Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the United States, with a population of over 1.7 million and an area of nearly 1,000 square miles. More than 22 million people visit metropolitan Phoenix each year. Greater Phoenix's major industries are high-tech manufacturing, tourism and construction, and the city is the global corporate headquarters for several Fortune 500 companies. One of the most forward-thinking cities in the nation, Phoenix was among the first to adopt smart city technologies.

Rapid growth over the past decade meant the City of Phoenix had to become more efficient in how it offered and delivered citywide services, starting with its Public Works and Water Departments. Aging infrastructure faced increasing demands, and city leaders saw smart city adoption as a way to create a cleaner environment and optimize space and resources.

City leaders' digital transformation goals included automating proof of service, inspections and record keeping. Paperwork was time-consuming and inefficient, and the city lacked visibility into its actual equipment, scheduling, maintenance and outages.

The ambition went beyond automating administration. Leaders wanted to change the way services were delivered, and they needed a solution for smart route planning and dispatching that would better ensure the safety of the city's drivers and vehicles.

MetTel delivered a complete managed-service program to the City of Phoenix. It covered vendor consultation, all packaging and purchasing of systems and devices, installation consultation, deployment training and staff support within the Public Works and Water Departments.

Alongside the MetTel Fleet Management Solution, which increases route and fuel efficiency in city-owned vehicles, MetTel equipped Phoenix's drivers with rugged tablets. Each tablet is loaded with MetTel's IoT Single SIM so that drivers always have the strongest available connection as they move around the city.

The city now has a single-pane view into its workforce, including location-based intelligence, driver safety scoring and a vehicle diagnostics tool, delivered through an integration with the AssetWorks platform. Real-time visibility into the actual timing of services such as trash pick-ups speeds issue resolution with the operations centers, and daily route data lets the city restructure routes to reduce overall cost. GPS telematics limit speeding and wasteful idling, detect harsh braking and rapid acceleration, eliminate unauthorized usage and verify fuel expenses, while the fleet programs track maintenance, GHG emissions and alternative-fuel vehicles.

Because the city contracts with MetTel rather than a wide array of individual providers, it can draw on MetTel's ecosystem of technology partners as requirements change. The solutions can also scale to other city agencies, with each agency choosing the option that fits it best.

• Workforce productivity improved by 17%
• Vehicle operating expenses cut by over $30K per month
• Reduced speeding improved driver safety and cut fuel cost by 14%
• Reduced idling and unplanned trips produced savings of over $250K annually
• Increased insurance safety rating
• Public Works agents handling 1,000+ daily resident calls now see real-time service data, and job completion can be proven instantly