A field service management software is a system that allows you to streamline field operations, from scheduling jobs to dispatching field service professionals. Most of the solutions in this category are now in the cloud and have mobile apps or mobile adaptability.
It is designed to help different industries, such as appliance and HVAC, cleaning services, health and fitness, plumbing and electrical services, and more that involve deploying mobile workers or crews in nearby geographic locations or in faraway sites.
In 2018, Midori Intelligence reported that the field service management market had a value of $2.74 billion. By 2024, it is expected to grow to $6.16 billion.
What is propelling this growth? According to the study, field service businesses have been searching for solutions that are cost-effective and are timesavers. This is also propelled by the fact that field technicians around the world are increasing in number and are expected to reach 20 million in 2024.
Aside from cutting costs and saving time, though, a field service management solution offers other benefits. We list a few of these below to help you see the value it can bring to your business.
1.To acquire more jobs via website
More people are now turning to online channels to book their appointments with doctors, salons and spas, and even with home services providers. The main reason for this is convenience–customers do not have to stop what they are doing to pick up the phone and to schedule a service or appointment.
You can take advantage of this trend by giving your prospects the option to book services instantly through your website with the use of a field management software. You can enable instant booking by adding a script for a widget to the web pages you want it to appear in. Once you have done that, web visitors will find a “Book Now” button on pages where you added the widget. When they click that, they will find a form that asks them to provide contact information and job details. On top of that, you can show your price list for them to make informed decisions.
This new job would go to your calendar or your dashboard directly where you can manage it further.
Furthermore, you can still increase your chances of getting more bookings by making sure your website is mobile-friendly. Since your customers are likely to be on mobile most of the time, you need to make it easy for them to navigate your site so they can find the booking button easily.
2. To facilitate the workflow on the go
Did you know that employees who believe that their workplaces are effective in using mobile technologies are more satisfied, creative, productive, and loyal? This is according to a study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which also revealed that workers put a premium on the ability to work anywhere.
In the field service industry, technicians go anywhere for work but it doesn’t mean they are the only ones who should. This can apply to your back-office staff as well who may need to do their jobs outside of the office walls. A reliable software for field service management with a mobile app or mobile compatibility can assist you in this regard. That is because your office workers can oversee jobs and attend to field employees’ queries and requests, on top of taking care of customers’ requests, wherever they are.
Apart from keeping your office employees fulfilled, a mobile service dispatch software lets you take control of the field even when you are not there. This means that you can manage parts and equipment, personnel, and vehicles from the solution. This lets you ensure that your field workers follow proper protocol in handling requests and issues that occur while they are on site. As such, you can make sure that problems do not affect their ability to complete the jobs.
3. To assign and direct field personnel for jobs
When a new job request enters your field service management software, you can manage it either from the calendar and the dashboard. This is where you can see a list of service professionals that you can assign for the job.
But before you do, you may want to look at the availability of your personnel to ensure that there are no scheduling conflicts. A robust field management application can do this for you. Not only does this let you see determine the right people for the job, but it also lets you see whether or not new tasks can fit on their schedules. This way, you can provide the best services to your customers and take care of the well-being of your field employees at the same time.
What’s more, a field management solution allows you to rearrange your calendar by dragging and dropping appointments. This helps you find the right times to meet the demands of your customers, especially if they have pressing issues.
4. To promote accuracy in inventory management
In retail, item-level tagging helps make accurate warehouse management up to 95%, according to research done by Auburn University RFID Lab Studies. Despite the study being done for a different industry, its results are still applicable to other sectors, such as the field service category.
This means that as long as you have full visibility into your stocks of parts and equipment, you can ensure that you have healthy numbers of items in your tool shed. As a result, your field workers can simply grab their required parts and tools from the inventory (and inform your back-office staff, of course) and go to the job site.
This reduces delays in job completion, as your service professionals would have everything ready even before they travel.
5. To improve routing
GPS tracking is now a common feature in different field management programs. This is not just to ensure that teams are going to the correct address and are taking the right routes. This functionality also assists in-office employees to direct field personnel in case they encounter traffic jams. With this coordination, the crew can still arrive at their destination on time and finish on schedule as well.
GPS tracking helps you find your crew and direct them to the best routes.
Furthermore, GPS tracking in service scheduling software facilitates time tracking for small businesses. It can track how much time a crew spends on the road when taking one route or another. With the data your office can gain from this, you can determine which is the best route even before the crew hits the road.
6. To accept payments on job sites
Convenience is what customers are always looking for. You can offer this to them from job scheduling up to payment processing. If it is not possible for them to pay for your services online, then you can let your field personnel take their payments on site.
But what if your clients prefer to pay with their debit or credit cards rather than with cash or check? There are now field service management solutions that offer integrated payment processing. You only need to equip your field workers with a card reader connected to the app and they can take payments from clients.
Each transaction then goes to QuickBooks or another accounting application. This is one of the benefits of accounting software for SMBs–you can see records of financial activities on the accounting interface even without you inputting them manually because of their integration capabilities.
7. Maximizing field service management software
A field service management application is rich in features. It can be overwhelming at first, but as you navigate it, you can find that it is intuitive to use and has many benefits other than the ones on the surface. While the results may not be immediate, you would be able to see in the long run how an FSM has revolutionized your business. You do not have to look far, too. All you need to do is generate a report right in the interface so that you can see easily the difference in the performance of your business with an FSM.
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