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Workforce Scheduling in Field Service

 

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Workforce scheduling is the process of efficiently assigning and organizing workers' hours and tasks to meet operational demands while balancing labor costs and employee preferences. It aims to align labor resources with demand while considering factors such as worker availability, skillsets, and labor regulations.

Leveraging workforce scheduling software improves productivity, first-time fix rates, and customer experience. Learn all the details here in our extensive industry guide.

Workforce Scheduling in the Field Services Industry


In field services, workforce scheduling involves deploying  employed and/or contracted field technicians for specific service jobs. As demand for services fluctuates, workforce scheduling aims to consistently and efficiently meet these changing needs without compromising the quality of service or satisfaction of customers.

However, with complex factors such as skills, location, and equipment availability influencing the success of workforce scheduling, it is easy for mistakes to occur. Missed service jobs, reduced productivity, and unsatisfactory service are not only costly mistakes, they create a negative customer experience that leads to a bad reputation.

Establishing a positive customer experience is critical to sustaining the growth of a company by helping to retain revenue and entice new customers. For instance, with a positive emotional experience, customers are six times more likely to buy, twelve times more likely to recommend the company, and five times more likely to forgive a mistake.

Workforce scheduling software ensures that your field service organization delivers an exceptional customer experience every time, fostering a positive brand image and a loyal customer base.

 

How to Optimize Scheduling for Your Workforce


There are several ways you can leverage technology to optimize scheduling for your workforce. Real-time updates allow you to offer the latest information for timely decision-making. In workforce management, it ensures rapid adjustments to schedules and assignments. AI-powered route optimization uses artificial intelligence algorithms to determine efficient routes, benefiting the field service industry by minimizing travel time and reducing costs. It lets your workforce get to your customers faster, and customers definitely appreciate the improved response times!

Another optimization option that today’s customers vastly prefer is self-scheduling. This empowers your customers to book services based on their availability and preferences independently. To keep up with demand, you can employ a flexible, blended workforce. When you use a mix of full-time employees and contractors, you have more agility to meet the demands of a fluctuating workload with varying skill requirements. Blended workforces let you optimize costs while ensuring that you have qualified technicians available with the skills your customers need.

Workforce Scheduling Software Capabilities


Workforce scheduling software takes the guesswork out of complex scheduling tasks. With access to real-time information and data-driven insights, there is increased visibility into every aspect of workforce scheduling and management.

ServicePower’s workforce scheduling software automates the selection and scheduling of field technicians, ensuring that the best technician, with the right parts and information, at the least cost, is always dispatched for the job within the least amount of time.

Interactive Gantt Chart

The Gantt Chart visual view allows dispatchers to monitor the progress and status of all technician tasks, changes, and bookings in real-time over the day.

Workforce Scheduling Gantt Chart

 

Real-Time Route Optimization with Map View

The Map View shows real-time locations of all field technicians, active routes, and job sites. Using a Here.com GIS Integration, the quickest and most efficient routes can be identified for each service technician based on service job location and warehouse and parts location.

Workforce Scheduling Map View

 

Real-Time or On-Demand Optimization

With flexibility between optimization options, new priorities can be identified and implemented seamlessly. This flexibility allows for a workforce scheduling strategy based on SLAs, crew, parts, route, and more.

Workforce Scheduling Real-Time

 

Configurable Scheduling Constraints and Management of Workforce Profiles

With detailed workforce profiles for field service technicians, there is increased visibility into the exact certifications, skills, and available times of each technician. These factors can be used as scheduling constraints to select the most qualified technician for each job.

Complex and Dependent Scheduling

With the option to use complex or dependent scheduling, there is increased flexibility in targeting the priorities that matter the most to you and your customers, whether it’s based on parts, teams, or more. Choose between complex scheduling that overlays attributes, or target a specific attribute to filter your scheduling needs.

Workforce Schedule Optimization

Dashboards with Interactive KPIs

With the ability to create and change custom KPIs, each dashboard is designed to clearly and concisely visualize the data that drives your business forward. Global access is made possible by web and mobile enablement, with enterprise-wide visibility.

Complex Workforce Capabilities

ServicePower is the only workforce scheduling solution that expertly services versatile workforce options, including an employed, third-party, or blended workforce.

 

Benefits of Workforce Scheduling Software

  • Increased Technician Productivity: AI-driven workforce scheduling automation improves technician productivity by up to 68% more than manual or rule-based solutions. Workforce scheduling software allows service providers to search for technicians based on the exact skills required for a specific job, using detailed workforce profiles to select the best match. Combined with real-time access to parts availability and route optimization, field technicians are always set up for success.

  • Improved First-Time Fix Rates: Improving your first-time fix rate is integral to delighting your customers, and 57% of customers have expressed a desire for better first-time fix rates. Workforce scheduling software can increase first-time fix rates by up to 40% by ensuring the most qualified technician is dispatched for each service job, arriving on time with the correct parts and equipment to fix the issue on the first try.

  • Reduced Operational Costs:  Workforce scheduling software can cut schedule costs by 15% compared to manual or rules-based solutions. With access to real-time technician geolocations, intra-day updates, changes, and bookings, there is no such thing as wasted spend from a scheduling surprise.

  • Advanced Customer Experience:  Customer experience is an essential part of business success, and 60% of organizations state that customer experience is their top source of competitive differentiation. Workforce scheduling software makes sure that you consistently delight your customers, increasing customer satisfaction rates by 10%. This helps you stand out from the competition, and increase your customer base.

 

Workforce scheduling software can transform your field service organization, giving you more time and resources to focus on what matters most.

See ServicePower’s workforce scheduling solution in action: Schedule a demo today!

 

Why is Workforce Scheduling the Secret to Success?


Workforce scheduling software is the secret to success, streamlining efficiency and increasing productivity across field service operations. Manual scheduling techniques often overlook or simply do not have the capacity to implement these optimizations, leading to unprepared technicians, late or missed appointments, and an increased need for multiple appointments to complete a single service job.

Workforce scheduling software makes those mistakes a thing of the past by scheduling and dispatching the most qualified technicians, allocating the most efficient resources, and optimizing the quickest routes.

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