If you run a field service business that is in the process of growing, it is essential you use software to support your operations and decision making. Read on to find out more.
The Advantages of Going Paperless
By using software for a field service business, your company can evolve to entirely paperless operations. By transferring from a paper system to a software solution, you have the tools to:
· Provide electronic invoicing.
· Store data in the cloud online, so it can be accessed anytime and anywhere by anyone who has permission.
· Capture information in pre-formatted and photo-enriched forms to help avoid errors.
· Use instant messaging services to ensure all field teams and service centre staff are connected.
· Save costs on things like paper, ink cartridges, printers, and photocopiers.
Software Helps to Provide Accurate Estimates
Pen and paper or spreadsheets are still commonly used by field service businesses like electrical contracting companies to come up with estimates. But manually estimating the cost of jobs is an inefficient way to work compared to using a software solution for electrical bidding and other field service bids. Manually estimating costs can lead to all kinds of issues. Most importantly, it can lead to services being priced incorrectly. With the right software, field service businesses have a system that gives them a precise overview of the time, expenses, and margins for every specific job, ensuring that accurate estimates can be given. It’s 2024. It’s time for contractors to update their tech. Quality FSM software and a device like a smartphone or tablet are all you need to do anything business-related on the fly. Aside from the work itself, of course.
Software Helps to Solve Scheduling Problems
One of the biggest logistical problems field service technicians and dispatchers encounter is scheduling issues. Scheduling challenges can become even more problematic as a field service company grows. Manually tracking where technicians are and where they have been can be difficult. But software alleviates that problem. The best field service business software provides accurate scheduling tools and can alert technicians in the field instantly. Most software also enables you to optimise appointment bookings so that technicians can plan the best routes to jobs and notify customers if they are running late.
Software Enables Field Service Businesses to Respond in Real Time
The best software enables your business to respond in real time, which means many of your operations can become more efficient. For example, software allows your company to:
· Optimise travel times for technicians, meaning they can arrive faster and spend less time in traffic jams.
· Optimise service times, due to the fact that technicians have access to online details about things like customer data and spare parts.
· Optimise workloads of technicians, because the ability to work more efficiently in all areas enables technicians to perform more service calls each day.
Benefits like those above enable field service businesses to increase their productivity, and therefore, accelerate growth.
Field Service Businesses Can Measure Growth with Industry-specific Data
To grow a field service business, you need to be able to measure and track your company’s progress. To ensure you can do that, use a software solution where you can integrate your business parameters into the platform. Each business has its own specific Key Performance Indicators. After you have identified your specific KPIs, ensure your software can retrieve and analyse reliable field data for things like the number of service calls performed and the adherence to service legal agreements.
Software Can Improve Customer Satisfaction
If you want your field service business to grow, you must continually provide customer satisfaction. If you have problems with factors like schedules, timekeeping, and accounts, your customer satisfaction rates will soon drop. But as seen above, software solutions can help you avoid such issues. By utilising the right software solutions, your business will have all it needs to improve its performance and increase its productivity; both of which will help to foster business growth.
