10 Reasons Management Software Increases Field Productivity

In the second half of our two-part article on how the right field service management software solutions can increase your field service efficiency and productivity, while enabling employed and contracted field technicians to provide a the best customer experience, simultaneously. In the previous installment, we discussed integrating your CRM and interacting with customers through your mobile workforce management software along with how to maintain communication from entitlement through service delivery. In this new installment, discuss device accessibility and more!

6) Mobile and PC Friendly

The productivity of your field service staff depends a great deal on what they have access to in the field.  Leading mobile technician enablement solutions  enable field service organizations to schedule the best field resource for each job, while delivering the details, tasks, asset and parts requirements and additional installation, repair and maintenance information required to delight the customer in a single visit. Mobile technology must be fully extensible to offline data, as well as have the ability to for technicians to collect and submit information like data, images and videos through the solution, even when disconnected from the internet.  And, the best suited form factors, which is the physical device size, can be different from job to job.  What starts out in a consumer's home, where a laptop or tablet is convenient to use, can change in an instant, if the technician, or say plumber or electrician has to go outside and work in a trench on the exterior of a home under a home warranty policy.  In that case, the tech needs to be able to seamlessly transition to a smaller smart device or even a wearable better suited to a confirmed space. Mobile solutions enable technicians to better serve your customers, quickly referencing work order information, special requests, parts and asset information, service history and even providing quotes and delivering surveys, while being capable of delivering changed schedule information created by consumer portals or call center agents, simultaneously.   In a recent Service Council consumer survey, 50% of more of consumers stated that field service personnel appears at their appointments with no mobile solution in hand.  That's an opportunity for 50% improvement in service delivery, customer satisfaction and  first time fix rates in our mind. Mobile technology is a no brainer.

7) Location and Navigation

Navigation systems are an incredibly useful addition to the modern software toolset. With modern route optimization and contractor management software used to dispatch and manage work orders, integrated digital mapping and location services  can provide improved mapping, routing and location services across the service ecosystem. Combining real-time traffic and GPS location data, field service management users perform state-of-the-art same day real-time travel route and scheduling updates, enhanced geo-tagging of assets or technician locations, find the closest technician, localize deals or offers, and proactively alert end-consumers of impending arrival or schedule changes. It can also enable operational teams to more accurately plan territory coverage, view in-progress work and identify technicians in emergency or hazardous situations, as well as tracking and analysis of planned versus actual routes and mileage. New technologies,  more robust than older, simple track and trace on a map, up the game for operations, technicians and consumers. 

8) In-Field Intelligence

With mobile field service management technology, combined with the latest AI and digital assistant technology, field technicians can perform more intelligently in the field. Gone are the days of dragging in a text book of repair information, and even scrolling through tiny schematics on a laptop or tablet. Combining AI with asset, parts and service history, as well as with installation, repair and maintenance data, digital assistants create a whole new reality for both techs and consumers. Digital assistants like Siri or Cortana are cool to use, but how to make them more useful in field service? Enabling the to use AI to evaluate the information on the device or accessible through integrated databases to suggest the best coarse of action. AI+ tech fingers = a faster, smarter service experience for customers.

9) Continuous, 2 Way Communications

One of the major benefits of mobile workforce management software is the ability to keep all members of the service ecosystem in full contact. Staff and contractors can stay in contact with operations and customer service,  experts who can help improve service delivery, and even with consumers, directly through phone, text, email and integrated customer portal technologies.  From call aheads to status updates to scheduling changes, mobile technology keeps everyone in touch.  

10) Complete Service

The final argument for comprehensive field service management , mobile  and dispatching software is about seamless service delivery.  When choosing a mobile workforce management technology suite, consider industry nuances, complexity of operations, volume of work, entitlement and appointment scheduling, work order creation, asset, part inventory and service history,  and technician mobile enablement. Customer require flexibility. Techs require tools and intelligence. Operations requires improvement in business metrics. All of those things add up to improving operations and enabling  your field teams to deliver great customer service. Using field service management technology allows you to create a field service operation which delivers faster, smarter service, using a unified platform.

For more information on  ServicePower's field service management solutions, click below.