Concentrated in the northeastern U.S., FleetBoston Financial has assets of $192 billion and headquarters in Boston. As the nation's seventh-largest financial services company, Fleet has approximately 4,000 individual locations in 20 countries. Its domestic portfolio alone totals 22.5 million sf of space with locations in 15 states.

All but 1.5 million sf of Fleet's domestic portfolio is outsourced to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), also of Boston. CBRE has 180 field personnel who service Fleet's internal and tenant customers, including handling all aspects of operations and maintenance, maintenance and repair project management, budget and financial reporting, vendor contract management, administration of 2,700 leases, and operation of a centralized customer service call center, which handles more than 16,000 calls and generates more than 20,000 works orders each month.

"With so many widespread facilities and so many people involved in the facility management process, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our communication process," says John Gallagher, vice president and manager of Vendor Outsourcing Facilities and Project Management for the corporate and retail facilities of FleetBoston Financial. "Wireless technology is helping us do a better of job of capturing the data we need right now and is setting us up for our future goals."

Gallagher explains that Fleet plans to eventually automate the entire customer service process, including online customer requests, automated work orders sent directly to the technician responsible for the work, and automated customer surveys that finalize the job process. Fleet's recent introduction of wireless technology is the first step of the company's broader technology plan.

Interactive Messaging

One of the most basic components of Fleet's new wireless initiative was its upgrade from standard pagers to interactive messaging units from Cingular. The units allow users to send and receive text messages via the Internet to a fax machine, or text-to-voice messages to a phone with on-screen verification that messages were delivered and read.

According to Gallagher, the units have helped Fleet lower overall cell phone usage and expenses since the new pagers can send messages to individuals or to groups of users simultaneously. It also provides Fleet with a reliable communication system when phones are not available, a feature the bank relied on to communicate with its New York City locations during the September 11 tragedy.

"The new pagers are also a very discreet communication tool," says Gallagher. "We can make decisions during meetings without even talking to each other by using the pagers to send messages with the data needed for decisions. It's ideal for multi-tasking and for finding immediate solutions."

Field Staff Interaction

A larger component of Fleet's wireless initiative was the recent introduction of handheld computers, which use S.M.A.R.T.™ software developed by Syclo of Barrington, Ill. The handheld units allow Fleet's field staff to capture performance data instantly and to obtain immediate access to work orders, job plans, inventories, and other critical facility data from remote sites.

S.M.A.R.T. runs on a variety of lightweight handheld computers that use the Windows CE platform. Fleet opted to use HP-Jornadas, and currently has 223 units in place. S.M.A.R.T. works in conjunction with the MAXIMO database, developed by MRO Software of Bedford, Mass., to exchange information via wireless data synchronizations. Wireless sync time typically takes less than one minute and does not require a phone connection unless the user is outside of the wireless area.

Some key Productivity Benefits of Fleet's wireless system include:

Timely Billing and Reporting Capabilities—Since information is now recorded at the point-of-work, Fleet's field staff can accurately and efficiently capture data such as work order volume, time spent on work orders, and cost of materials used. A tenant/landlord service matrix, stored in the handheld computer, helps CBRE to know exactly which tenants and what services should be billed based on the terms of the various lease agreements.

"In the past we did a lot of work without billing the tenants, and some landlords were incorrectly billing us for work that should have been part of the lease," says Gallagher. "Our new data collection method has helped us to capture more than $100,000 in tenant billings that previously went untracked, and we expect to see additional savings as we continue to refine the new system."

Accurate and Cost-Efficient Data Entry—Since Fleet's field managers and technicians no longer need to fax or drop off work orders, the number of data entry errors has been dramatically reduced.

"Prior to implementing hand held technology, some Fleet technicians would drive to branches just to fax in work orders, wasting both time and money," says Gallagher. "Our handheld system lets technicians send information from their cars or wherever they are. They don't need to waste a lot of windshield time on administrative tasks."

Automated Payroll Process—Handheld computers will soon simplify the payroll process, which was previously very labor intensive for CBRE supervisors, including data entry and report generating.

"Since our contract with CBRE requires them to be extremely accurate with billable hours, we estimated that they were spending two to three percent of their time just dealing with payroll issues," says Gallagher. "The new system will help supervisors spend a lot less time filling out forms, faxing time cards, and approving paperwork."

Productivity and Cost Results

During Fleet's pilot program, which included 28 mobile units in the state of Connecticut, work order reporting more than doubled compared to the previous year. In May of 2000, 671 work orders were issued, compared to June of 2001, when 1,606 work orders were issued following the implementation of the mobile units.

Despite the increase in work orders, calls to the call center have been reduced due to the automatic messaging and reporting capabilities of the wireless system. With calls down an average of more than 150 each day, Fleet was able to reduce the call center staff by two customer service representatives. In addition, Fleet eliminated one facility manager position and two technician positions as a result of more efficient operations, resulting in nearly $300,000 in annual savings initially, with further staff reductions expected as Fleet's wireless communications expand.

In summary, Gallagher feels that wireless technology is helping Fleet's facility management team shift from being reactive to proactive, and is providing them with parameters that help define and refine the metrics that can be applied to its outsource providers and vendors.

CBRE is now requiring many of its other vendors to be wired to the new technology, including its janitorial vendors, electrical contractors, and HVAC contractors.

"We want our vendors to provide us with the data we need as quickly as possible and wireless technology appears to be the best way to do this," says Gallagher. "It gives everyone on our team up-to-the-minute access to information and helps us to plan, not just respond."

By Amy Cammell