One of the most challenging operational tasks for small field service providers is managing a team of technicians that can barely report to the office. They may still need to rely on obsolete manual methods to allocate work and track the mobile workforce, a tedious and error-prone task. Field technicians also handle emergency calls that must be prioritized over regular workflow. Poor customer service can result from miscommunication, delays, or incomplete information.
Table of Contents
Field Service Management (FSM) can be a savior in this context. However, choosing the right tool can be challenging as there are many features, prerequisites, and software specifics before selecting the best option for your business.
Types of FSM Include:
Core field service management functionalities:
- Job management and tracking: Assign jobs, send job-related notifications, and manage every aspect of job handling.
- Customer management: Tracks, records, and analyzes interactions with field engineers, customer history, and other details.
- Customization: Allows specific attributes of the software to be added, removed, or changed.
- Integration: allows users to connect to multiple system applications.
- Scheduling and dispatching: Helps receive job requests from customers.
- Job costing: helps understand a series of customer requirements.
- The payment process and invoicing: Helps manage the financial aspect of the service.
Scheduling and Dispatch Functionalities:
- Route directions for technicians using geographic maps.
- Multi-location management for multiple service centers.
- Most cost-effective route for technicians using route optimization.
- Dispatch management to streamline the process of assigning service requests to staff.
- GPS tracking of office staff.
Job Tracking and Management Functionalities:
- Real-time update feature to send notifications and alerts to both office staff and field agents.
- Time and expense tracking to help field staff complete assigned service requests.
- Workflow management to execute, define, and monitor steps for automatic business workflows.
- Employee management to track and monitor technician activities, update them with service requests, and track technician locations.
Job Costing Functionalities:
- Customer management functionalities.
- Customization functionalities.
- Payment and invoicing processing functionalities.
- Integration functionalities.
Every organization is unique with unique challenges and needs. The above field service management features can help you choose the right software.
