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YOURMaintenance
The 'Nasty Nine' Adoption Risks
Relating to YOURmaintenance - Response to an article from The Chasm Group concerning questions that prospective customers have about your offering, and what you should be letting them know in order to assist them with making a decision. Each of the paragraphs below is a response to a risk the customer may see. Use the response as a guide only.
Risk 1: Who are you, and how do we know you’ll still be in this space in a year from now?
TLA has been around for 6 years, gradually building a suite of applications designed to assist companies in the successful management of processes in a variety of functional areas. We are committed to continuous improvement in our software applications, and are continually looking to integrate the various time consuming aspects of everyday tasks into a successfully manageable and easy-to-use software solution that cost effectively saves time and money.
Risk 2: What does your product do, and what does it not do?
YOURmaintenance provides our customers with an online database for recording and resolving maintenance requests within their organisation. It works across a number of venues, and users simply select the location of the item requiring service. They are also required to enter information about the type of maintenance service required. Requests are submitted in the database, and a system administrator can assign the task to existing staff members or suppliers. Once assigned a request, staff/suppliers can enter the actions they undertake in resolving an issue, along with the amount of time spent, and any costs associated in resolving the request. Preventative and Project orders can be entered in the application and will be displayed in the diary of upcoming tasks. Reports can be generated at the click of a button and details on department and staff/supplier performance can also be determined easily. It also contains some Asset Management capabilities in that maintenance requests can detail the asset associated, and reports on cost and time spent on each asset can be displayed.
The system does not provide full asset management features, nor does it automatically manage dates and timeframes for asset lifecycles, for example changing light bulbs after they have been installed for 6 months. This is covered by the creation of Preventative Maintenance Requests to identify the dates when certain tasks should be performed.
Risk 3: Do you actually have a product we can install and use?
An instance of YOURmaintenance is able to be created and configured by TLA for use within one day, dependant upon customer demand. The initial setup contains very generic items for keyword selection in maintenance requests. Application administrators can enter the default choices they wish to be available in support requests at any time.
Risk 4: How is your offering different from the other ones we (could) use?
YOURmaintenance enables users the ability to manage multiple venues within a centralised application, and to report on costs and time spent on maintenance issues at each venue, whilst also providing overall figures for all venues, at a glance. It is also web-based, meaning that any user with access to a browser can insert a request, and that system administrators can manage maintenance requests from any machine. This also translates into the ability to use a wireless-enabled handheld computer to manage and close requests.
Risk 5: What critical problem does your product help me to solve?
YOURmaintenance gives you the ability to centrally manage all maintenance requests for venues across a wide geographic area, whilst providing information that can be used to identify consistently problematic asset items or departments/staff. It offers information about actual performance of assets and staff from information entered, meaning that data is used efficiently to assist in the management of the maintenance task within your organisation.
Risk 6: Which companies in our industry use your product with positive results?
A number of hotels are using YOURmaintenance presently to record requests and manage the allocation of resources assigned to rectify such requests. They are also gaining an indication of problematic equipment, as well as managing external suppliers and tradespeople better.
Risk 7: How difficult is your product to install and implement?
TLA installs and sets up the website which becomes your instance of YOURmaintenance. We then work out together what the best categories of maintenance requests and problem types are for your organisation and enter these in the administrative area of the application. The creation of a link to the website for your users is then required to be delivered somehow (via email, link for your website) and they can commence using the online form to submit maintenance requests. The use of online forms is quite prevalent nowadays, so user acceptance is relatively easy to gain. Staff using YOURmaintenance to enter tasks performed in resolving a request can easily perform their updates online, using the intuitive process available on each form.
Risk 8: How will your product impact the way I/we work?
YOURmaintenance will provide a simpler, more efficient method of recording maintenance requests and tasks, whilst providing you with an easier method of allocating and prioritising tasks on a daily basis. Using the calendar to identify when a task should be performed, and the Outstanding Requests views to display what is required, enables you to better manage your time, your tradepeoples' time and reduce service callout fees, purchasing power for large numbers of consumables that may need purchasing at a certain point in time for multiple locations, and provides an easy way to report on what has been done, what is outstanding, and what is scheduled to be done on what upcoming days. Timely reports and statistics are simply a by-product of correct use of the system to enter requests and associated tasks in resolving such requests. You will no longer be required to spend a great deal of time collating data about what tasks have been performed in a selected period.
Risk 9: What proof do you have that I/we can achieve the results you promise?
The great reaction of user acceptance from existing YOURmaintenance users, along with the simplified manner in which maintenance staff are recording their actions and gaining previously difficult to obtain figures about what maintenance requests actually cost, has seen these organisations look to using the same concept for recording centralised management IT support issues. TLA sees this as proof that the processes in place for YOURmaintenance are providing the results originally promised, and that the process is also one that could be applied to other functional areas of your business.
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