In simple terms, the beauty of the Internet of Things concept is the ability to have the integration of disparate and unrelated functions integrated by a single command center that can monitor and manage via mobile technology.
OK, so maybe it’s not so simple, but there are products on the market designed for the home that can utilize a single device such a mobile phone to control and manage lighting, air conditioning/heating, sprinklers, security systems and appliances—all through the magic of integration.
In a sense, ISN-Partners, a software technology provider based in Gloucestershire, UK, is bringing the world of integration to the business community. They seek to offer the next generation in service and supply chain management with solutions that automate communication on a Mobile Asset Management platform. Founded in 2010 by Jan De Kesel, the company also has a facility in Romania and recently expanded into North America with a Las Vegas operation. It has more than 40 employees worldwide.
In June, the company named Gavin Williams as president of the new North American operation. Williams boasts 20 years of experience in the imaging industry, having spent the previous nine years with MWA Intelligence (MWAi). He played a key role in the development of FORZA, creating the first ERP built on SAP Business One and delivered to the imaging and office automation reseller channel. While at MWAi, he led the integration of three ISN-Partners solutions: the sales configurator, service dispatch GUI and eesyQ.
Genesis of eesyQ
The eesyQ B2B mobile collaboration platform was announced during the Executive Connection Summit in May. The technology was born out of ISN-Partners’ In-Map solution for managed services. The In-Map engine allowed sales to take a customer’s floor plan and lay out all the equipment the dealer was proposing to keep, replace or consolidate. ISN-Partners then applied its In-Map logic to the development of eesyQ, which enables intuitive management of all the assets and service contracts within an organization.
(from left) Jan De Kesel, Johanna Williams and Gavin Williams
The platform expands beyond the realm of print-based office equipment, providing management for any aspect of a customer’s operation—electrical, plumbing, vending machines, coffee machines—anything that may require third-party service. If a problem arises, there is no need to track down the office administrator in charge of facilitating service requests. Instead, a user can scan either a QR code or linear bar code applied to the device. Then, eesyQ will read the asset type and provide two-click functionality to report the problem and submit a service request. The eesyQ system effectively manages all suppliers, asset users and systems in one platform that integrates with job ticket, ERP, CRM and IT help desk systems. It even emails and opens a ticket with third-party service providers.
Johanna Williams and new clients, DocResources
The system provides customers with a 360-degree view of everything being serviced, according to Williams. “Our industry has done a very good job of staying on top of SLAs and making sure that their services are adequate to the customer’s expectations,” he said. “But once you get outside of our industry, you have a lot of service companies that are still working off of carbon paper and they don’t have these kind of tools, but this allows them to be all on the same platform.
“Any user can scan with their mobile device and if there’s a problem on the printer, the coffee machine or the vending machine, the system knows what possible options exist for that device. As soon as it scans the code, it knows what type of device it is and will allow that user to open a ticket. If somebody’s already opened the ticket or the machine automatically opened a ticket on itself, it will notify the user. The eesyQ system provides better communication between a customer and its service providers.”
Eliminating Menial Tasks
The benefit to the dealer is in not needing to have its service desk answer the phone and perform menial tasks such as researching the customer and device information for a simple supply call or service ticket, as the platform delivers all of the data automatically.
The platform allows for the use of both linear codes, which are preferred by dealers, and QR codes, which provide more functionality, according to Williams. The codes can be applied to any device or system that may require servicing or supplies. ISN-Partners has been working with dealers on room QR codes for conference rooms, bathrooms and offices. The codes provide a comprehensive menu and a list of subcategories for everything from electrical, to AV, to food services—all specific to that room.
Fortuna grew out of the need for better ecommerce for office products and supply dealers.
Gavin Williams
“It really depends on how the customer wants to implement this, and with open architecture, we can apply it any way the customer wants to use it,” Williams noted.
ISN-Partners has embarked on an eesyQ educational tour for events such as CompTIA and the BTA show in Las Vegas. There has been a tremendous response from attendees.
“As the monitoring/asset tools like FM Audit, Print Fleet and Print Audit work to help automate tickets from the machine into the dealer, it’s still never going to be 100 percent,” Williams said.
“You’ll always have extenuating circumstances—the network goes down or maybe the machine’s completely down. If it’s dead, it’s not going to be able to report anything and it is for all of those cases where that frustration level is starting to rise, to make it easier on both the customer and the dealer. With the ability to require or voluntarily add pictures from mobile, poorly printed pages can be identified up front before anyone is sent to the customer. The secondary piece of it is to consolidate these service providers into one portal. So the dealer can finally go to the customer and say ‘I will be the total solutions provider.’”
The second key cornerstone in ISN-Partners’ value proposition is Fortuna, an integrated e-commerce platform add-on designed for SAP Business One. This comprehensive ERP solution for office supply dealers operates in the IoT vein, integrating with more than 50 office equipment wholesalers. A customizable platform, it integrates real time with the back end of SAP Business One, incorporating purchasing logic specifically for the industry.
