How Brightline cut missed appointments by half

Brightline services heating and cooling systems across three counties with sixty technicians. Before Kiosk, eleven percent of appointments were missed: the technician arrived outside the window, or the customer was not in, or the job had been booked twice.

The problem was the board

Scheduling was a whiteboard, photographed every evening. Changes during the day went by phone, and the phone was busy. By two in the afternoon nobody knew where anyone was.

What they changed

1. Every job booked in Kiosk, with a two-hour window the customer chooses.
2. Technicians check in from the app, so the board shows where people are rather than where they were meant to be.
3. Automatic arrival texts, sent when the technician leaves the previous job.

The numbers, ninety days on

• Missed appointments: from eleven percent to five.
• Jobs per technician per day: from 4.2 to 4.9.
• Inbound "where is my technician" calls: down by two thirds.

In their words

The dispatchers were sceptical. Now the busiest one says she would leave if we took it away.

Brightline's operations director, Maria Cole, spoke at our customer day in March. The recording is in the Guides section.