Money on the Street – How Smart Planning and Optimization Software Can Improve Your Sustainability Score and Save Resources

Imagine your company as a mid-sized business that performs maintenance and service work on-site for clients, relying on traditional, time-tested methods for workforce deployment. Without modern planning and optimization tools, your technicians are dispatched with minimal planning—maybe even coordinating via WhatsApp. In an increasingly digital world, your company still manages field service activities using conventional methods. Not so efficient, right? The consequences? Unnecessary trips, inefficient service calls, and limited transparency into field activities, ultimately leaving money on the street. Moreover, your environmental and sustainability scores suffer. With factors like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), climate change, and CO₂ emissions on the radar, your company’s profile could be at risk not only economically but also in terms of compliance and public image.

Without intelligent planning and optimization software, companies face various challenges:

• Inefficient Route Planning: Technicians drive unnecessarily long distances, wasting valuable time in traffic.
• High Operating Costs: The lack of optimization leads to excessive fuel and maintenance costs.
• Poor Environmental Score: Unnecessary fuel consumption results in high CO₂ emissions.
• Unsatisfied Clients: Delays and subpar service quality impact customer satisfaction.
• Lack of Transparency: Without real-time data and analysis, visibility into field activities is limited.

Here is where planning and optimization tools like IFS PSO (Planning & Scheduling Optimization) come in. These solutions, offered by IFS, use artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to optimize route planning, resource allocation, and scheduling in real time. These solutions provide five crucial advantages for efficient, service-oriented companies:

1. Cost Savings: Optimized routes and more efficient on-site scheduling can substantially reduce operational costs. Fewer kilometers driven mean lower fuel costs, reduced vehicle maintenance expenses, and less wasted work time, thanks to optimized appointment scheduling.
2. Improved Sustainability Score: Reduced fuel consumption lowers CO₂ emissions, significantly improving the company's environmental impact. With more companies in the EU required to produce sustainability reports (see CSRD), using software like IFS PSO supports environmental goals. Efficient route and resource planning, along with optimized scheduling, play a vital role in reducing a company’s ecological footprint.
3. Increased Customer Satisfaction: Precise and reliable planning enables field service staff to arrive on time and provide efficient service, enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction. Real-time transparency also keeps customers informed about the status of their service requests, building trust and loyalty.
4. Real-Time Transparency and Flexibility: AI-powered solutions like IFS PSO provide comprehensive real-time visibility into all field operations. This enables rapid, intelligent responses to unforeseen events like traffic disruptions or urgent service requests, maximizing efficiency and minimizing downtime.
5. Efficient Resource Utilization and Employee Satisfaction: Innovative planning and optimization software ensures that the right technicians are at the right place at the right time. Factoring in staff availability, qualifications, and task prioritization streamlines business processes, optimizes resource use, and positively impacts team morale.

With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), adopted by the European Union on June 21, 2022, companies must document in detail the impact of their business activities on the environment, climate, human rights, and social standards, reporting them transparently to authorities.

The CSRD’s main objectives include preventing greenwashing and establishing uniform sustainability standards across the EU. This directive currently affects listed companies with over 500 employees. By 2025, however, companies with more than 250 employees must also comply. By the end of 2026, the CSRD will extend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to ensure a unified approach. Affected companies must publish a certified sustainability report alongside their financial statements.

The importance of integrated, sustainable business management is clear from recent studies. According to research by BearingPoint and the Handelsblatt Research Institute, involving 21 DAX companies, sustainability is already an integral part of corporate management, supported by in-house sustainability departments. However, smaller companies often lag in reporting and data, making implementation challenging. An active ESG management approach is recommended for companies to ensure ongoing transparency of sustainability performance and risks, allowing effective environmental goal management.

BearingPoint’s “Sustainable Service” study (December 2023) highlights the gap between awareness and implementation of sustainability measures. The construction and service industries, in particular, require significant action, while the transportation sector leads in emissions measurement. Technological solutions like AI-based applications and dynamic route planning are still rare, despite their potential to significantly improve sustainability scores.

A mid-sized company faced significant challenges, with technicians driving uncoordinated and often overly long routes. This resulted in high fuel costs and dissatisfied clients. Management recognized that this inefficient approach negatively impacted both cost structure and environmental footprint. Lack of information about technician deployment led to rising operational costs.
After implementing IFS PSO, transformative changes were observed:

• Increased Productivity: The average increase in tasks per shift per employee across analyzed cases was 12.75%.
• Reduction in Kilometers Driven: IFS PSO’s intelligent route planning reduced kilometers driven by 45%.
• Travel Time Savings: Fewer kilometers driven resulted in a 35% reduction in travel time.
• Reduced CO₂ Emissions: Improved environmental scores through lower fuel consumption, saving 5,000 tons of CO₂ annually.
• Reduction in Overtime: More precise scheduling and optimized routing cut overtime by 94%.

For companies relying on field service and technicians, deploying innovative, AI-equipped planning and optimization software like IFS PSO is a critical step toward sustainability, resource optimization, and efficiency. Cost and emissions reductions go hand-in-hand with enhanced customer and employee satisfaction. In a time of rising environmental responsibility and legal sustainability requirements, modern Planning & Scheduling Optimization software offers a forward-looking, sustainable solution for any service-oriented company.

Interested companies can have the benefits of PSO tools transparently analyzed by their implementation partner through a non-binding proof of value. This test phase provides insights into specific advantages and potential savings before full implementation.

For more information on implementation, proof of value, and the advantages of AI-powered PSO software, we’re here as a globally active IFS Platinum Partner to help you boost your value creation and pick up the money that’s on the street.

Arcwide Germany GmbH
Ugur Alpay
Head of Marketing DACH
ugur.alpay@arcwide.com