"Cost of Waiting" in the Billions

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TOA Technologies, a Cloud-based provider of enterprise-class mobile workforce management and customer experience management software solutions, has released its third annual "Cost of Waiting" report, evaluating the economic impact of waiting for in-home services among consumers and businesses. The 2011 report found a $37.7 billion economic impact for the total time people spent waiting for scheduled services. The study found that in the past year 58% of Americans waited for cable/satellite TV, Internet, utilities, retail home deliveries or other mobile workforce-related services. The annual Cost of Waiting per individual, based on respondent-reported values for their own time, is equivalent to removing every working American from the workplace for more than two, full work-days a year.

"It's clear from this year's 'Cost of Waiting' survey that customer service needs to be a top priority for businesses in the current climate, not only because it can negatively affect a company's performance but because poor service around wait times has financial penalties for a company's own customers. Waiting has a huge potential impact on both individual customers and the economy as a whole. Broadband, cable, satellite, retail and utility companies can actually help consumers save lost earnings at a time when so many people are looking for ways to conserve every dollar," said Yuval Brisker, co-founder and CEO of TOA Technologies. "All they need to do is respect the consumers time by reducing the 'wait window,' keeping their promises and arriving on time, sending the right person to do the job the first time and by communicating effectively throughout the process using every available means."

TOA Technologies annual "Cost of Waiting" survey establishes a direct economic impact to customers who are forced to wait long hours for appointments. The report assesses the prospective negative implications for businesses providing services where customers have to wait at home without knowing when a service provider will arrive.

Americans waited nearly four and a half hours, on average -- two hours and thirty minutes longer than expected -- for service appointments. More than a quarter of respondents reported lost wages and 50% wasted a sick day or vacation day to wait at home for a service or delivery.

Another important finding showed that 81% of respondents attributed the skill of a service technician as the most critical component in creating an overall positive service experience.

Businesses of all kinds are given limited opportunity to transform negative customer perception into customer satisfaction and retention. It costs businesses $330 annually (based on respondent estimates) for every lost customer and can cost many times that to re-acquire them. On the other hand, improving customer service via advanced technology tools can cost less, help retain more customers and provide great rewards on brand value and overall reputation. Of the respondents surveyed, 70% stated that they would recommend a company solely on the fact that an appointment was on time, while the skill of a service technician and their initiative to go above and beyond, were among the most important aspects that positively impact their opinion of a company.

"Companies can positively impact people's lives by offering more flexible scheduling, more guaranteed appointment times and more advanced technology coordination tools to assure on-time arrival," said Brisker. "With TOA's flagship solution, ETAdirect, we have revolutionized field service management by focusing on helping our customers narrow their wait windows through time-based predictive analytics using sophisticated performance pattern recognition. A tool like ETAdirect provides many further efficiencies in improved customer service and ends up not only pleasing customers, who carry that message to the world via social media, but also returns the investment with massive benefits through an intelligent, strategic reduction of operational costs."

TOA's ETAdirect provides a complete platform to manage the mobile workforce with a focus on improving customer service by delivering easy to use mobility and management applications that enable service providers to get the right technician, with the right essential skill set and level to appointments within a narrow, guaranteed service window.

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