ServicePower Schedule Optimization reduces chaos, improves efficiency

Confusion is contagious. Chaos spreads quickly. One unraveling operational thread leads to another fraying system and another until there is a gaping hole, big enough to drive a service van through.

Every organization can have bad days when nothing seems to go right. That’s normal. But if your company experiences underlying tension or efficiency debits regularly, it’s time to take a closer look at your processes, especially scheduling. There may even be missed opportunities you are unaware of or frustrations you have come to accept, not realizing how they may be eating away at efficiency and profits. Veteran managers can become desensitized to the disarray, striving to simply get technicians out the door. Such simplicity can backfire.

Scheduling is complex, requiring careful planning

When creating the day’s schedule, there are many variables associated with each service request that must be considered, such as location and product type. Other factors can contribute to general chaos as well, such as:

• Poor triage. Call center agents may fail to collect the necessary information about the customer, location, product, or type of service issue. Wrong data, such as an error in the address or phone number, can waste valuable time.
• Cascading issues. One misstep can trigger a domino effect of cascading reactions. Moving one impatient customer up in the queue can cause two others to be unhappy.
• Human limitations. No matter how skilled, a person can only analyze a fraction of the many variables influencing a schedule. Dispatchers can also be overwhelmed with a rush of service requests. Stress can mount, leading to errors.
• Service agreements. Some customers with service agreements or extended warranties may warrant a special response, such as same-day service or no labor charges. Keeping track of agreements demands careful attention. Prioritizing one service request over another can impact the entire schedule.
• Skill level required. Some product brands may require a technician to have special training or certification. Assigning the appropriate technician helps ensure the timely resolution of the service request.
• Evolving traffic and weather patterns. As the day progresses, weather and traffic patterns may change, drastically influencing drivetime between jobs and causing projected arrival windows to be off track. Schedules should be updated in real-time throughout the day to reflect changing conditions. .
• Parts inventory. Lack of replacement parts can interrupt job resolution, causing multiple visits, delays, and frustration for the customer.
• Visibility. A technician needs visibility into the knowledge base, inventory status, as-serviced history, and warranty status—along with other things—to make well-informed decisions. Without mobile solutions and connectivity, delays are likely.

Strive for better results

The best schedule optimization tools help analyze and prioritize the many variables, making schedule recommendations that optimize resources and please customers. Everyone wins.

With advanced scheduling software, conflicting factors can be sorted quickly, and updated throughout the day, finding the optimal combination of timing, routes, and technician assignments.

AI-powered Schedule Optimization

Advanced scheduling tools provide customers with valuable schedule optimization, driven by AI insights. The solution examines hundreds of factors simultaneously, determining the best possible combination of assignments. Schedule optimization puts service requests and technicians in lock-step alignment, synchronized, with relevant variables in-check, prioritized, and continually monitored. The threat of chaos is eliminated, and replaced with order and control.    

In fact, some organizations have reported:

• 45% increase in jobs completed per day
• 30% increase in Same-day Job Completion rates    
• 15% reduction in technician travel times

According to a McKinsey study, smart scheduling can increase productivity across the board by 29% and reduce job delays by as much as 67%.

Advanced solutions automate and simplify tasks as well as apply innovative new capabilities, such as machine learning and predictive analytics. Solutions can expand the knowledge base over time, capturing data about typical resolution times, drive times, and parts required.      

Multi-prong strategies can be enacted

With AI-powered optimization, organizations can be more strategic about the use of resources.

It’s no longer just about getting technicians on the road and putting customers in a queue to wait for the next free technician. This is scheduling at a whole new level of sophistication with benefits that cross over into areas beyond scheduling—such as workforce retention, extending the lifecycle of service vehicles, and even sustainability efforts.

Benefits of modernizing your solutions:

• More efficiency. With less windshield time and improved first-time fix rates, technicians can complete more service calls per day.
• Profitability. Completing more jobs per day, reducing wasted trips, and encouraging customer loyalty results in more revenue and profitability.
• Customer loyalty. Timely response and accurate arrival windows help foster a positive customer experience, leading to improved net promoter scores.
• Technician alignment. Assigning technicians to service requests based on skills, experience, and certifications helps solve service requests quickly.
• Reduced drive-time. Eliminating unnecessary trips cuts fuel costs, extends the lifecycle of the service fleet, and helps reduce technician turnover.
• Updates. Real-time updates accommodate the changing weather, traffic patterns, or assigned jobs that went over/under expectations.
• Technician retention. Smart scheduling helps reduce technician stress and frustration, reducing workforce churn.
• Dispatcher capacity. By automating routine scheduling tasks, dispatchers experience less stress, have greater capacity, and can focus on exceptions.
• Flexibility. The highly flexible solution allows strategies to be personalized to reflect specific business priorities, such as same-day response, parts availability, or minimizing windshield time for technicians.
• Flagged exceptions. No service requests fall between the cracks. The solution flags any jobs that haven’t been scheduled or take longer than expected so the dispatcher can review exceptions

Closing Thoughts

Scheduling is a critical element in service management, with a huge impact on business success, reputation, and efficiency. A chaos of variables makes the task challenging at the least—unmanageable at its worst.

ServicePower’s AI-powered schedule optimization is a game changer.

All of the advanced capabilities described in this blog are built-in features of ServicePower Scheduling, which offers unmatched schedule optimization capabilities. It analyzes a huge variety of factors and suggests a schedule that makes smart use of resources, optimizes technician strengths and meets customer expectations for timely response to service requests. Plus, the scheduling tool makes real-time updates in real-time so the latest requests and conditions are always factored into the plan. The schedule is always the best combination of routes and assignments. With the solution handling much of the heavy lifting, dispatchers can now focus on the exceptions and more complex issues. It’s a smart way to manage your service organization.