Field Service Pain Points

Filing paperwork

When the company isn’t digitized the field technician must come to the depot to receive all the information which is in hard copies. Another problem happens when the technician needs to make the images before and after the service is done. Not digitized or little digitized companies receive hard copies via email and keep them in different resources which makes it not easy to use.

Using the Field Service the technician has its own application in the smartphone, and it is connected with the dispatcher’s part. Both parts (technician and dispatcher app) communicate together within Field Service. Once the technician takes the picture, it appears immediately in the system and the dispatcher can see it. Also there’s a digital signature as a part of the mobile app, so there’s no need to sign paper docs from the customer’s side. Plus filling everything in the system helps to avoid the mistakes.

First-time Fix Rate

Technicians who have to leave a job site without finishing the job on the same day run the risk of the customer getting frustrated and going with someone else. There are also multi-days service appointments when the installation process takes more than one day. In both cases the more prepared the field force comes on the customer’s site - the higher are the chances to win the customer’s loyalty.

WIth a Field Service software you receive better visibility regarding which appointments are executed, at what time, what assets and technicians are needed, when they perform service repair or installation.

This app controls in the background what skills and spare parts are necessary to execute this service appointment and assign the proper field technician having spare parts or other equipment needed in his van. And finally you feel more freedom: no need to think about your dispatcher’s experience level, all of them deliver the same results. The system thinks instead.

Schedule adherence

Delivering the service on time is really crucial, it helps you on the way called customers’ retention. Field Service tool enables the dispatchers to be informed in real time mode if the technicians are ontime or delayed and how the service appointment is executed. Another important feature is defining the duration of the service appointment (1 or 3 hrs.for ex.), as it directly influences the schedule.

The system also calculates the mileage expected between the service appointments per day or per month in total. It shows the comparison between the planned mileage with the real one. The mobile application gathers the geolocation in real time which means you get exact info when the service technician really starts working and when he finishes.

Communication with Customers

Customers could be calling for any number of reasons and the last thing you can do is to give them the “I don’t know answer”. Having all the information in one portal under a Field Service software gives the entire picture of the customer’s appointments and what assets are needed to make your customer happy. And if the technician isn’t skilled enough or needs some additional information he can always address to the knowledge base within the system to find the answers.

The possibility to use the chat inside of the Salesforce platform makes the communication between the technician and the dispatcher easier and faster, which in its turn leads to avoiding any misunderstandings with the customer.

Performance Management.

Performance management is one of the ways to tell if you are running your business properly. Companies measure absolutely different metrics: some - only first-time fix rate, others measure overall performance with different indicators. And many companies still do it manually using tons of data in the spreadsheets or paper docs. It takes lots of time, human resources and not always the data is accurate. Custom reports with dashboard and reporting modules available in many Field Service apps enable decision-makers monitor trends and performance without adding hours of labor to their already full schedule. They also help to monitor your customer base growth and analyze product demand.

The list of the pain points or the fears can differ depending on the company profile but except for “we have nothing to optimize” quite often we hear:

“We are afraid that our not computer-skilled technician won’t be able to work with the mobile app...
We have very complicated conditions for planning and scheduling and only our dispatchers can make the planning...
We’re afraid that there’s no system that can handle our processes or we won’t be able to gather all the attributes and we’ll have to fill in the system with the wrong data.

We know that implementing such a system means a big disruption for a company. That’s why to make the process smooth and seamless Field Service software offers to do it in several steps. First step is to create a better view for the dispatcher to improve the visibility. 2nd step - schedule automatization. 3rd - implementing a mobile app for the service technicians. And 4th step - optimization finally. At this point usually we face the customer’s fear that the data about planning and scheduling will be moved incorrectly. From our experience it’s more about mental readiness for a change rather than incorrect data migration.

In order to succeed on your way to Field Service excellence you need to define your service standards and follow them. Many companies include into their strategies increasing workforce, budget, gaining new customers but quite often forget or don't focus on technology. Make sure you have the right system that improves your customers’ retention rate and generates revenue. If not - find the one and increase your SLA performance by 44%.

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