Zeag looks to Epicor

Challenges and opportunities:

* Parking is complicated when it comes to reporting, clients have varying reporting requirements.
* A person's opinion of a venue is determined by their parking experience because it's their first and last impression of it.
* Problematic parking experiences can sour a venue's relationship with their customers. Being able to report on the performance of Zeag's parking solutions is of paramount importance.

Epicor Solution and Services

* Standard ITSM solution

Why Epicor?

* International product.
* Microsoft certified partner.
* Scalable and flexible.
* Bespoke reports can be set up on the back of the standard system.

Benefits

* Makes Helpdesk highly efficient.
* Gives clarity on responsibilities
* Flexible reporting capabilities to suit client requirements.
* Selling point for new clients.

Company facts

* Location: Johannesburg
* Industry: Parking systems
* Number of Locations: Three
* Web site: www.zeag.co.za

The Zeag Group is part of the FAAC Group of Companies and is a leading international provider of parking systems. With a history spanning more than 45 years, Zeag develops, produces, distributes and integrates innovative parking solutions manufactured in Switzerland to extremely high standards.

Product availability, service and support is guaranteed by Zeag's subsidiary companies located in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada and USA, followed by a worldwide network of distributors.

With over 5 000 sites worldwide, the Zeag Group shows an impressive customer base ranging from small car parks with 50 spaces, to fully networked airport facilities with over 10 000 spaces. These include some of the largest airports, medical facilities, shopping malls, hotels, office complexes and parking facilities in the world.

Zeag (SA) is the southern African subsidiary of the Zeag Group serving the southern African parking market by supplying the most adaptive solutions for car parks and related applications. These include Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) and Investec, which accommodate thousands of visitors.

With a varied parking product offering such as: parking systems, variable message signs, CCTV, LPR, intercoms and bay monitoring, Zeag offers turnkey parking solutions designed to meet each customer's unique requirements.

Parking is very complicated when it comes to reporting. Each client has very specific requirements when it comes to the type of reports that they need. Added to this is each client's need for a variety of reports so that each area of their business can extract relevant data.

Zeag's parking solutions offer a closed loop system because visitors must enter and then exit the venue with a parking ticket. This makes parking data key to many areas of a business. For example, the operations department requires a report that details the performance, reliability, status and warranty details of their parking equipment. Then the marketing department of a shopping mall requires data on the dwell time of shoppers so that they can monitor the success of mall activities. The reports provided by Zeag are therefore the only true reflection of the number of visitors to the mall and their dwell time.

Parking can also be very frustrating for visitors if they experience problems with equipment, such as pay stations or booms. Their experience of a venue is measured by their parking experience because it's their first and last impression of a facility. It is, therefore, very important that Zeag is able to show its customers how reliable and effective its systems are. Without this, it's almost impossible to maintain good client relationships and prove the value of their product and service offering.

Zeag's success in South Africa meant that it faced a growing need for an ERP solution that offered accurate reporting to support its world-class range of parking solutions. Microsoft Excel was proving to be too limited for Zeag's growing customer base and its customers' detailed reporting requirements.

“We realised that we needed an international solution from a Microsoft certified partner that offers detailed, scalable reporting capabilities,” said Craig Cockburn, CEO of Zeag (SA).

Epicor ITSM proved to be the best solution because it offers a flexible reporting system that is comprehensive, intuitive, flexible and scalable. It is able to log faults and manage progress from start to finish. The system also keeps the customer informed about the status of a problem with reference numbers, and notifies them as soon as a fault is resolved.

After a friend recommended Epicor, Zeag approached New Era Solutions to implement a system that met all of its management and reporting requirements.

New ERA Solutions specialises in integrated and customisable IT solutions in partnership with global specialists in enterprise resource planning (ERP), warehouse management systems (WMS), customer relationship management (CRM) and mobility, offering a single-source solution.

“New Era Solutions knows Epicor ITSM inside out. They are extremely supportive and offer outstanding support, on- and off-site. This included adding new reports and tailoring existing ones,” said Cockburn.

“The professionalism of the New Era Solutions' team made the installation process simple and the transition to the new system painless.”

Part of Zeag's service offering is its dedicated support team that attends to technical problems. Epicor ITSM manages the entire process, from when a call is logged to when it is resolved, with the following key processes:

* Proactive and reactive support calls are officially logged using Epicor ITSM.
* The support call is then assigned to a technician who receives an SMS notification with: the service ticket number, customer's details and a summary of the call. This ensures clarity of responsibilities for all technicians.
* Technicians and clients with e-mail access will receive a copy of the support ticket via e-mail.
* Asset management is maintained by a central system which notes the following data:
* Serial number
* Items associated to the asset
* Warranties, cost and origin
* Support carried out on the asset
* Status: repaired, swapped out or scrapped
* Location and customer details associated to the asset
* Reporting enables Zeag to track warranties, any work carried out against the warranty and items used within the warranty.

With Epicor ITSM, Zeag is now able to offer world-class service to its customers through minimum downtime due to technical problems and detailed monthly reporting, which assists with strategy and the day-to-day management of its facilities.

“Epicor ITSM enables us to meet all of our clients' detailed reporting requirements and effectively manage service calls to ensure our clients enjoy world-class service,” said Cockburn. “This system has become a great marketing tool for our business, and I would not hesitate to recommend New Era Solutions and Epicor to anyone.”