“Fortuna grew out of the need for better ecommerce for office products and supply dealers,” Williams noted. “The office product and supply dealers are in need of better platforms and there’s not a whole lot of focus on technology and improvements until now. A lot of these dealers are struggling with antiquated systems. Many of them are already on SAP Business One, which as a product is good at managing a warehouse and manufacturing. The problem is, there are ecommerce solutions already available for Business One, but nothing directed towards our industry. It makes it very difficult to take an out-of-the-box ecommerce platform and make it into what is expected of the industry.”
Ecommerce Competition
Fortuna helps remedy the challenge offered by larger ecommerce platforms such as Amazon encroaching on the office printing space with supplies reordering at the push of a button (a-la Amazon Dash). ISN-Partners incorporated its eesyQ technology into Fortuna, enabling users to scan the QR code or linear bar code to easily order cartridges for color devices, for example, without having to search for the best prices online. The information for the device is contained in the bar code and users don’t have to worry about accidentally ordering the wrong supplies.
“If it’s a color machine, they can choose one, two, three or four cartridges, CMY or K, and the next day they can have toner on the doorstep,” Williams said. “This provides a very competitive advantage for these office supply resellers to have a product that not only manages their back office better, but also provides a unique value proposition for their customers that helps them compete.”
Gavin Williams and Jan De Kesel
Williams pointed out that with the existing technology, ISN-Partners didn’t need to reinvent the wheel; it just required modifications to make it work better with SAP Business One. “With the office product and supply industry, it’s not as simple as ordering and shipping a supply. There’s purchasing logic that has been widely accepted in our industry for the last 30 years,” he said. “There’s the methodology of fulfillment. These are all of the things we addressed and built into the Fortuna product.”
ISN-Partners already has a large number of customers in the process of implementing Fortuna that already had SAP Business One in place, as well as inquiries from dealers who are using solutions that lacked the purchasing and fulfillment logic. Dealers can choose who they wish to buy supplies from and whether they want to limit their portfolio, but Williams notes Fortuna is integrated with virtually every supplier or wholesaler.
Other ERP tools offered by ISN-Partners include the aforementioned configurator, which allows sales to have a rules-based configuration inside of SAP Business One. The configurator is part of the MWAi Forza platform and enjoys ongoing expansion and development. Another element of the Forza platform is dispatcher, which allows for a more managed services workflow when it comes to dispatch. It provides the ability to drag and drop calls, reassign calls and move things through queues easier. ISN-Partners is also in the process of converting eesyQ and Fortuna over to HANA, which is SAP’s latest database platform and will allow for better analytics and faster processing within SAP Business One.
“As we see the convergence of dealers that are getting more into managed services, those workflows probably need to be adjusted if we want to get to a true universal approach of having a single dispatch. No matter what kind of call it is, the dispatcher provides that interface,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a break/fix call, a managed services call or a helpdesk call. It brings it into one drag and drop interface right inside SAP Business One.”
Platform Integration
One of the biggest challenges ISN-Partners faces is platform integration and selecting from the multitude of platforms in the market. Thus, Williams stresses that eesyQ is not a ticketing system. While it can be used for basic ticket management, it doesn’t have the elements a dealer is going to need to effectively manage a service organization.
“As we have our integrated platform of opening calls and moving things through the system, that’s all dependent on the integrations,” Williams said. “That’s pretty much the biggest challenge. We really don’t have competitors for this product because it’s a whole new space.
“The value of eesyQ is it was designed for the customer, designed to make the customer’s life easier. It makes their experience with their service providers easier through one universal portal.”
One of ISN-Partners’ main thrusts is its continuing educational efforts on the eesyQ and Fortuna products through the various office technology industry events, along with SAP’s annual user group meeting and the ConnectWise show. Williams is also looking to case studies and analytics to show the savings that both dealers and end users can reap with their products.
In the long run, Williams’ goal is to see eesyQ become a standard—a universal, open architecture product designed to improve customer satisfaction. As it utilizes smart phone technology, eesyQ fits the millennial desire of text communication without the need for a call, email or other time-consuming communication. Thus, ISN-Partners is relying on the BTA and IT VAR channels to grow its base. Expansion in the office technology channel can also act as a springboard for ISN-Partners to leverage the eesyQ technology for migration into other verticals.
“The application of eesyQ is limitless,” Williams said. “It’s built on a platform that is not cost prohibitive to customize. The only barriers that we face are antiquated systems that can’t accept an integration. We’re integrated with ConnectWise and are working on Autotask and Tigerpaw, all of which have open APIs. The days of closed architecture systems are becoming limited. It really depends on the industry that we’re in. If it’s a really old system, there’s no way to effectively integrate with them. Which is why we look at all these different verticals and are excited because there has been tremendous innovation across the board.”
