Field force management at eircom

The case study outlined in this chapter focuses on eircom, Ireland's largest provider of telecom services, i.e. fixed line phone, mobile, broadband and data. The majority of eircom's technology business involves the delivery and repair of copper/fibre telephone services. Within that, eircom's field force comprises the technicians who install and repair these services. The management of eircom's field force has many challenges ranging from geography and skill to productivity and service level. Simulation modelling was adopted as the most accurate approach to address these challenges. This chapter demonstrates how simulation was used to objectively understand the issues, design solutions and quantify eircom's requirements. CIM Ireland built the models and assisted in the design of the solutions that resulted in a 16% improvement in 'delivery on time', combined with a 19% reduction in resources required. The accuracy level of the model's performance was 97.5% when compared with actual performance.