Your fridge conked out and you need it fixed before the roast goes bad. Problem is, the repair company can't say exactly when a technician will be out. Does "sometime between 1 and 5 p.m." sound familiar?
TOA Technologies of Beachwood has tackled the problem by developing a system it says can schedule the repair technician, cable guy or TV installer in a one-hour slot with a 96 percent on-time rate.
On Tuesday, TOA released its
2010 Cost of Waiting Survey, which polled consumers in the U.S., Germany and the UK about their waiting experiences. TOA found that American adults wasted about 2.75 billion hours waiting in the past year � the equivalent of 1 million people being out of work for a year.
The cost to businesses is significant, says President and CEO Yuval Brisker, noting that 21 percent of respondents reported switching companies because of long waits. Nearly half called customer service to complain about their experiences � an additional cost to companies that contract with call centers.
TOA's approach rests on its ability to analyze individual employee performance to understand how long he or she will take for each assignment, Brisker says. Not only does TOA's solution generate employees' daily schedules, but it provides customer notification and tracking functionality, he says. All of which help service companies keep their customers.
Founded in 2003, TOA launched its services in 2004 and has raised $17 million in two rounds of venture capital, including assistance from two
Ohio Capital Fund partners: Cleveland-based
Early Stage Partners and
Draper Triangle Ventures.
Brisker predicts current year revenues to rise 75 to 80 percent over last year. Meanwhile, TOA has grown from two employees in 2004 to 200 worldwide today � about 40 of which will staff the company's new headquarters building when it opens in Beachwood next month.
Source: Yuval Brisker, TOA TechnologiesWriter: Gene Monteith