TPIsoftware

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior administrator from customer services. Since our beginning in 1975, Johnson Health Tech (JHT) has specialized in the design, production, and marketing of award-winning fitness equipment. In our 40 years of business, JHT has grown tremendously in the ever-evolving fitness market. Based in Taiwan, we are Asia's largest, the world’s third largest, and one of the industry's fastest growing fitness equipment manufacturers.

Our brands have been sold across 60 countries and are marketed to the commercial, specialty, and home-use markets. Our commitment to product innovation, superior value, and unmatched customer service has made JHT a leading provider of high-quality fitness equipment around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ThinkPower?

We needed to serve mobile devices, and ThinkPower could provide a mobile app solution for us. We needed technical and stability support for long-term customer service, so ThinkPower was the right choice for us. Our future target is to expand our “Engineer App” project to other subsidiary companies around the world, and then next will be the “Big Data Analysis” project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Below describes our initial “Engineer App” project, developed by ThinkPower. Considering the cost, we focused our app on Android OS with the following features:

1. Check customer product information via cloud directly.
2. Check customer basic information & location link with Google Maps.
3. Record or update maintenance parts and status during field services.
4. Upload work order or photo to keep as a certificate.
5. Keep digital signature of the customer after service job done at the customer site.

How did you come to work with ThinkPower?

We considered basic criteria such as cost, quality, lead time, and risk on every cooperating provider. We requested a few providers to deliver quotations based on our specifications and conditions. We compared the basic conditions of these providers to see who had the higher score. If the higher cost provider can provide the best quality and lead time, then they were also included in our selection. ThinkPower is one of the providers that could guarantee us the best quality and lead time.

How much have you invested with ThinkPower?

This is confidential, but generally, how much we invested should be per how many projects we will be going to launch and how many are needed to meet the enterprise’s future evolutions.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our initial project with ThinkPower began in 2014 and lasted a few months. The next project will also last a couple of months. This project will update and increase some functions of our current “Engineer App”.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The Engineer App improved the mobility services of each engineer, letting them address the customer need quickly. In the past, they couldn’t; but now, they can. Here are some examples of how the app has helped:

1. Engineers needed to communicate with CSR to get customer relation information, but it was not convenient when they were on field services; but now, they can check customer product information via the cloud directly.
2. Engineers searched the customer location by entity map, but it couldn’t be linked to GPS. Now, they can check customer basic information and the location link with Google Maps.
3. The services information view on entity paper could not be modified immediately if there was a mistake; they can now record or update maintenance parts and statuses during field services.
4. Normally, an engineer would bring back or scan the image back to our office, but sometimes the work order was easy to get lost; they now upload the work order or photo to our cloud to keep as a certificate.
5. After the services were finished, the engineer would ask the customer to sign the entity job sheet, but now it is easier to keep a digital signature of the customer on a mobile device (go paperless).

How did ThinkPower perform in terms of project management?

Here is a summary of our project in various terms:

• Human: Even the ThinkPower general manager attended our project kickoff meeting to have perfect communication.
• Event: Well organized meetings and discussions of every detail of our requests.
• Time: They already finalized the appropriate time for both sides.
• Location: They visited us at our office for the first meeting and sometimes had remote meetings for further questions.
• Product: The final quotation has been outputted and delivered along with the system design, a system test report, user manual, and the systems application and source code. 

What did you find most impressive about ThinkPower?

ThinkPower impressed me for numerous reasons:

1. Stable company: ThinkPower was founded in 2005; they specialize in software design and development, providing business-tailored software development and consultancy services.
2. Certified partner: Microsoft, Red Hat, Oracle, IBM and other international companies designated partners.
3. Mature technology: Accumulated a lot of experience with various software systems like Salesforce, Internet banking systems, TWM/mobile customer service system, etc.
4. Xamarin expert: ThinkPower provides consulting, training, and technical support services for Xamarin and is also a reseller of Xamarin products for clients in Taiwan and China. 

Are there any areas where ThinkPower could improve?

We hoped they could’ve reported the progress of the project weekly by email, or update us on our web project site (to review ourselves).

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with ThinkPower?

For the project's vision and objectives, you need to describe them clearly with workflow, text, and picture captures of the document description; then, ThinkPower will catch your point of view very quickly.