PC PAL has worked hard to establish itself as a quality, professional organisation, based on excellent customer service. Their engineers are out on the road visiting clients and there was a growing need to give them access to electronic storage of data and an ability to print that data. To maintain a good work ethic had meant jobsheets and a lot of manual paperwork had to be completed on the customer site. Receipts were then issued by hand to leave with the clients so they had a record of the time spent on site, what was resolved and how much the work cost.

Managing Director of PC PAL, Jat Mann explains, “It just wasn’t an efficient use of our engineer’s time to be filling in these forms yet they were a necessary quality document. The receipts were also important for our customers, re-affirming the value of the work just completed. We needed to find a much more efficient and professional way of producing the necessary paperwork, so we started to look at the products that were available in the marketplace. As well as a mobile data storage device we needed a compact, mobile printer that could integrate with the customised version of Azura’s Webchise Franchise Management Software, which allowed our engineers to create and access their jobs whilst on the move, also could be carried easily, was easy to use and produced a professional print out.”

A Brother MW-140BT instantly became the only product on the market that could meet all their requirements. Fitting into the palm of a hand, the MW-140BT provides instant printing and information sharing wherever the user may be. Ultra streamlined at just 17.5mm in thickness, including its rechargeable lithium battery, it fits easily into the inside of a jacket pocket or a belt and, with integrated Bluetooth technology, it prints directly from a mobile device.

Various software and hardware is compatible with the MW-140BT, including Blackberrys, PDAs, Tablets, MDT’s and other mobile hardware on the market, and it offers many sophisticated functions including built-in fonts and barcode generation. It produces A7 size prints and has a unique cut-sheet paper cassette system preventing paper curl.

Its numerous features and competitive cost attracted PC PAL to trial the MW-140BT with a view to rolling it out across their franchisees. There was still some development to be considered to ensure the product was the best solution for their overall strategy. Jat Mann at PC PAL continued, “We were very impressed with Brother’s excellent support during all our enquiries. They have a very niche product here, yet Brother were very helpful with all our development work and requests, we couldn’t have asked for more and that gave us a good sense of trust going forward.”

During their trials the MW-140BT came out on top. “The printer is very portable and lightweight and easily fits on in a belt or within the engineers case. The Bluetooth connectivity was an important factor because it means there are no leads to get in the way. We’ve also found the battery life to be surprisingly good, which is a bonus when you are out on the road.”

“Most importantly it has helped to reduce the amount of time spent on a customer site filling in paperwork two or three times over. The data is entered electronically once and this is printed instantly using the MW-140BT, giving the customer a professional receipt of the work completed. Engineers could sometimes spend up to two hours a day on paperwork and this solution saves a lot of tedious work that can be better spent resolving customer problems.”