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5 Reasons for Digitising Your Field Service Business
Field service businesses are a crucial part of the global economy. If you’re not digitising your business, then you’re potentially leaving money on the table. As the world becomes more digital, your business needs to keep up with these technological advancements to offer your clients the best possible service.
Whether it’s updating engineers timetables, optimising travel routes or emailing invoices, using software to perform and monitor business processes can save time by streamlining your workflow. This will also make daily business operations more efficient, leading to a better customer experience and improved profitability.
If you’re still working with pen and paper to track jobs, then it’s high time you introduced some more technology to your workflow. Here are five reasons to digitise your field service business:
1. Eliminates Time-Consuming Paperwork
Technology is a critical component of any business, especially for field service businesses where efficiency is one of the main ways to compete in this fiercely competitive market.
Completing daily tasks more efficiently is key to saving valuable commodities such as time. When tasks are automated, you’ll see a reduction in the number of manual, paper-based tasks that take longer to complete and have a higher likelihood of human error.
Before digital technology, invoices had to be arranged manually, fuel receipts had to be ordered and filed, and time cards had to be written out. Today field service invoicing software, travel management tools and time tracking apps can automatically take care of these and many other time-consuming tasks. In addition, Joblogic also facilitates the creation and storage of digital gas certificates. The elimination of paper-based tasks will save you time and money as it reduces the need for office space, staff, or equipment such as printers.
2. Provides Accurate Data to Propel Business Growth
Technology has enabled managers to see the profitability of each job. Project costs such as materials, travel and labour can be calculated prior, determining the job’s net profit. Gathering this information provides a clear snapshot of the profit margin on every project without spending hours crunching the numbers, comparing your estimated costs with what was spent.
Field service management software can also track every expense made in the company, such as overtime pay, office costs, marketing and more. By seeing how much each area of the business is costing, you can generate digital reports to identify which expenses your company can do without.
Digitising business processes will also give you time to focus on other aspects of running a field service business, such as creating new customer relationships and breaking into new markets.
3. Increases Productivity
When everyone in your field service business has access to real-time data, it’s simpler than ever to organise jobs. Once a customer request has been received, you’ll know what resources are needed and who’s available and most suited to complete the job. Once an appointment is scheduled, a manager can optimise travel routes for their engineers, saving travel time and fuel.
Your field service team can spend more time completing jobs instead of wasting hours organising them, giving you a competitive edge over other providers. Engineers will also be notified instantly through their engineer mobile app, and given essential project details like their client’s address, contact information, appointment time and site history.
Lastly, digital field service management adds convenience, as they’ll have access to customer information, time-sheets, invoices and jobs in progress from a central platform instead of getting data from various sources.
4. A Service Tailored for Your Customers
When a customer requests an engineer and the company cannot dispatch one immediately, they may be less satisfied with your service. By digitising your business, you can respond when there’s a sudden demand for engineers.
Taking this approach will allow you to offer clients more tailored services, such as automatic text alerts or emails notifying their engineer is on route. Automated emails are also sent upon job completion, providing photos, service sheets, reports and invoices.
Customers can also view their own key metrics in their customer portal, such as digital quotes, and invoices. Client feedback can also be instantly submitted and received by business staff to help improve customer experience. This personal touch goes a long way in building trust and ensuring excellent reviews!
5. Enhances Communication between Back Office and Field Engineers
Engineers on the job are often out of contact with their back office. This can lead to errors in important customer information, such as incorrect job quotes and service details. With digital FSM tools, your engineers will always have access to a live connection from their tablet or mobile phone to the office, sending reports through mobile forms, status updates and photos in real-time.
Through more effective communication channels, engineers can quickly contact other experts to troubleshoot any job issues. This is beneficial because other engineers can provide insight and offer the best solution, saving time and the need for additional engineers to be dispatched.
A business will also have instant access to essential customer and job data without waiting for an engineer’s report after returning. As a result, you can offer better service and increase profits.
How to Digitise your Field Service Business
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of technology in field service, let’s understand how to digitise your business.
A business will need to invest in the right apps for their engineers, ensuring it’s compatible with their current IT system. Why not browse our lists of the best apps for plumbers and the best apps for HVAC engineers? Once this is done, they can start importing customer records into the new system, informing engineers what jobs are coming up next and where to go.
Joblogic can track job records, work orders and inventory to ensure that managers and engineers are continually updated on current jobs. Our field service management software also integrates with your existing IT system, so you can take advantage of all the features without learning a new system.
Once the software is implemented, it’s just a simple case of getting your staff up to speed. If you’ve got the basics sorted first, it will be a lot easier to go live!
Whether your business operates in broader industries such as plumbing or facilities management or even more specific fields such as stairlift maintenance or coffee machine installations, Joblogic is here to help.
To learn more about Joblogic, book a demo with us today. Our specialised team of trainers will be happy to guide you through our platform to help determine how it can best enhance your business.