10 Essential Features You Need in Your Field Service Management Software

The modern business landscape for a field service business is defined by its fast-paced nature and the ever-present need to stay competitive and deliver high-quality customer experiences. One of the most effective ways a field service business can do this is via streamlining and automating workflows and optimising how resources are used, so that the interactions your team has with customers are as smooth and efficient as possible. To be able to do this you need to have field service management software in place, but the harsh truth is that not all field service software’s are created equally. There are certain features that are essential to have in your system if you’re looking to maximise your competitiveness and improve your customers’ experiences.

As experts in field service software who work with hundreds of businesses of all scales and sizes, we’ve been able to identify the most useful features for a field service business. We recommend you use this guide as a checklist to review how your current field service management software compares. To make it easier to digest, we’ve broken down the features into three core groups:

1. Features that are useful for your field team
2. Features that are useful for your customers
3. Features that are useful for the back office

Features for the field team

Job scheduling & allocation alerts

Knowing which jobs are expected to be completed is one of the biggest problems that field teams face. With previous generations of businesses reliant on spreadsheets and phone calls to assign, track and communicate the existence of jobs, it’s no wonder businesses flock to FSM software that allows their field teams to pick up new jobs in an efficient and automated way.

With the right features in place, your field service management software can alert your team members when they’ve got a new job, allowing them to keep on top of what’s expected from them at any given moment. This not only makes their lives easier, but it also means that jobs won’t get missed.

Route optimisation

If your field service team goes off-site or must handle work on multiple sites, you’ll need to take advantage of route optimisation. Our system uses algorithms and integrates with Google Maps, so you have full visibility of the live locations of your engineers. The route optimisation features allow your team to find the quickest route to the job, allowing them to reach the job faster, complete more jobs in a day, and improve customer satisfaction as people get seen more quickly.

Communication tools

Whilst the automated workflows that field service software provides minimises the need to make phone calls and send messages, sometimes you need to reach your engineers whilst they are out in the field. Using instant messaging you can send updates to your engineers whilst they are out on a job, and engineers can send updates on jobs through live status updates. Your customers can benefit from the tools as well by receiving alerts about the jobs that they’ve booked in.

Asset management

One of the biggest issues that affects field service teams is a lack of information about the assets that they’re working on. Knowledge about previous maintenance jobs such is vital to ensure that work is completed efficiently. Without an asset maintenance module as part of your FSM Software, you will find that your field team will struggle to access that information once they are on site.

With asset management features in place, your field service software can equip your team with have all asset information in the palm of their hands. With Joblogic, you can assign QR codes to an asset, which stores all its previous maintenance history, risk assessments and associated tasks. This enables them to quickly, and efficiently, get all the details they need about the job to complete their work without having to waste time on activities that aren’t likely to resolve the problem, increasing their productivity as a result.

For your customers

Customer portal & alerts

If you’re looking to build trust with your customer base, then you need to make sure that your field service management software includes the features that allows your customers access to their data 24/7. With a dedicated customer portal and real-time notifications, these two features allow your customers to get receive updates on the work that’s being carried out, as well as making it easy for them to log-in and find ways to communicate with the business or the engineer that’s been assigned to their job. These features enhance transparency, customer satisfaction, and foster long-term customer relationships, making it a vital tool that you need to have access to!

Payment integrations & options

To make payment as easy as possible for your customers, your FSM software needs to integrate with a variety of different payment gateways and accounts platforms via your customer portal. Speeding up the payment cycle and cutting out the administrative overhead, by allowing your customer to approve quotes and submit payment of invoices, means you’ll be able to provide a hassle-free experience for customers that will leave them more than satisfied with your organisation.

For the back office

Job allocation & tracking

With just a click of a button, it’s possible to set off a full range of automated processes that will allocate jobs and alert the relevant member of the field team that they have a new task to complete. This feature alone is a massive timesaver compared manual ways of assigning and scheduling jobs when combined with the ability to provide real-time updates for jobs status, the location of the team member and job completion. This comprehensive visibility allows your office team to know exactly what’s going on in relation to a job, making it an invaluable feature.

Stock control

Nothing is more frustrating for your field teams, or your customers, than discovering a necessary part needed to complete a job isn’t available. With a stock control feature within your field service management software, your office team can see exactly how much of an item is available, allowing them to pre-emptively order parts when needed to prevent running out of stock, but also allowing you to reduce excess inventory purchases down by only ordering parts when it’s needed.

Purchase order management

When you do end up needing to purchase stock, you’ll need to raise a purchase order to do so, and if your FSM software doesn’t handle that for you, you’re just wasting time and energy on tasks that can be automated. From the moment you raise the invoice with the right purchase order management software, you can track every part of the procurement process, meaning you never run out of stock and reduce errors that cost the business money.

Reporting & analytics

Data-driven decision making that can improve the efficiency of your business requires accurate reporting and analytics. Without a dashboard feature that provides a range of comprehensive and customisable reports, you’ll struggle to view key data that you need to make informed decisions. With the right analytics ad reporting set up, you can identify areas for improvement, optimise your resource allocation and boost your operational efficiency.

If your field service management software possesses these features, then your software is going to be a game-changer for your business. It will allow you to enhance your efficiency, improve customer satisfaction and boost your overall profitability. If your field service management software is missing any of the features we’ve highlighted, then you may want to book a demo with our experts to see how Joblogic can improve business operations.