Exterminators PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier pest tech and environmental technology company, is embarking on a digital transformation journey powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its operational activities to further improve efficiency, enhance accuracy, increase customer and employee satisfaction, and create value for its shareholders. In 2014, ‘Exterminators PLC’ began the digitalization process by designing, developing, and articulating ‘South Asia’s 1st mobile app and followed up with the e-Scheduler and digital rodent and termite bait stations in 2018. The company introduced the ground-breaking ‘eConnect’ web-based customer web portal in 2019, becoming yet another first in South Asia, and thereafter many more digital technologies were integrated into the organisational digital transformation project.
The company was recognised globally for its leadership in digitalization by being invited as a guest speaker to present its story on ‘Digital Pest Management’ in the Connecting Asia’ international pest management conference held in Pattaya, Thailand, recently with the participation of 12 countries in Asia. Since the digital transformation began a decade ago at Exterminators and the integration of artificial intelligence in recent times, the company has revolutionised the operational activities throughout the organisation to further streamline processes, optimise resource allocation, and provide personalised services to its customers. By automating repetitive tasks such as data entry and analysis the company was able to reduce employee opportunity costs (time) and, in return, was able to focus on more complex and critical aspects of their work.
The company plans to further invest in AI so that it will be able to analyse AI algorithms based on historical data to predict pest infestations, allowing Exterminators PLC to proactively allocate resources and prevent outbreaks well in advance. Analysing data from various sources, such as pest behaviour, sanitation, good housekeeping practises, and customer feedback, helps the company make more informed decisions and implement targeted pest management strategies and best practises. This proactive approach enhances the overall effectiveness of pest management measures and significantly enhances internal and external customer satisfaction. It also reduces the need for traditional chemical treatments, minimising the risk to humans and the environment.
Exterminators PLC’s dynamism and adaptability to new trends in the external environment have enabled it to stay ahead of the digital growth curve as well. The company has effectively absorbed new trends in digitalization applicable to its business model, which have led to a greater customer experience and sharper solutions. The integration of digital solutions has also enabled the company to optimise its cost structures, creating immense value for shareholders. The notable fact about the company’s digital drive is that it encompasses multiple processes such as customer connectivity, sales and technician functions, treatment record keeping, and creating synergies via smart route optimisation.
E-CONNECT is a web-based platform that provides customers with a single access point to information, which enhances the customer experience, establishes transparency, and improves operational efficiency. E-Connect allows clients to log into a virtual online account, access information instantly, send a link with the client’s invoices or statements, view scheduled services, reschedule services, view notes on previous services, and communicate with the client virtually. A mobile app is a useful tool for sales and technicians performing services at the customer’s premises, as it keeps digital work orders and customer accounts ‘in sync’ with events at the office. Furthermore, it facilitates a paperless environment, thereby mitigating the negative impact on the planet while generating savings in terms of time and money. The mobile app’s key digital features include the ability to synchronise technician schedules and add additional service stops to field technician routes from the office, view the history of services and estimates, track technicians’ locations by activity, and capture photos as evidence of inspection.
E-SCAN Digital scanning app is a feature added to our mobile app with the purpose of taking the workload off the employees. This eliminates the need to manually file treatment records, pest sighting reports, checklists, etc. and instead allows technicians to scan and update information through their mobile devices. As a result, all treatment records are available at the click of a button with real-time updates. E-scan will scan pest inspection and treatment points, rodent and insect bait stations, observations, material used, and provide synchronised instant access to all these details on the E-connect customer web portal. Drag and drop scheduling: This is the most dynamic scheduler to serve the pest control industry. It allows employees to schedule pest control service appointments for technicians with drag-and-drop technology. The scheduler efficiently completes tasks such as appointment re-scheduling, changing the technician for the appointment, or adding new services that would normally require multiple steps and time, and it helps the company create route optimisation synergies.
Route optimisation and intelligent scheduling: Intelligent Routing is a tool that allows the company to put together the most efficient routes for the technicians’ daily schedules. It can be used to select the routes and their date ranges and choose from the module’s various optimisation options. Users can schedule routes while considering technician shifts, lunch hours, workdays, holidays, etc. Smart intelligent scheduling also helps optimise routes for a chosen time range, set a buffer time for the best time range, develop efficient routes, and reduce energy consumption. Digital rodent bait stations: Commercial barcoding allows our technicians to scan barcodes and update information through their mobile devices. Barcodes can be scanned either through the camera function on a smartphone or through a Bluetooth scanner used by itself or connected to a mobile device. The information from the scanned barcodes is then organised into different categories, such as inspection point status, target pest species identification, observations, and materials used.
Marlon Ferreira, the Founder and Managing Director, stated, in the primitive days, fire played a significant role in human evolution, and today artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to play a similar role in human evolution. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change the way of life in the next 6–18 months. As one of the global pioneers in digital transformation in our industry, we will certainly be at the forefront and take leadership in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in our industry and beyond our industry in Sri Lanka and globally, while emphasising the need to mitigate negatives and enhance positives for people and the planet.