IFS and TomTom

Headquartered in London, England, IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for businesses worldwide that manufacture and distribute goods, maintain assets and manage service-focused operations. One of the company’s core offerings is the IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization (PSO) solution, which helps customers manage their field resources effectively.

Here’s a typical use case for the PSO solution: a customer will submit a request – such as an emergency repair, installation or maintenance visit – and specify any associated criteria that need to be met; for instance, service level agreements (SLAs), resources or skill sets. For each request, customers also define cost metrics, such as staff, material and travel costs. The PSO solution takes all of this information and uses a sophisticated scheduling engine to create an optimization plan for the request, which includes staff assignments, work shifts and travel times.

In order for the scheduling engine to calculate travel times accurately, consistent and high-quality location data is a must. IFS needs precise information on road networks, map locations and travel times to ensure that customers’ travel plan calculations are both achievable and reliable. The company knows it can count on TomTom location data to power its PSO solution.

By partnering with TomTom, IFS gains access to location data that’s unmatched in quality, consistency, accuracy and geographic coverage. With fresh maps, in-depth traffic insights and precise geolocation information, the IFS PSO solution can calculate optimal routes, which dynamically adjust to changes in road speeds, congestion and destination points, and provide highly accurate travel times.

For IFS’s customers, more reliable and accurate travel plans translate into better business outcomes. Field service teams can plan the best routes to every job, reducing drive time and cutting fuel costs. And if plans or conditions change, it’s easy to adjust scheduling on the fly, improving operational agility to keep costs down and SLA compliance high.

With trusted travel times, companies can make sure field workers arrive at jobs on schedule, within agreed SLAs. This means that vital maintenance and repair works can be completed on time, keeping service levels, productivity and customer satisfaction high.