What’s New in ARCOS: Features to Improve Connections with Field Crews

We’re excited to share two new feature sets for our Crew Manager product that will help utilities better communicate and collaborate with crews in the field. With two-way texting and a new integration with HelmsBriscoe, ARCOS gains new capabilities to eliminate friction, boost coordination, and accelerate outcomes for daily work and outage restoration. 

Two-Way Texting: Communication That Keeps Up with the Pace of Field Work 

Utilities today waste time and staff capacity on cumbersome communication with crews. Radios and phone calls create bottlenecks, while scattered messages on personal phones lack audit trails, reliability, and security. 

With the launch of two-way texting, ARCOS further centralizes your field crew operations and communications giving you: 

• Faster updates: Broadcast messages to entire crews in seconds from a single shared interface 
• Two-way communication: Field teams can respond with questions, status updates, or confirmations in real time 
• Full visibility: Track delivery and responses, with a complete history of what was said, when, and by whom 
• Better safety: Send alerts instantly and ensure crews can respond without disrupting their workflow 

Two-way texting in ARCOS Crew Manager streamlines and enhances communication between back-office personnel and utility crews in the field. One utility estimates potential time savings valuing more than $300,000 during major outage events and an additional $300,000 in savings during daily work.  

HelmsBriscoe Integration: Lodging Logistics, Streamlined 

When storms hit, logistics matter just as much as linework. That includes securing hotel rooms for mutual aid crews coming in from across the region.  

Enter the integration between ARCOS and HelmsBriscoe, a trusted name in bulk lodging services for utilities. With this integration, your hotel room block data now flows directly into Crew Manager, giving your team a real-time view of lodging status alongside crew assignments. 

• Automatic data transfer: Eliminate time-consuming duplicate and manual data entry  
• Visibility: See who’s assigned where in one view 
• Flexibility: Adjust room bookings as crew rosters shift, without scrambling to update multiple systems. 
• Cost Savings: As plans change, adjust bookings so that no money is wasted on overbooking unused rooms 

ARCOS lodging capabilities are designed to protect your budget, support your crews, and maintain your reputation as a well-organized partner in mutual aid efforts. By improving coordination around lodging logistics, one utility was able to identify potential savings of $100,000 per $1 million spent, based just on reducing unused hotel rooms and meals.

Why It Matters 

By reducing manual work and helping utilities respond faster, these new features can: 

• Shorten outage durations
• Improve customer satisfaction 
• Enhance crew readiness and morale 
• Ensure better cost control and compliance 

Whether you’re managing daily operations or coordinating large-scale storm response, ARCOS can help modernize crew coordination, improve field visibility, and support emergency operations more effectively. 

Contact your account executive today to learn more!