5 ways Service Companies Are Losing Money

Time is money! Manual processes, scheduling and inefficient resource utilization, low first time fix rates and slow invoicing are losing you money each day. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though – field service management software! Let’s investigate these common areas where service and installation companies are wasting time and losing money, as well as how field service management software can help.

Manual processes

Your service orders are on sheets of paper, your customer information is in a Rolodex or maybe a CRM system in the office, your field technicians pop by the office once a week to drop off paperwork. Sound familiar? Running a service business, or really any business, means juggling a lot of tasks and ensuring you stay on top of them. Research has found that 52% of field service organizations still use manual methods for field service. Time is money and manual processes eat up tons of time and have a significant impact on your profit margins. Field service management software can help you eliminate many of the manual processes in your business. It connects your field technicians with your office staff and also with your customers. Information is easily shared and updated in real-time.

Scheduling

Getting the right person to the right job with the right tools at the right time is critical to your business. Verizon Connect research found 25% of field service organizations are still using spreadsheets for job scheduling, while the rest still use whiteboards and other manual methods. This manual approach to scheduling makes it difficult to react to changes or quickly make adjustments. Field service management software empowers dispatchers to make smart decisions, by providing them with all of the information they need in one place. It enables dispatchers to easily adjust plans as information changes or updates are made. Updates and changes can be communicated quickly and easily with field technicians and customers using the software.

Route and resource optimization

You have a 100 service technicians in the field covering a huge geographic territory. While everyone can perform most tasks, let’s face it, some people are better at certain tasks and some technicians perform very specialized services. As a service organization you not only have to juggle the skills of your technicians but also their geographic locations when trying to respond to service requests. Getting it right has a huge impact on customer satisfaction. Field service management software that includes a built-in map showing the location of service technicians, as well as the location of jobs and estimated travel time, enables dispatchers to make informed decisions about the right person for the job when geography is a factor. Additionally, Information can be communicated easily to service technicians by text, email, or internally in the software. Optimizing routes and resources leads to a reduction in travel time and improved response times.

First time fix rates

Are your services technicians properly prepared for jobs? Do they have the tools and parts they need, access to previous job history, and other critical information to get the job completed correctly the first time? Research from Aberdeen Group has found "best-in-class” field service organizations resolve the issue on the first visit 88 percent of the time, “average” companies achieve an 80 percent rate and the “laggards” struggle at 63 percent. That means in many cases over 20% of customers are unhappy with the service being provided to them and the long term impact of that is huge. Field service management software that integrates with ERP systems ensures data can be retrieved as required, enabling service technicians to prepare more effectively for a service visit and increase first time fix rates. They can view all jobs scheduled for any given day, week, or month. For individual jobs the service technician can see the scheduled time, location, planned material and messages from the dispatcher.

Invoicing

Are manual processes, paper documents and disconnected systems making invoicing a slow and arduous process? Every day you wait for information to come in from the field about service work performed is lost profit. If sending invoices out takes weeks after a job is completed it is time to find a better way. Customers expect to use modern, on-demand technology that enables them to self-serve. Field service management software that includes a self-service portal, enables customers to not only pay invoices online but encompasses all interactions with the customer, from ordering services, consumables and spare parts to seeing all information about service items, upcoming or previous visits, documents, photos etc.

To learn more about how ExpandIT transforms field service management in Dynamics 365 Business Central, visit www.allonline365.com or contact us at info@allonline365.com