How On-Site Services Improved Operations with DIS Service Logistics and Analytics

Meet Eric Holloway, owner of On-Site Services.

On-Site Services is a forklift and material handling dealership based in Boise, ID and Fort Worth, TX  that supplies forklifts, warehousing equipment, rentals, parts, and service.

With over 50 employees, it’s just one of six business units owned by Holloway Holdings providing nationwide gas, oil, railroad, and utility maintenance contracts.

The owner, Eric Holloway, is a mechanic by trade, once a race car mechanic, he moved into industrial equipment in 2000. Today he’s a very hands-on leader, able to sit in pretty much any seat in the company and immerses himself in new applications and software.

We had the opportunity to chat with Eric about how On-Site Services manages their day-to-day operations with DIS Service Logistics and DIS Analytics.

What drove the decision to switch to DIS for you?

Eric Holloway: “We switched maybe 14-15 years ago. We started with just a basic DIS model, and as DIS developed more applications, Service Logistics, Notify, and Analytics, we started applying those applications.

It was really security, both in the accounting and in the inventory levels. The DIS double-entry accounting system locked down the ability to make critical errors that would affect the balance sheet.

We also wanted to control the inventory of our labor. Once we were able to monitor our labor bucket and use the time clock system and all the security systems that DIS has to offer, DIS paid for itself in six months.”

What features have had the biggest impact on your business?

Eric Holloway: “It would be the rollout of Analytics, Altura, that whole platform including Service Logistics. That’s where we’ve seen the largest gain, especially in 2024.

With Service Logistics we now have one view that allows us to see the day’s schedule or even build it out in weeks or a month. It’s pretty critical to our day-to-day operations.

It allows same-screen dispatching. It’s so helpful to be able to drag and drop work orders into a calendar view. It just makes sense because everybody knows how to drag and drop, no need to do a large reporting or data mining.”

How has Service Logistics changed the way you do business?

Eric Holloway: “Before Service Logistics we would have a long data mining report and go through each work order line-by-line. We were using a whiteboard with black tape to create areas for each day and we’d move magnets around for schedules – very labor-consuming for all parties.

Prior to that, we had hanging files on the walls, you know work in progress, work complete, parts on order, and so on. We would move the files between the different labels daily. You can imagine how hard that was to maintain.

It was nearly impossible, so once we started using the service logistics screen, and being able to drop work orders in, it just sped up the entire program.

The other portion of that is that our technicians were either handed a hard copy or we emailed them an invoice to complete. There were hundreds and hundreds of emails each day with chatter back and forth.

Now, all of our technicians are on iPads, and they can see their queue. They can apply time directly, add tech notes by segment, and take photos, and everything gets automatically uploaded to the system. It’s just sped a bunch of things up for us.

Which makes our records more complete and easier to navigate. It’s easy to go back and look at those records weeks or months later.”

How have you leveraged Analytics with your team?

Eric Holloway: “The biggest gain for the team, especially in the service department, was being able to see the real-time efficiency, recovery, and total billing by technician. It reinforces tech practices and efficiency, and it reinforces accountability.

We started using Notify and Analytics in January of 2021, and I think each month we get the platform to work just a little bit better for us. A lot of that is because of dealers speaking with the developers to make things even better.

For example, some of the analytics targeted service or targeted parts and inventory control or units, but now, other dealers and I are requesting more. We want to see P&I’s and balance sheets, budgets so we can analyze performance to plan, and I think we’re going to continue to see additional features.

I’ve had really good success collaborating with the DIS developer team. Some of my exact concerns were answered within days.”

How have you found DIS support?

Eric Holloway: “I love that support comes with the package deal. You don’t have to worry about how many times your team emails in or has concerns or questions. You know you’re not going to get a bill at the end of the month because you couldn’t set up a printer correctly or lost a work order.

Just knowing the DIS support team is always there for you really means a lot. And I can also say that they’re just good people, they really do like to help.”

What advice would you give to someone who’s considering a solution like DIS?

Eric Holloway: “Listen to the recommendations. Really, take the demos and the training seriously in the beginning and express any concerns you have to keep open communication and work with the product support team. If you ask, they’re good listeners, and these guys will get it done for you.

Two years ago, we went out to the market to find another software solution, and what we determined was that we were the problem. We were not taking the recommendations from our DIS representative to add more applications to make our jobs easier. If we had just taken some of those recommendations two years ago, we would have been even further ahead right now.

So yeah, listen to the recommendations.”