As evidenced by Sage’s software surveys, companies investing in mobile technology for their remote workers are receiving excellent results. Mobile field service apps are becoming the most powerful tools in the service technician’s toolbelt, helping them boost their productivity, improve service delivery, and increase customer satisfaction, among other benefits. Here are 10 reasons why it’s time for your field service organization to equip your technicians with a mobile field service application:
1. Get Paid Faster
A good mobile field service app will allow your techs to easily record their time, parts and tasks against an equipment asset and work order, and sync that data into your billing system upon work order close-out, accelerating your service to cash cycle.
2. Impress Customers with Your Knowledge and Tech Savvy
Show up at the customer site fully equipped with the service history of their equipment. Customers like to work with companies that make their interactions fast and productive…would your customer would be more impressed if they approved your work order on an iPad Air, or paper and clipboard?
3. Assign the Right Technician, Right Away
Mobile apps for service technicians are automatically connected to centralized service scheduling software, helping schedulers make rapid work order scheduling decisions and assignments based on actual technician location, availability and skill set.
4. Stop Flying Blind: Make Decisions Based on Today's Information
Find yourself having to stock each service van to the hilt with spare parts, just in case? Instead of guessing what your inventory levels should be, collect data and use parts analytics to plan inventory purchasing, stocking, and allocation. With a mobile field service app, field spare parts consumption can be visible from service van to office, warehouse to service van and van to van, providing the intelligence you need to run a more lean inventory.
5. Run a More Lean Spare Parts Inventory
Find yourself having to stock each service van to the hilt with spare parts, just in case? Instead of guessing what your inventory levels should be, collect data and use parts analytics to plan inventory purchasing, stocking, and allocation. With a mobile field service app, field spare parts consumption can be visible from service van to office, warehouse to service van and van to van, providing the intelligence you need to run a more lean inventory.
6. Turn Tech Observations into Actionable Business Intelligence
Are your service technicians only collecting the bare-bones data in the field your need to bill the customer? Start taking advantage of the service technicians’ privileged position at the customer site to gather competitive, business development and other intelligence that can propel your service business forward.
7. Trust But Verify
Make requiring evidence of work performed fast and easy with photos, customer signatures, inspections and other service app-integrated means of backup for work done at a customer site.
8. Rein in the Rogues (Be More Consistent)
Old school means of field data collection, like paper and disconnected spreadsheets, make it tough to enforce consistency. With Service Pro Mobile, it’s easy to build and centrally modify standard field forms such as inspections, checklists, audits and more, requiring the data you need in order to close out work.
9. Keep Your Team Connected, Without All the Busy Work
Tired of having to make dozens of phone calls just to get the information needed to get the job done? An always-connected mobile field service app can connect technicians and the work they’re doing with the scheduling and service management group continually, making for a more connected, more accountable team.
10. Realize More Profits by Leaving No Task Untracked
The more you know about the specifics of the work your technicians need to do and how long it takes (ie; specific tasks to complete the work), the more profit you can realize with each work order, particularly in the case of those with a preventive maintenance call. Hook up your service packages with detailed mobile task tracking to accumulate rich data on package cost, productivity and profitability.
As you can see, there is no better way to improve customer service, increase field service technician utilization, and boost enterprise service efficiency than with proven, cross-platform mobile field service applications. By providing your technicians with mobile apps, you can start providing the best service possible to your customers, while increasing business profitability.
Reprinted by Permission
Service Pro®, MSI Data’s all-in-one field service management software product, helps HVAC contractors more effectively manage critical service operations such as contracts and assets, warranties and spare parts / inventory, work order processing, advanced scheduling, inspections, mobile field service and business intelligence. Service Pro is available as either a hosted/cloud or on-premise solution via a low cost subscription model. To learn more about Service Pro, please visit http://www.msidata.com/service-pro-software.