Vivo successfully deploys TOA Technologies' SaaS field service management solution in just six months

-- This rapid, highly integrated deployment at Vivo marks the successful launch of Telefonica's global initiative to transform and standardise its field service operations with TOA's cloud solution

MADRID, SAO PAULO and CLEVELAND, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Telefonica's Brasilian operating unit, Vivo, has successfully deployed TOA Technologies' field service management solution in just six months, record time for a global deployment of enterprise field service management technology.

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Now Vivo has a sophisticated field service solution suite that integrates with its critical back-end systems, provides complete visibility of its mobile workforce – both employees and contractors – and creates an end-to-end customer appointment process. Currently, this tool supports 670 field technicians in the Data and Enterprise services divisions at Vivo.

As Telefonica accelerates its transformation as a digital telco, the company has embarked on an initiative to create a standard for all of its field operations around the world, choosing TOA Technologies to unify its thousands of mobile service employees on one solution. In November 2013, just six months after the initiative started, Telefonica's Vivo successfully launched TOA's solution and it is now fully deployed. Additionally, TOA's field service management tool was recently launched in Telefonica Chile and is ready for widespread deployment during the second half of this year. The rest of the countries where Telefonica operates in Latin America are preparing to adopt the new operational model soon.

"The deployment of this global, cloud-based tool to manage Telefonica's field technician workforce shows Telefonica's commitment to its digital transformation. This is a pioneer project in the Operating Support Systems (OSS) area, and the focus has been on the quick implementation and achievement of efficiency goals," said Enrique Blanco, Global CTO, Telefonica, who added: "In fact, the project has been so successful that Telefonica will be using it as a benchmark in best practices for future SaaS deployments."

"The transformation of Telefonica OSS, with TOA Technologies' SaaS solution, is disruptive for two reasons: first, using SaaS for an OSS implementation enables more flexibility and quick deployments, and second, the SaaS delivery allowed us to manage the implementation in each country with a common roadmap and set of processes. These two points are critical for applying scale to Telefonica's OSS implementation," says Juan Manuel Caro, operation and OSS global director in Telefonica.

"When you think about a company Vivo's size, you might not expect its first SaaS deployment to be an application that is so central to its customer-facing business operations – and one that works so intimately with its network of key on-premises systems, including its CRM, BSS, OSS, ERP and resource allocation and planning tools," said Markus Remark, senior vice president, customer operations at TOA Technologies. "But when Telefonica's global team made a strategic commitment to transform field service management, scale and speed were essential – which is what led them to TOA and its solution suite."

"Getting to go-live just six months after kick-off is an amazing achievement, especially considering the scope and nature of this project. I am also proud to say we delivered a single flexible and scalable enterprise SaaS architecture virtually 'out-of-the-box.' This type of deployment requires meticulous planning, attention to detail, deep technical and telecommunications industry expertise and quite a bit of collaboration – not to mention a solution that excels technically as well as in its practical application," said Remark.

Telefonica's transformation project, the first of its kind in the industry, has received widespread recognition and been awarded "Best Use of Cloud Services by a Telco" by telecoms.com.  

Since TOA's solution was deployed in November 2013, Telefonica now relies on the application to:

• Empower its mobile employees with the right information
• Foster collaboration within field service operations
• Achieve visibility of all field activities
• Optimise the routing and scheduling of field resources
• Increase operational efficiencies
• Cultivate customer relationships through better communication and personalised service

"Total commitment, deep collaboration and mutual trust. These are the pillars of the Telefonica and TOA Technologies partnership. That commitment, collaboration and trust provided the right foundation for Telefonica to initiate its first project to standardise technology at a global level, and to launch that project successfully and ahead of schedule," said Yuval Brisker, co-founder and CEO of TOA Technologies. "The deployment of TOA's solution at Vivo in Brasil, Telefonica's largest division, is the fulfillment of our promise. We told Telefonica that we would execute beyond expectations, and we delivered."

About Telefonica Global Resources
Telefonica Global Resources is a global operating business unit of Telefonica. Its mission is to optimise the benefits from Telefonica's scale while achieving further efficiency for the whole Company through activities such as simplification, standardisation, streamlining, consolidation and global sourcing.

Telefonica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and number of customers. From this outstanding position in the industry, and with its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses as the key drivers of its growth, Telefonica has focused its strategy on becoming a leading company in the digital world. The company has a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base that amounts to over 323 million accesses around the world. Telefonica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.

About TOA Technologies
TOA Technologies is the leading provider of field service and mobile workforce management applications. TOA's patented platform for field service management improves customer service while dramatically reducing operational costs and delivering immediate and lasting return on investment. As the industry's only complete on-demand solution, TOA's solution uses time-based pattern recognition and predictive analytics to provide the most advanced and accurate field service management application on the market, providing results to reduce customer wait times while increasing field workforce efficiency. TOA's solutions are cloud-based, quickly deployed, highly configurable and easily integrated with existing CRM, ERP and other solutions.

Across six continents, TOA Technologies' platform manages the mobile workforces of some of the world's most recognisable global brands in the satellite/cable/broadband, telecom, utilities, insurance, home services and retail industries. Named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, 2013, TOA Technologies is headquartered in the United States and has offices throughout Europe, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Telefonica S.A.
Direccion de Comunicacion
Tel: +34-91-482-38-00  
Email: prensa@telefonica.es
www.telefonica.com/saladeprensa

TOA Technologies
Kayleigh Fitch
Tel: +1-216-902-8547
Email: kayleigh.fitch@toatech.com

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Yuval Brisker
https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=107743