If you provide a service to your customers, you know that they expect your field personnel to arrive quickly, complete the job efficiently and ensure that they are billed accurately. Field service apps can give you the ability to meet or exceed your customers’ expectations. However, these apps can also help you generate more revenue and increase your profitability. To understand how a field service app can provide so many different benefits, it might be helpful to examine how the manager of a plumbing company described operations before and after adopting a field service app.
The plumbing company used a paper-based system that was time-consuming and prone to errors. Work orders were written in response to phone calls from customers, and every morning, each field representative had to come to the office to receive a stack of orders to execute that day. Once the representatives left the office, managers often found it difficult to reach them if a scheduling change was needed. Furthermore, office staff often had no idea where any representative was at any given time. If an emergency call was received, the lack of information and inability to reach field staff often meant that a representative was dispatched to a customer located some distance from where the representative was currently working.
At times, representatives were dispatched without the parts needed to complete the job. Tracking inventory on the trucks was extremely difficult, and the representatives themselves often did not know what parts they had. Delays and extra costs were incurred if representatives had to return to the office to get the necessary parts.
Once the representative completed a job, the time and materials were manually recorded on the work order. These work orders were returned to the office, and staff would key the information into the computer system to generate invoices. This took time, but it also increased the likelihood of billing errors.
After implementing a field service app, the company was able to send work orders directly to the representative’s tablet or Smartphone. The order of jobs could be arranged to minimize travel time and fuel consumption. Should a change be needed, office staff could delete or prioritize work orders accordingly.
When the job was completed, representatives used the work order to enter the time and materials, eliminating the need for manual entry. Since the inventory on the truck was updated at the same time, office staff and representatives always knew whether the necessary parts were on the truck prior to dispatch or before arriving at the customer’s site.
The plumbing company realized an increase in revenue of 25 percent; greater efficiency allowed representatives to complete more calls each day. Greater productivity led to increased profits, and customers were much happier with the quality of the service they received.
If you would like to learn more about field service apps, contact the experts at PhaseAlpha. We specialize in custom software development for businesses of all sizes. Our team of highly skilled developers can provide you with a quality app that will address your specific needs. You can email us at info@phasealpha.com or call us at 913.648.9200.