Scottsdale, Ariz. —GPS Insight, a leading provider of fleet software for organizations with vehicles, trailers and other mobile assets, announced on Jan. 22 the acquisition of Chicago-based ServiceBridge, a leading field service management software company for small businesses and franchises.
Software programs by GPS Insight already empower field service teams to better serve their customers, but now, according to company sources, the acquisition further broadens the scope of the GPS Insight software portfolio to deliver more comprehensive solutions to its expanding customer base.
The acquisition will expand GPS Insight’s capabilities by more efficiently connecting organizations with not only their vehicles but also their mobile workforce, for more holistic business management.
“By providing an integrated software experience, businesses will have everything they need to run their operations – all in one place. GPS Insight has always been passionate about delivering an innovative platform that its customers love, and we’re confident that ServiceBridge will add an even broader set of solutions to the high-touch, high-value experience they’ve come to expect,” Fitzgerald said.
ServiceBridge Chief Executive Officer, Bill Cronin, joined ServiceBridge in its first year, and spent the next 10 years building and selling software, which proved to be quite different from his original career in aerospace engineering.
“I discovered my interest in software as a performance engineer, monitoring
“ServiceBridge is focused on making it easier for field service companies to run their businesses using software. Over the past 10 years, ServiceBridge has facilitated over $3.5 billion in field service work for 8 million consumers across 40 different industries in 10 countries,” Cronin shared.
Cronin said ServiceBridge proceeded with the partnership with GPS Insight after seeing what he described as, "a unique vision, proven track record of success, and an understanding of how to take our business to the next level.” He said GPS Insight is “an ideal partner.”
“The GPS Insight business offers several fleet management solutions that compliment ServiceBridge really well, and their vision to create a unified workforce management experience is very appealing. GPS Insight is a great company with incredibly talented people and a unique recipe for success. We are really excited to be part of the GPS Insight family,” Cronin said.
Gary Fitzgerald said the acquisition of ServiceBridge represents a technology enhancement that provides customers with a much richer experience.
“Our customers find it interesting that we have the ability to provide visibility and insight into how businesses are using their fleets and vehicles. This acquisition gives us the ability to continue to track and monitor and provide input back to these businesses once those service technicians get out of their vehicle. We can provide businesses with tremendous insight throughout the entire job history experience. We can help out with the ServiceBridge product doing scheduling and dispatching, and once the technician gets on site, to be able to take photos and all sorts of other services, all the way up to taking payment. The true benefit is there is great affinity. It’s a space that makes a lot of sense for us to get into, and something we hear from customers that they’d like to have access to.”
Fitzgerald described how the expanded software offering will support businesses through the entire workflow, in five key areas:
1. Resource availability: “A resource could be a person, a vehicle, an asset or a tool, from a bucket truck to a bilingual employee who could help on the job. These combined solutions (Service Bridge and GPS Insight) will give businesses a better understanding of where those assets and resources are at any given time. We now have the ability to track them throughout the entire service experience. We can make sure that if a service technician requires a certain tool, it will be onboard that vehicle; and the service technician will have that tool or part once they arrive at the job site, which helps them be more effective.”
2. Daily planning: “When the customer calls to schedule an appointment, there has to be someone to manage that intake of that customer. To be able to put them on the schedule and dispatch them appropriately. Additionally, there is routing and tracking, which will bounce back and forth between the two products. The GPS Insights solution has a very robust routing engine, and we have the ability to track resources. The ServiceBridge solution will manage the customer side, everything from estimates to work orders, scheduling and dispatch.”
3. Trips are enhanced by better dispatching. “Service technicians usually have a list of locations to get to throughout the day. We’ll help them optimize trip routing so they get where they need to be," Fitzgerald explained. "The dispatching agent will be able to tack and monitor where they need to go. We can help people identify which technician is geographically closer; we can see them and give them tools all the way through work execution.”
4. Jobs: "Once you are on the job site, the ServiceBridge product does a really good job of helping track each of those tasks, and it gives them tools, such as the ability to take photographs and attach them to a particular job; and they can even take payment. So, after they clean somebody’s pool or resolves the pluming situation they can take photos and make sure they provide visibility back to the customer and even take payment on site," he said.
5. Review. The expanded offering delivers actionable solutions that create cost savings as technicians and workers leave their vehicles while in the field or at a job site.
”Once the technician has returned to the shop, it’s important to make sure everything has been accounted for and taken care of throughout the day; and you need to make sure you’re planning and preparing for the next day as well," Fitzgerald said. "The 'Review' piece gives business owners the chance to go in and look across the board, to make sure they’re operating their fleet efficiently, that their service technicians are doing the jobs that they need to do, and that they’ve got all assets ready to go for the next day.”
Fitzgerald said any residential service is well-aligned with GPS Insight and ServiceBridge, but there are additional opportunities for other trades.
“Plumbers, electricians, HVAC, landscaping, pool service, any type of commercial service where a technician is going out in the morning and has a schedule to keep can benefit from this software, including government and public works employees," he said. "Anybody with a service oriented component that has technicians going out to job sites. We cover the board from waste management, roofing, elevator contractors, or junk removal. All of those are capable of using the ServiceBridge product.
“There’s a low barrier to entry, so it’s easy for businesses to try out these products without a lot of lifting on their part. That’s what we think is exciting. We can help these businesses operate much more effectively and efficiently, and provide more actionable insights into what’s going on in their business, to help them be more efficient and make more money,” Fitzgerald concluded.
Gary Fitzgerald has been with GPS Insight for about three-and-a-half years, the last 18 months as CEO and chief technology officer. His background features 20 years with General Electric. “It was a very different type of business, but I was involved with a lot of GE technology, and managed some mergers and acquisitions, and some other things for GE. This is a fun place to be. There’s an opportunity to help small, large, medium size businesses with front line tools to help make their lives better.”
The 58 Service Bridge employees and website will remain in place, and some product integration is being planned.
"We’re going to work with our software developers to create an integrated solution, where things are more tightly aligned into one single product stack, and that will take a little bit of time," Fitzgerald said. "We will evaluate the marketplace at that point. We’re probably more likely to operate that under the GPS Insight brand, but for the foreseeable future, Service Bridge will continue to exist, and its website will continue to be named 'ServiceBridge' moving forward.""
— Interview content by Terry McIver