How to select the ideal field service management system for your organisation

Field service management software benefits both field service workers and businesses. It simplifies and improves the work for your staff, and at the same time increases productivity and lowers operational costs for your company.

Using field service management software can speed up your business processes and ramp up client satisfaction, allowing you to transform obstacles into business opportunities. But how does one know which software would suit best?

To start, you’ll need to first understand your company requirements and also the capabilities of field service management software. Read our guide below to know more.

1. Identify your requirements and the capabilities of field service management software

Start by making a list of the operational process improvements you need and how much improvement you are expecting to see. Focus on finding solutions that can resolve your major problems. For example, it could be disorganised documentation that is causing missing work orders. Or, if you are seeking to boost your productivity, look for software solutions which can reduce the number of steps required to organise task scheduling and follow-ups.

When shortlisting software, make sure the following features are available, whether you’re looking for your first digital tool for field service, or an upgrade from the one you currently have:

• Work order management
• Staff scheduling
• Mobile app availability
• Digital work order forms
• Staff or vehicle tracking
• Data reports or charts

Combining these features will ensure that you have a complete field service management platform that can assist you in overcoming business issues.

2. Engage your field technicians

Don’t forget to find out what difficulties your staff are having. How can their everyday work routine be improved? To encourage the use of new technology, show them the benefits of the field service management software and listen to what they have to say about solution improvements.

After you have outlined the improvements you wish to make in step one, you must then check that these improvements will help your team in their work tasks. Talk to your staff to find out the issues they are encountering which are hindering their productivity or causing customer complaints.

You will find that it is much easier to determine what you need in a field service management system once you’re aware of the problems your staff are facing.

3. Check that your field service management software supports your workflow and is easy to use

For every business, maintaining client satisfaction while maximising profit will be the primary goal. Consequently, your field service management software should support your business in achieving its goals.

Main software attributes which will generally benefit any business are:

• Data accessibility – Your team should be able to access work order information with ease at any time.
• An intuitive user interface – User-friendly navigation will allow your staff to get work done faster.
• Software integration and scalability – Software should integrate with your ERP systems to facilitate task completion and should make it easy to scale as your business grows.

4. Search for tools that streamline the process

Some routine tasks that can be automated to speed up common service requests are customer support ticket routing, job assignment, and resolution management.

It is advised to use field service management software with automated task scheduling features for expediting work collaboration. With these digital tools, you can speed up issue resolution, decrease wait times for services, and determine what needs to be finetuned.

Some field service management software also provide data analytical tools which are useful for forecasting when peak periods would occur and will allow you to plan your manpower more efficiently.

5. Check that your field service management system is compatible with external systems

Your chosen field service management software must be able to integrate with other systems you already use, such as invoicing or CRM software, logistics and order management software, etc. Being able to work seamlessly using various IT tools will save your staff plenty of time on searching for and verifying data when trying to fulfil work orders.

Synchronising your systems will also ensure data consistency and greatly reduce the risk of errors when transferring data. Overall user experience will improve with data integration, which will also help your team attend to customers quickly and with more attention to detail.

6. Look for software that is centralised with mobile app access

Field service technicians and supervisors should have no trouble coordinating their efforts to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) for completing work orders and ensuring customers are satisfied with their experience. It can be a challenge if your backend and frontline staff are constantly getting slowed down trying to sieve through different systems and apps for information. Moreover, their productivity will suffer on top of being more prone to mistakes made in transferring information.

Having a centralised system integrated with on-the-go mobile app accessibility will improve work coordination for your staff. It will give them a clear picture of each customer interaction, enabling them to access, manage and transfer data quickly between both frontline and backend processes. Your staff will no longer have to frequently move between different tools or windows. Instead, they will be able to do everything from monitoring employee locations, to managing work orders and sending automated job reports, all in one place.

In conclusion

The first step to digitally transform your field service company is to use field service management software. When selecting your ideal field service management software, list down the characteristics your company needs and test it out before making a choice. The productivity of your on-site and remote staff may be significantly increased with a compatible field service management software.

Would you like to learn more about how field service management software can help your business? Visit our website’s Industries section to learn more.