At ForWare, we’ve designed our software to be straightforward to use. It has all of the features you’ll need for managing your fleet effectively without the need for any special skills to get started. Because of the simple design of the VHC and Video tool, anyone can use it. Also, you don’t need to be a computer programmer to run a report, anyone can use this tool.

Service Plan Simplicity

Take our service plan system for example. You can build custom plans to suit your requirements or keep it simple and have petrol, diesel, hybrid and now EV, 2 and 3 year plans up to your chosen engine or battery size. Lock this plan into the ForWare system, and all the requirements are there for your service team once the vehicle is presented for service; pop the reg into ForWare and follow the onscreen instructions. It couldn’t be simpler.

Authorisation goes Automatic

When a car comes into your workshop, what are the chances that it will need more repairs (and time, and spend) than it was originally booked in for? Perhaps it didn’t get the 15k VHC (more on this in my next blog), and now it needs more than just the service it was booked for. What’s needed now is efficiency. The key is to get detailed information to your customer as quickly as possible so they can make an informed decision. You’re not going to be able to do this if you can’t find the Ipod or your tech forgot the app login.

Any Service Advisor will tell you that delays in job authorisation are critical areas where workflow can slow down to a crawl. Fleet Managers could be on another call when you call  them, so you leave a message and move onto other work. The car is taken off the ramp. The Fleet Manager calls back in the middle of another job, distractions occur, the vehicle has to await a new ramp slot, and the whole process is thrown out of kilter. Worse still, the Fleet Manager may not have got the message or forgot; they may not respond until late in the day (or at all). It’s no fun for anyone when they’re told that their car isn’t ready due to needing approval for critical repairs or that they’ll have to bring the car back to get extra work done, all for want of timely authorisation. The driver is unhappy, the Service Advisor is stressed, the mechanic is stressed — it’s not a good look for anyone involved.

With ForWare, the job authorisation process is cut down to the click of a button. In fact, sometimes, the Service Advisor may not need to be involved with notifications going straight from the mechanic to the Fleet Manager. Simple. Easy. Stressless.

Built-in VHC and Video

ForWare VHC and Video are built-in; you only need one device, so your tech can quickly and easily get the information on the system so the Service Advisor can inform the Fleet Manager, getting the go-ahead while the vehicle is STILL on the ramp.

Gloves off time

ForWare’ emphasis on simplicity even extends to time spent by the mechanic writing up the report. Traditionally, the mechanic would have to take their gloves off, grab their job card, write the fault up, leave it out to the Service Advisor, and wait around for the Advisor to hear back from the customer (itself a cumbersome process). While small steps in themselves, these take time and certainly add up when you consider the number of jobs the average mechanic works on each day. 5 minutes can quickly end up being half an hour of productivity wasted.

With ForWare, it’s a lot simpler and a lot more efficient. Our system is designed for use with gloves, so the mechanic can key in the fault and send a request for authorisation directly to the customer or the Fleet Manager..

Reduce admin time

Good Service records are essential. However, it is often the case that, once completed, jobs are soon filed away. This means that when the vehicle returns at a later date, considerable time is spent digging through old folders to find out precisely what was done and what the faults identified were at the time; CRM systems often have limited space for detailing repairs. With ForWare, repair and authorisation records are simply recorded onto the system as they’re done there and then. This makes life much easier for Service Advisors at the booking stage and beyond, enabling them to (literally) bring up service history at their finger-tips. This makes life a lot more efficient and saves on considerable time spent unearthing old records.

There’s also compatibility with existing CRM systems such as Keyloop, so you don’t need to redo all your processes to suit ForWare — ForWare works for you.

Billing brilliance

With less efficient systems, you could well end up sending 100s of invoices a month to one company. It’s tedious and time-consuming. Not so with ForWare — our system collates all invoices and presents them to the Fleet’s Accounts Department in one job lot every month. This makes everyone’s life easier. Again, less time, less hassle.

These are just some ways ForWare aims to make life simpler for Service Managers and Service Advisors without compromising quality or efficiency (in fact, it enhances them). We’re also constantly developing our systems and adding new features based on feedback.