ICEE Warms Up to Wireless Data

Maker of Popular Frozen Beverage Uses Cingular Wireless-Enabled Solution to Improve Customer Service and Internal Processes ONTARIO, Calif., and ATLANTA, March ...

ONTARIO, Calif., and ATLANTA, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The ICEE Company's nationally deployed machine repair force is being helped in its mission to keep the popular ICEE frozen beverage flowing -- to the delight of millions of fans across America -- by a wireless data solution powered by Cingular Wireless.

The Ontario, Calif.-based company is using the nationwide Cingular Wireless GSM(TM)/GPRS network to quickly notify technicians located across the nation of repair assignments, give them the ability to easily access and update customer and parts data, and send billing information back to headquarters almost immediately after a job has been completed. The Cingular network is the largest digital wireless data network in the U.S. ICEE expects to complete its rollout of the solution to nearly 400 technicians this spring.

"Our wireless data solution from Cingular is providing the ICEE Company with a huge benefit," said Brandon Lackey, the company's manager of technical services. "We've been able to decrease response times, allowing our technicians to spend more time at a customer site addressing their needs, and handle more calls on a given day. It also gives us the ability dispatch field personnel much more quickly when there is an emergency repair call. We were quite surprised at how fast the data is transmitted."

More than 30,000 beverage machines serve some 300 million ICEEs each year in the U.S. When one of those units needs servicing or repair, the ICEE dispatch center in Ontario wirelessly sends a service call message via the Cingular network to the appropriate technician, who is armed with a Symbol PPT 2800 rugged handheld device. The dynamic, forms-based application housed on the device allows the technician to use a stylus to enter job start and completion times, information regarding the machine and parts used, and capture customer signatures, all of which is transmitted wirelessly to headquarters.

Prior to going with the Cingular Wireless solution, ICEE technicians received repair assignments by telephone and were required to call headquarters when they completed a job. Many times, technicians spent several minutes on hold while dispatchers dealt with others in the field. All job ticket, parts and billing information was recorded in handwritten form on paper -- with varying degrees of legibility. The information was then sent via U.S. Mail to headquarters, where it was entered manually in ICEE's computer systems. The entire process could take up to a few weeks to complete.

"Our goal was to remove paper from our business," Lackey noted. "The data we now gather wirelessly over the Cingular network is much more accurate than that transcribed from handwritten notes. Plus a technician can now generate a closed job ticket right on the device and transmit it directly to our back office systems, which allows us to generate a bill a week or two faster than before.

"We also can track inventory much more precisely because technicians use their device to scan barcodes on parts they use during repairs and wirelessly send that information to headquarters when the job is done," Lackey said. "This also provides a significant benefit to customers because it allows us to quickly replenish what technicians have used to ensure they have the parts they need for subsequent calls to get the job completed on the first visit."

Cingular Wireless' GSM/GPRS wireless data network is available to more than 268 million people living and working in more than 8,500 cities and towns in the United States. The service is also available along more than 30,000 miles of highways, and when traveling in about 70 countries worldwide.

Cingular Wireless serves 95 of the Fortune 100 companies, and counts more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 1,200 federal, state and local government agencies as customers. The company's B2B organization is dedicated to helping companies improve their customer responsiveness and create tangible business value by wirelessly enabling their business processes through an industry-leading suite of business-focused services. These include vertical and cross industry solutions, high-speed laptop mobility solutions, corporate e-mail and messaging, commercial connectivity services, flexible voice solutions and corporate programs.

About Cingular Wireless Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving more than 49 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation and the largest mobile- to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com . Get Cingular Wireless press releases e- mailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://www.cingular.com/newsroom .

SOURCE Cingular Wireless Web Site: http://www.cingular.com http://www.cingular.com/newsroom

Source: PR Newswire (press release) - USA