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What are the Benefits of Implementing Field Service Management Software in Your Business?
Field service management (FSM) software has become one of the most effective ways that field service businesses can use to improve their operational efficiency. Whilst it can be easy to fall into the marketing spiel about what kind of impact FSM software can have on your day-to-day operations, the reality is that it can greatly improve operations and deliver massive benefits to every part of your business.
Field service businesses have 3 distinct groups of people within your business, that can benefit from implementing FSM software:
Each group has different aims and objectives related to measurement of success and how field service software should assist them, but through the implementation of a cloud-based field service system, they will benefit greatly.
The benefits of field service management software for business owners:
Enhanced productivity
At the core of every business owner’s desire is aiming to increase the profitability of the business. This can be achieved by streamlining business operations and improving efficiency. With field service software, this means using workflow automation so that your staff don’t waste time with manual tasks that can be done automatically by the software. This frees up time for more important tasks, allowing your teams to spend their time and energy on the areas that will deliver better performance, and profits for the business.
Access to data dashboards and reporting
As a business owner, you need data so you can make informed decisions. What this entails in the long run, is the ability to view your data in ways that make it clear what is happening in the business. Whether it’s the amount of time being spent on site, or the overall profitability of jobs, you need to be able to see what’s happening in real-time, and how it’s affecting the bottom line. With field service management software, you can have access to this data and to reports which will allow you to assess key elements of your business, so you can make decisions that will boost profitability.
Happier customers
By using field service management software you’ll be able to leave your customers happier than they’ve ever been. How? The workflow automation will provide them with information they need to keep them satisfied and the freed-up time that your engineers now have can be spent on delivering a higher quality of service rather than them ticking administrative boxes. On top of this, FSM software can provide a dedicated customer portal that allows customers to track the status of their jobs, approve quotes and pay for the work that’s been completed in an easy way. All of this leads to customers getting a better level of service, which leaves them happier, and means they’re more likely to come back to you for repeat business or to recommend you to others.
The benefits of field service management software for the field service team
Optimised route planning & job scheduling
For field teams, it’s important that your engineers know that the jobs they’re being assigned to are being done in a sensible way. That means that the right people are being assigned to jobs with specific skill sets, and that the jobs being given are easy to navigate to. There’s nothing worse for a field technician than being given a job and then being left to their own devices to find it, and then discovering its massively out of the way from where you are currently.
With FSM software your field teams don’t need to worry about that, as features such as live location reporting and integration with Google Maps, means that they’ll only be allocated jobs that make geographical sense for them to attend. In addition, our route optimisation feature will allow them to find their way to the jobs in the most efficient way, meaning they can spend less time on the road, and more time actively completing jobs.
Real time information on the jobs they’re working on
Not having the full information on a job is a nightmare for any field technician. This is why cloud-based field service management software is so powerful. With the system being accessible from mobile devices, the field service member can access all job details that they’re interested in, and the system will synchronise the data between devices so engineers have access to the latest data . From customer information, to asset data, as well as specific instructions that have been provided by the client or the office team, any information the engineer wants, will be available in the palm of their hands! Your engineer can also update information on site in real-time, which reduces the amount of paperwork they must do in the office.
Benefits of field service management software for the office team
Better job scheduling
One of the most important and time-consuming tasks for your office workers is job scheduling. It’s how you get your field team to the locations they need to be at, but checking locations, skills, how much work has been assigned to them already and then getting in touch can be very labour intensive. With field service management software, you can benefit from an improved job scheduling system.
With the new system, you can see the locations and status of all your team in a single view, letting you see exactly how much work has been assigned previously. You can filter that view to show only engineers with the relevant skills or qualifications, and when you assign a job, the software will even automatically alert the technician that they have a new job, saving you the time to phone or email them. With all of this, you can ensure that jobs are evenly distributed, which reduces delays and allows you to maximise the capacity of your team so they can handle more jobs without sacrificing quality of service.
Improved stock management
One of the most frustrating things for your field team, and for customers, is discovering that items needed to complete a job aren’t available. With field service management software this problem becomes a thing of the past. The inventory management and stock control functionality mean your office team can see exactly how much of any item is available at any specific site. If it’s on the verge of running out, then a purchase order can be raised to get more stock brought in. Delays on jobs because of lack of are no more once you have a field service system in place.
These are just some of the benefits of field service management software, but if you’d like to learn more about how it could help improve the operations of your business then make sure to book a demo with one of our experts who’ll be happy to show you all the ways that it can help improve the efficiency of your business processes.