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The vast majority of Nextel Communications customers are business users, so when it comes to courting enterprises with data solutions and building relationships with vendors, Nextel has the process down pat.
Nextel has 17 vendor partners that help fill the needs of vertical market segments ranging from fleet management and building construction to corporate IT departments and property management. Its partners also supply solutions to meet customer relationship management and sales force automation needs.
Once Nextel identified its target markets, it set out to find third parties that might deliver applications that fit the needs of customers in those segments. The operator has a set of criteria to determine if a vendor fits the bill. “The key is the viability of the product or service,” says Mary Evren, Nextels director of industry solutions. “Is it functionally offering something of significant value that will give a return on investment?”
Nextel also studies the offerings technical merits and user interfaces. The vendor partner must have a solid customer care and technical support organization. Finally, Nextel assesses the companys viability.
Nextel has very close relationships with some of its vendor partners. For example, Nextel sales representatives can take orders and provision service for enterprises that want service from Corrigo, a wireless field service management solution provider. Nextel installs the URL for Corrigo in the phone menu, and adds the charge for the Corrigo service on the customers monthly bill. Corrigo also sells the product directly because it has a targeted sales force that pursues large customers.
Loyal Nextel customers find extensive resources if they turn to the operator for advice. If a customer hasnt clearly defined its needs, Nextel can recommend consultants that can help. Enterprises that want to do some development internally can attend training sessions at Nextel, or the operator can recommend experienced developers that can help do the job.
Final Mile Communications, a Nextel customer and a provider of professional services to a variety of telecom companies, needed a new dispatch tool for its field service organization. The company had already made a significant investment in Nextel phones. “We went out to look at dispatch packages, and we looked at quite a few,” says Kim Dixon-Burrows, director of dispatch at Final Mile. “But we didnt want to have to get the package and then look at re-evaluating the wireless devices.”
Final Mile found that its field service organization, which does maintenance work for telecom providers, was inefficiently handling the same information continually. Nextel suggested that the group use a solution from partner eDispatch Wireless Data. Now, Final Miles entire field service team relies solely on Nextel phones and the eDispatch application to receive trouble tickets and report back to the control center when the trouble tickets are resolved.
Dixon-Burrows can use the tool to run customized reports, so customers can view the average time it takes Final Mile to close a trouble ticket. She is also pleased with the cost structure, which simply adds a monthly fee for each applications-enabled device. Dixon-Burrows can have five administrators accessing the application via the Web at the same time, and there are no fees for that access.
The majority of Nextel Communications customers are business users, so when it comes to courting enterprises with data solutions and building relationships with vendors, Nextel has the process down pat.
Nextel has 17 vendor partners that help fill the needs of vertical market segments ranging from fleet management and building construction to corporate IT departments and property management. Its partners also supply solutions to meet customer relationship management and sales force automation needs.
Once Nextel identified its target markets, it set out to find third parties that might deliver applications that fit the needs of customers in those segments. The operator has a set of criteria to determine if a vendor fits the bill. “The key is the viability of the product or service,” says Mary Evren, Nextels director of industry solutions. “Is it functionally offering something of significant value that will give a return on investment?”
Nextel also studies the offerings technical merits and user interfaces. The vendor partner must have a solid customer care and technical support organization. Finally, Nextel assesses the companys viability.
Nextel has very close relationships with some of its vendor partners. For example, Nextel sales representatives can take orders and provision ser-vice for enterprises that want service from Corrigo, a wireless field service management solution provider. Nextel installs the URL for Corrigo in the phone menu, and adds the charge for the Corrigo service on the customers monthly bill. Corrigo also sells the product directly because it has a targeted sales force that pursues large customers.
Loyal Nextel customers find extensive resources if they turn to the operator for advice. If a customer hasnt clearly defined its needs, Nextel can recommend consultants that can help. Enterprises that want to do some development internally can attend training sessions at Nextel, or the operator can recommend experienced developers that can help do the job.
Final Mile Communications, a Nextel customer and a provider of professional services to a variety of telecom companies, needed a new dispatch tool for its field service organization. The company had already made a significant investment in Nextel phones. “We went out to look at dispatch packages, and we looked at quite a few,” says Kim Dixon-Burrows, director of dispatch at Final Mile. “But we didnt want to have to get the package and then look at re-evaluating the wireless devices.”
Final Mile found that its field service organization was inefficiently handling the same information continually. Nextel suggested that the group use a solution from partner eDispatch Wireless Data. Now, Final Miles entire field service team relies solely on Nextel phones and the eDispatch application to receive trouble tickets and report back to the control center when the trouble tickets are resolved.
Dixon-Burrows can use the tool to run customized reports, so customers can view the average time it takes Final Mile to close a trouble ticket. She is also pleased with the cost structure, which simply adds a monthly fee for each applications-enabled device. Dixon-Burrows can have five administrators accessing the application via the Web at the same time.