Employing subcontractors can be an excellent way to expand your company’s number of technicians without hiring dozens of new techs. More service organizations are outsourcing as they struggle to meet increasing service demands without having to expand their workforce. Outsourcing is not new in the service industry, but the dynamics of this relationship is changing along with the technology that has historically been managing the success of these relationships. Subcontractor management within your field service software has become integral.
Empower Your Subcontractors with Mobility
A mobile field service solution is an important part of your service management strategy. Technicians are equipped with devices and native mobile apps to enhance productivity and efficiency. In the case of subcontractor management, you can support the technology they use or have them invest in your mobile solution. If the technicians or subcontractors can use the solution on their own mobile devices, they can provide real-time updates on job status and work order resolution. In either case, being mobile in the field is very important to make sure there is connectivity between your subcontractors and service managers.
Make Sure Your Subcontractors Are on the Same System
You may be outsourcing, but the service delivery still represents your organization and brand. It is integral to have your subcontractor management on the same system as your technicians to ensure consistency and maintained performance, even if you must make an extra investment to do so. Maintaining connectivity makes your company more efficient and helps the subcontractor techs improve fix rates.
Field service automation tools, which can be extended to subcontractors or third-party vendors, are a vital tool for establishing visibility and connectivity. Using this technology, service organizations can automatically dispatch jobs to any technician in any service channel.
Visibility into Customer Data and History
Subcontractors should be able to access to customer information, like address, notes, customer contacts, and full-service history. If the tech can see the service history, there are more chances that they will carry the right parts for an efficient fix just like your internal techs. This also helps to alert the subcontractor to any changes in the work order details.
Conclusion
The need for connectivity and visibility is growing as companies are hiring more third-party vendors. There is a certain level of accountability and the ability to monitor and manage the contractor’s performance. This is challenging if there is no service management automation. Service organizations must be able to quickly communicate information electronically to their partners and receive data back in real-time or near real-time to ensure customer service levels are maintained. Third-party providers also need connectivity back into the primary service organization’s operations to schedule jobs efficiently, retrieve critical customer/asset data, and to communicate work order information back to the primary vendor.