Fleet Leader Interview with Joe Roberts of AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Joe Roberts of AAA NCNU
Joe Roberts is the Manager of Technology Support for Performance Management at AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah. AAA NCNU is the nation’s second largest AAA club, dispatching nearly 3 million requests for service each year and utilizing over 1500 vehicles. Joe has been working in the auto club industry for 37 years and has managed major technology implementations. He’s been kind enough to share some of his experiences with us.
1. Why did you decide to invest in a fleet management solution?
The challenge we had was that AAA NCNU call volume was increasing, which resulted in more radio traffic being passed back and forth between our dispatchers and our independent contract station drivers. Dispatchers weren’t always able to acknowledge drivers, and drivers experienced delays getting through to dispatchers. Improving response time to our members was the goal.
2. What piece of advice would you give someone considering a similar technology purchase?
First off, you need to have a good business case to invest heavily into the cost of the infrastructure.
Secondly, you need to make sure you’ve taken into account all associated costs. This includes network charges with a wireless carrier, hardware and software technology costs, and all soft costs that are internal to your own organization.
Thirdly, it’s critical that you have a good project team in place to complete the project. They need to have a good understanding about data networks, the technology that will be used and what the application will actually do once it is turned on. They need to be able to understand what the technology engineers and software developers are saying, and then be able to translate it into business sense. They also need to adjust and be prepared for the unexpected during implementation. A good training team is also necessary when it comes time to train the clients.
3. How has your organization changed since implementing this technology?
Well, we’ve improved response times to our members. We’ve been able to reduce our average response time to the member by 5 to 7 minutes per call. That means from the time the call is dispatched, to the time the truck arrives, we are arriving 5 to 7 minutes faster now than we used to be. We’ve also been able to reduce the time it takes to dispatch a call to the truck, going from the 45 to 60-second average using radios, to 3 to 6 seconds with data communication. In addition, our system is a platform for us to implement other AAA NCNU initiatives.
4. What do your drivers think of the system?
They like it. At the start there was a lot of apprehension. Drivers didn’t want to give up radio communications, and they were afraid the software was going to be hard for them to use. But after 3 or 4 weeks using the system they adapted quite well to it. In fact, if we have to bring our system down for some reason, there are a lot of complaints from the drivers and our dispatchers.
5. What do your members think of the system?
It all ties back into member service. Other initiatives are targeted to improve the member roadside experience, but data communication is a key component in driving member satisfaction. I’ve been in the industry for 37 years, and the key is to keep up with the latest technology with the purpose of improving member satisfaction. Bettering our members’ roadside experience has been, and will continue to be our primary goal.
6. Have you seen a Return on Investment?
Converting from an analog radio communication system as a primary dispatch method to a data dispatch network was quite expensive. What we have seen in terms of a return is not a hard dollar amount. We’re seeing improved member satisfaction, improved response times, increased dispatcher capabilities, the platform to implement other initiatives and less stress on both the drivers and the dispatchers. Our return on investment is basically in soft costs.
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