Hey Siri™, Fix My Machine
Foley Lynx™ is like hiring a full-time service technician for your Cat equipment.
Ever wish your dozer or excavator came with a virtual assistant? So you could say, “Hey Siri™, how do I set up this work tool?” or “Alexa™, tell me what this fault code means.” After all, you don’t always need a person on site to solve your problems. Sometimes, you just need a quick answer or confirmation you’re on the right path.Well, here’s some breaking news: With Foley, you’ve got that. It’s called Foley Lynx™, and it’s a support service that gives you access to a dedicated service technician — that’s right, a real live person — right from your phone.
“The easiest way to explain it is to say it’s Siri for your equipment,” says Travis LaDuke, one of the actual human beings behind Foley Lynx. “You have a question, and we can answer it — most of the time right away and without having to send a field technician to your site.”
The answer to your problems
Subscribe to Foley Lynx and you can call, text or email the service anytime you encounter an equipment question or issue. LaDuke or another full-time Foley Lynx technician will respond — if not immediately, then typically within 30 minutes during regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 7:00am-4:30pm). Working in the evening? Just leave a message and expect a response first thing in the morning.
“We can walk you through a lot of quick things to check, or I can go to our engineering team and get you an answer that gets you going,” LaDuke says. “If field service does need to come out, then they already have a good idea of what’s wrong, so they spend less time on site and you’re back up and running faster.”
Foley Lynx even includes a Facetime-like service that allows you share photos and videos with your technician.“We can text pictures back and forth, but sometimes it’s better if you can show us what you’ve got going on in real time,” LaDuke says. “We can text a link that turns your phone into a remote camera. Then it’s even easier to walk through the troubleshooting process and narrow down the problem.”
With an annual Foley Lynx Ultimate Subscription, you also get unlimited access to Cat Advanced SIS 2.0 — Cat’s service information system that includes detailed parts information, service manuals and troubleshooting guides and more.
LaDuke says, “Cat SIS 2.0 is new to many customers, but it has been around for a long time, and is the same system used by the professionals. Our Lynx team has a lot of experience navigating SIS 2.0 and can share that knowledge. We can help you locate the correct parts, find the right page in the service manual and interpret what certain instructions mean. It definitely improves our ability to communicate and problem-solve as a team.”
Real issues, real results, real fast
One obvious advantage of Foley Lynx is the convenience of access to on-demand expertise. But don’t overlook the potential time and money savings. Though the subscription does come with a cost, if you can use it to eliminate two or three field technician visits, then it’s already paid for itself — making Foley Lynx a smart investment for operations of all sizes.Not sure how it might work for your business? Consider these real-world examples of Foley Lynx in action:
- A Foley customer working out of state in Arizona on a job called in because a fault code kept popping up on an excavator. The Foley Lynx technician determined that a software fix would resolve the problem. He updated the software remotely from Kansas, and the machine was back up and running in 45 minutes.
- A customer attempted to add an attachment for an excavator but couldn’t get it to work properly — and couldn’t tell if the issue lay with the machine or the work tool. The Foley Lynx technician connected to the excavator remotely and confirmed that all machine parameters were in order and that the malfunction lay with the attachment.
- A customer couldn’t get the air conditioning to work on a motor grader. Remote troubleshooting revealed that it wasn’t getting electrical power. The Foley Lynx technician pulled data from the machine and discovered that the air conditioning system had been turned off, leading the computer to believe it wasn’t installed in the first place. He dispatched a field technician who had the air conditioning working in less than 30 minutes.
“Uptime is important to our customers,” LaDuke says. “We recently worked through an issue for the operations manager of one of our largest customers, and he was very appreciative of our ability to get him a resolution within minutes of sending his question. We hear ‘I don’t know what we did before Lynx’ all the time.”
No question too small (or too silly)
One thing LaDuke wants to stress is that Foley Lynx isn’t just for big issues — far from it.
“Don’t be afraid to use it just the way you use Siri or Alexa,” he says. “‘Where do I find this part?’ ‘What does this button do?’ Lynx is for any question you have.”
That makes the service especially valuable for companies onboarding new operators or technicians, who may not be familiar with the ins and outs of Cat® machines — or with heavy equipment at all. These newbies might not feel comfortable bothering their boss or a seasoned employee with basic questions, but it’s easy to ask Foley Lynx.
“Often, when a machine is new to an operator, they’re trying to figure out which buttons to push,” LaDuke says. “We can explain where all the switches are located. We can explain how to change the settings on the monitor to use a different work tool. We can even explain how to set up the grade control system and start using it to achieve better accuracy. That’s a real benefit nowadays with the lack of experienced operators.”
It’s a benefit for the Foley team, too. Streamlining the process of gathering information from the field leads to better diagnosis of problems, less duplication of efforts and lots of time saved.
“I think of it as the difference between going to a Ford dealership to buy a vehicle and going to a used car dealership,” LaDuke says. “The experience is going to be completely different. Lynx is one more way Foley Equipment can offer that superior customer service and value and be there every step of the way, even if we never set foot on site.”
Ready to say “Hey Lynx” next time you encounter a question? LaDuke and his colleagues are standing by to respond. Check out all the details here or get in touch with your Product Support Representative or Inside Sales Representative to learn more.