Field service companies need strategic and innovative ways to streamline business processes while improving ROI. ROI is one of the most important performance measurements for field service providers and it typically goes hand in hand with customer satisfaction. Together, these two aspects determine the success of your business. If your field service company is suffering from poor ROI, there could be several barriers getting in your way.
Improving your company’s ROI is no easy feat, as service costs are high and competition for contract workers is stronger than ever. Customers are expecting more from their services than they previously did and field service managers are scrambling to keep track of it all. So what can workforce management companies do in order to maximize revenue?
How to Maximize ROI in Field Service
There are many ways to maximize a field service company's ROI. But there are also many barriers in place that can prevent your company from making the most out of its services. It is important to think about your field service management business holistically and discuss where your company may be falling short and how that might be affecting ROI. Check out these common factors that can affect ROI in field service and how you can optimize them for increased revenue.
1. Valuing Customer Experience
As we previously mentioned, ROI and customer satisfaction go hand-in-hand. Without customers needing servicing, your whole business model goes out the window. The worst thing a company can do to affect its ROI is to ignore the customer journey.
There are many ways to improve customer satisfaction, starting with investing in a robust workforce management system. However, one of the most important and in demand needs of customers in 2020 is access to a customer portal.
Loyal customers can greatly impact a company's long term ROI, as repeat customers are five times as likely to repurchase, seven times as likely to try a new offering, and four times as likely to refer the service.
Nurturing the customer experience through a customer portal can greatly improve ROI. Customer portals empower customers to access real-time information about their services and enables direct contact with the field service technician. Real-time communication can help improve first time fix rates and even reduce time on site. For instance, with ServicePower’s Integrated Dispatch, Claims and Customer Portal, AIG experienced a 40% increase in first-time fix rate and a 20% decrease in time on site.
This means customers are happier and jobs are getting done faster, allowing for more services to be done in a day and leading to more cash in your company's pocket.
2. Optimizing Your Scheduling
This may seem like the most obvious, but if you have a broken dispatch and scheduling system, you are going to delay field service workers getting on site, resulting in less work done per day. Service scheduling is complex, but with dispatch software, you can seamlessly manage third party or full time technicians all while streamlining your scheduling process.
A perfected scheduling system allows for jobs to be distributed faster and with more information. Using a third party dispatch system increases your geographical footprint by allowing contractors from farther away to be able to service clients that your typical technicians could not normally reach.
ServicePower’s software was able to save 1M YoY with scheduling optimization while reducing technician travel time by 15%. This allows for maximum work to be completed while also saving money on gas and servicing cars that technicians use to travel to jobs. This can also free up budget to invest in more products that can improve ROI and business functionality.
3. Listening to Employees
At the end of the day, most employees just want to feel valued by their company. Field service technicians are the ones that get to be in the field all day every day, so listening to their wants and needs is integral in retaining employees and attracting top contractors.
Field service work is needed now more than ever, but with the continuing graying of the workforce, your team may be stretched thin. If they do not feel supported or burnt out, they are not going to be performing at their best. Investing in third-party contractors is a no brainer and is essential if you want your field service business to continue to thrive.
Gartner predicts that by this year, more than 40% of field service work will be performed by third party technicians. And it is now easier than ever to find qualified contractors with ServicePower’s certified contract network. By investing in the quality of both your full time employees and third-party contractors, you retain the best quality work while expanding your geographical footprint and servicing more clients.
4. Investing in Technology
The world has gone digital, and that includes the way field service providers run their businesses. Achieving the maximum ROI on your field service management software is imperative, as it means money well spent and that you are taking part in the innovation of field service.
If you have a workforce management suite that streamlines scheduling for third party dispatchers and full time employees, provides access to a customer portal with mobile capabilities, and predictive maintenance, then you have a tool that will allow you to thrive in a competitive industry.
ServicePower has been recognized as a visionary by Gartner for the fourth time in a row and has received the highest customer score for Rapid ROI. A holistic approach to field service management with the ability to be agile and increase visibility across the workforce is priceless when it comes to improving your business functionality and ROI.
In Conclusion
These valuable insights into how to improve ROI are not going away. Field service trends in 2020 and beyond emphasize the importance of investing in technology and the gig economy. More importantly, all of these recommendations are backed by data driven decision making. Although investing in field service management suites may seem expensive on the front end, the return on investment is worth the initial price tag.
Learn more about how ServicePower improves ROI and what we can do for your field service management business.
ServicePower : November 02, 2023
ServicePower