Verizon Partner Solutions, the wholesale arm of Verizon, is now equipping its 2200 field technicians with BlackBerry 8703e smartphones and reaping financial and customer satisfaction rewards in the process.

VPS is now the largest enterprise user of BlackBerrys worldwide, said Charles Henry, vice president of systems management for Verizon Partner Solutions, and it is believed to be the first telecom operator to use smartphones in this manner.

Previously, technicians carried laptop computers or used cellphones to keep in touch with customers, access information about installation and repair jobs and track job progress, Henry said. The VPS technicians now use the BlackBerrys to access the same internal systems but can do it more quickly and simply.

“The new devices are more compact and more portable, and they are always on – there is no boot-up time,” Henry said. “The techs like the ease of use, portability and having everything at the touch of your hand.”

A technician who is caught in traffic and running behind on a customer appointment can easily send a message to that customer and keep them constantly up-to-date on the expected arrival time, alleviating a common customer complaint, Henry said. Progress on the job can also easily be tracked and recorded.

In New York, where VPS field technicians weren’t using laptops, the introduction of BlackBerrys has enabled them to add an average of one extra job per 8-hour work shift, Henry said. Technicians also don’t have to lug around laptops and can instantly access needed information on the always-on smartphone.

To date, VPS techs haven’t lost any BlackBerrys, but the devices are security-encrypted to prevent loss of critical business information if a device is misplaced or stolen. Technicians typically require less than half a day of training to be up and running on the BlackBerry 8703s, and there haven’t been any complaints about the smaller screen size, Henry said.