Introduction
As resources are a growth engine to any organization, the way companies manage their resources and their field service software operations must evolve. The future of field service management is to empower the connected labor with any resource, anytime, anywhere, in any place.
Field service software will use solutions that deliver meaningful information about how and when the work is done. They will increase their productivity through automation, anywhere, anytime, and on any device. With access to digital services in the cloud, customers also have a better experience. These technologies will transform Field Service Management in the future. Automated schedule optimization helps dispatchers perform better troubleshooting and improve the quality and productivity of field resources.
Challenges of Field Workforce & Field Service Management
There is no business without facing any challenges but the skill is how you convert your challenges into opportunities to create a future for your success in the industry. Optimizing field service not only reduces the cost but also enhances the service quality. There should be room for innovation, customer satisfaction, increased efficiency, and effectiveness of the service. Let us have a brief look over the few but important challenges of field workforce & field management software.
- Work Order Management – bad workflow may lead to poor productivity & efficiency
- Scheduling & Dispatch – scheduling conflict can be caused due to time-consuming manual processes. Overbooking, unavailable time slot, double booking, rescheduling, and unavailability of technicians are a few conflicts to mention as scheduling challenges.
- Route Planning – Lack of tools to monitor live location, traffic & best routes
- Communication – Delay in real-time communication that is a delay in sharing information between back office and field workers
- Efficiency & Productivity – lack of data support to find out hidden issues
- Overhead Cost – utilize resources and spend less on hiring for example when you can manage work progress, utilities, review, auditing, and office supplies online then there is scope to optimize cost
- Limitations of Inspection – this includes paper-based forms, checklists, etc.
How Automating Field Services and the Workforce can help Enterprises?
- All in one Field Service Software with an in-built scheduling interface can reduce scheduling conflict challenge
- A well-designed Field Work Management Software will have a work order management room that helps back-office employees create, store, and monitor orders intuitively and effortlessly.
- A Field Service Management solution that provides real-time visibility of the technician’s location. It should also help companies effectively direct their technicians to the next service point. This software takes into consideration several factors, such as the services to provide, eligibility of workforce, planning resources, technician’s current location and real-time work information.
- Automating field services helps streamline your technicians’ workday by making it easy to create, edit, and share billing documents with customers. Fieldwork management solutions enable field service companies to accept payments online, send customer reminders, and speed up the payment cycle too. Field Work Management Software saves a lot of time by eliminating manual errors and double data entry.
- Field Service Management tools solve problems with the first-rate of correction in field management by providing technicians with a single source of truth. With the best field service management solutions, technicians can create, view, and manage work notes and chat with stakeholders directly from the work location.
What is FSM Software?
Field Service Management Software is a cloud solution that can be accessed easily anytime, anywhere from your PC, Tab, and mobile. It is an all-in-one solution developed in line with the evolution of mobile technology. FSM software is a technology solution designed to help field service managers take control of all moving parts by automating certain tasks while providing remote office access, real-time updates, insights into customers, and many other tools.
Essential Features of Field Management Software
- Create jobs wherever you are
- Easily schedule, assign and track order status
- Monitor performance, optimize service operations, reduce costs and improve productivity
- Empower your service teams to plan, prioritize, assign, execute and track all service activities
- Real-time notifications and change management to effectively manage your team
- Proven, cost-effective software for large-scale field service
- Improves employee efficiency by streamlining workflows
- Reduces field service costs and improves employee productivity
- Easy to use, affordable and powerful
- Increases efficiency
- Efficient and smooth staff management
- Improved technical availability
- Improved profitability
Benefits of FSM Application
Field Service Management is useful for any industry that has employees working in the field that is a labor-intensive business. In particular, oil&gas, utilities, healthcare, construction, home improvement, property maintenance, and telecom industries have the most to gain by implementing field service management software. Some of the most common industries that use FSM include utilities (oil & gas, electricity), Healthcare, Construction, Home Improvement & Property Maintenance, Telecom, etc. let us see how it benefits these enterprises.
Following are a few Benefits of FSM Application
- Automation – the very first benefit, do more with less, increases productivity with faster resolution
- Resource optimization – proper labor, the right job, the right equipment, right time
- Coordination – improve visibility so that everyone can access all the relevant data
- Responsiveness – increase customer satisfaction with a timely response with effective communication
- Efficiency – increase efficiency by doing it once in a proper way
- Compliance – reduce risk by ensuring to meet the client’s expectations along with your industry regulatory requirements
- Usability- makes users’ jobs easier
- Scalability – choose software for your growth expectations
- Flexibility – help to run your business from anywhere
- Saves time and money – customizable to any business
- Accuracy – which enhances consistency
However, customizing this software according to your business will add more Benefits of FSM Application to your enterprise.
Conclusion
Automated Field Service Management solutions have proven more efficient and effective in solving the challenges of operations management. These tools help companies create, manage and share important field service documents such as work orders, schedules, routing plans, quotes, invoices, and more in just a few clicks. With little or no human intervention, field service companies can avoid deadly field service challenges that lead to lower customer satisfaction. 360-degree visibility and audit trails provide transparency in the field and reduce inefficiency. Organizations can eliminate potential legal, financial, and compliance risks by automating the application of field service policies.