per hour for Telstra is greater than the rest of the FMC technicians, and thus per-user TCO savings would be convincing. Copyright Notice External Publication of IDC Information and Data Any IDC information that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from the appropriate IDC Vice President or Country Manager. A draft of the proposed document should accompany any such request. IDC reserves the right to deny approval of external usage for any reason. Copyright 2005 IDC. Reproduction without written permission is completely forbidden IDC #IDCAU/2005 7