A typical day without a Field Service Management Solution:
As your technician Bill sets out to begin his day, the first stop is to the office to pick up his schedule and work orders. There is a lot of traffic and Bill arrives 30 minutes late. Before even starting his first job, Bill is already behind. As he rushes to his first job location, Bill is worried that the customer will not be pleased that he is late. Nonetheless, he arrives, apologizes to the customer, and gets to work. Halfway through the job, Bill realizes he does not have an important part. Unfortunately, because he is already so far behind for the day, Bill has to reschedule to finish another day. Needless to say, the customer is not impressed. Bill completes most of the paperwork by hand and takes a few quick photos, which he will upload to his computer some time later in the week and moves on to his next service job. Bill completes most of the work that he had scheduled for the day, apologizing to each customer for being late, but ends up having to reschedule two more because he fell so far behind and still has to return to the office to drop off his time sheets and paperwork. On the way back, he accidentally spills some coffee on the paperwork, making it even that much more difficult to read. This kind of day is far too common for Bill and he goes home exhausted.
A typical day with a Field Service Management Solution:
Bill wakes up, gets ready for work, and checks his schedule right from his mobile device. His first job is close by, and there is no need to go into the office and pick up his schedule, so he heads straight there. Using a comprehensive field service management solution, Bill already has the work orders for the day loaded onto his device, as well as all of the past technician history and notes. He arrives at his first job location with all of the right information and equipment, ready to complete the job for the customer. Upon completion, Bill takes some pictures and jots down some notes which are automatically saved to the case file. The customer is satisfied that the issue is fixed correctly and on the first visit. Bill captures the customers’ signature directly on his mobile and submits the work order from the field, which is synched directly back to the office to update the payroll and billing information. Bill marks his job complete and dispatch is automatically updated of his status. In the afternoon when Bill has some free time available, he is contacted by the dispatcher to inform him of a job he can quickly complete close to his location. Bill completes this job and finishes out the rest of his day. After his last job, Bill inputs his hours directly from the field, which is automatically synched with the back office system. Bill gets home on time without having to go back to the office and manually submit his hours and paperwork. Another successful day!
Which one of these scenarios sounds like the better option? Life with an end-to-end field service management solution will not only make your field technicians lives easier but also your employees in the office and even your customers.
Contact FIELDBOSS to learn more about FIELDBOSS® Contractor Management Software so every day can be a successful day.