The modern world is a great place, and we’re glad to live in it.

Up until pretty much the end of the last century, if you were a consumer and called a manufacturer for service, the rep would typically ask for your zipcode, type it into a computer, and get the contact info for a handful of independent companies who could provide the service within your area.  She’d read off some names and phone numbers, you’d write them down, and it was then up to you to call one or more, seeking the needed service.

The first big change occurred in result of cooperation between ServiceBench and Whirlpool.  Together, those companies realized the consumer was not left feeling all that well served when, after first calling the manufacturer, they then have to make even more calls before finally receiving service.  They got to thinking: “What if a manufacturer could schedule its consumers right off, during that first call, even if for an independent servicer?”  By and by, they put together a system to make it happen.  Basically, ServiceBench setup a web-interface for each of Whirlpool’s servicers.  On this interface, the servicers were supposed to keep ServiceBench informed of which zipcodes they still had vacancies for on which days.  This information passes to Whirlpool’s computer system, so its operators can actually see (when talking to a consumer) which servicers are available for scheduling — then go ahead and book the consumer for that servicer.  The remaining element is, when that “booking” is created, it shows for the servicer on their ServiceBench web-interface.

The system was great from Whirlpool’s perspective, but from that of the servicer, was a little less so.  How in the heck does a servicer find the resources, every time they fill-up (or free-up) space as available for a given zipcode, to update their ServiceBench settings to so indicate?  And this is only to keep them informed.  It’s quite aside from the fact it’s something of a burden to regularly check your ServiceBench web-interface to see if new dispatches have been created for you — and, if so, to read the information, then manually enter it into your own local management system.

This was the state of affairs when we (Rossware) came along, and we figured it should be fixed.  Sure, Whirlpool and ServiceBench had achieved automation between themselves.  We figured automation was likewise needed with servicer.

We pitched the concept to ServiceBench, they bought it, and in result built their “Real Time Integration System” (RTIS), to facilitate precisely the kind of automation we’d requested.  From our end, we built a little utility that (though functions have since expanded), initially had two tasks: (1) automatically keep ServiceBench informed of your real-time availability status, and (2) automatically grab dispatches, when created, and plug them perfectly into ServiceDesk.

Initially called the “WebBasedDispatchEnabler” (WBDE), the system was a hit from the very start – so much so that other entities asked us to work with them to achieve similar results.  Soon, we had functional integration working with ServicePower, and, similarly, with LG too.  Since each entity achieves its integration differently, it required separate utilities, from our end, to achieve the integration with each.  We called the new utility for ServicePower the SP-DispatchLink (SPDL), and the one for LG the LG-DispatchLink (LGDL).  To maintain consistency with this naming convention, we changed the name of our ServiceBench utility form WebBasedDispatchEnabler to SB-DispatchLink (SBDL).  

So, that’s our present family of DispatchLink utilities (we plan to add a Samsung-DispatchLink soon).  Each is available for the simple usage fee of $17/month.  Just let us know when and if you want one, and we’ll email you a setup.