The world of field service isn’t just big HVAC machines, complex IT networks and industrial equipment, it can be as simple as changing a broken lightbulb or replacing a paper towel dispenser. Facilities service maintenance teams will take on just about any task they can have assigned to them and find someone to get the job done, in what is a highly competitive market for service delivery.
Facilities service maintenance can include construction work, janitorial and cleaning services, and require skilled technicians and crews to go to multiple locations in a day. In the facilities space, it can be about gaining those massive contracts from stores, malls and office building to perform all their services, or it can be about taking on the smallest task. The key to both is being efficient and to optimize service schedules so much that technicians can take as many calls in a day as they can in order to generate profit.
With larger enterprises moving towards field service software in the HVAC and industrial equipment space, the question now is, is there room for a facilities service management software solution and should every organization that delivers cleaning, repair and maintenance services begin deploying a system to help them to achieve optimal results. Here are just a few questions to ask yourself to see if your organization should be looking at a facilities service management software.
Do you have multiple stores and locations?
Facilities service maintenance can take place in many different locations, from a mall, to a store front, to an office building. It could also be a chain of stores and you manage all their service across multiple stores. With so many locations to keep track of, it can be challenging to schedule for project work across them all or ensure that your technicians and crews are getting to the right one in the case that you manage 20 or more of the same company’s buildings.
Facilities service management software can ensure that your technicians are going to the right location to complete repairs, provide maintenance services or janitorial work by keeping track of each address and making it easy to add a new address to a work order. Levels of automation can be built where that facility can enter a service request which will automatically create the work order with their address and the proper routing information so that technicians know exactly where they are heading to.
Do you manage a large workforce of technicians, crews and subcontractors?
Whether you have your own maintenance crews, technicians or utilize subcontractors, managing a large workforce and their schedules can be a challenge. Couple that with the challenge of getting them the work orders needed to complete the maintenance call, the chances of miscommunication and service being late is increased. With facilities service management software, technicians, crews and subcontractors can all be searched to narrow down the best technician, in the right location, with the right skill set, to complete the service call.
This comes especially handy when using subcontractors, as the on-boarding process can be completed in the field service management software before they are dispatched work orders like any regular in-house technician. The software will take care of their specific rates they charge for service and create a voucher for payment as soon as the call is completed.
Regardless of the type of technician or crew you use, having the ability to dispatch technicians or subcontractors effectively is imperative in this highly competitive field. With a mobile field service software, facilities service management organizations can expand their territory and their workforce to include subcontractors by using a field service mobile app to dispatch work orders to the field. With a mobile app, crews, technicians and subcontractors are sent all work order information to their mobile device, which could include specific instructions, or advanced checklists to ensure standards remain the same no matter who is attending the call.
With a mobile facilities service management software, crews can keep clean data, follow procedures, get routing tools, and complete work orders with all required fields answered, before closing out the call with a customer signature, without needing any paper-based work order. This increases the speed in which invoices are created, as an invoice can be generated as soon as the call is closed and emailed directly to the customer. It also means less time is being spent in the back-office processing work orders that are going out or being returned.
Do you have maintenance contracts with facilities?
Contracts are a great way to ensure constant revenue, and for the facilities service maintenance space, are a lucrative part of their overall yearly revenue gains. Winning a maintenance contract for a mall, an office building or multiple store locations means you’re in charge of all their maintenance needs, and if missed, could lead to operational downtime, or a poor experience for their customers or employees.
So, it’s imperative that no service call is missed during the life of the contract, and that’s why facilities service management software has the ability to handle any type of contract and automatically create work orders, with the appropriate supplies and checklists, to ensure no service call is missed. Whether it’s daily janitorial work, or preventative maintenance work on HVAC systems, customers want to know that when they sign on with you, that you’ll take care of them and not get their contract lost in the shuffle. Automation will speed up work order creation, especially in recurring service work where the same work order is being generated daily in large facilities.
Facilities service management software handles complex operations
Changing towel dispensers and cleaning up floors many not sound complex, but in the facilities service maintenance space, these are day to day tasks that are expected to be done quickly. And with little profit margin on janitorial type cleaning services, it means facilities service maintenance providers have to constantly be looking for new opportunities to win contracts and installation projects, while handling a mass influx of service requests.
It makes for a complex work place in which there are plenty of work orders being created each day for simple to difficult jobs that each require proper attention. Without a facilities service management software to handle the work order management and tracking of service calls, facilities service management organizations are stuck in a system of paper-based work orders that take time to process, both for the technician on site and the back office who has to turn it into an invoice.
With facilities service management software, organizations are able to expand their reach to new territory using subcontractors and a field service mobile app and ensure that the standards across each store or office they provide service too, is the same as the next. And whether you’re providing service across multi-locations of retailers, chains, or large facilities such as malls or office buildings, by using a facilities service management software, you’re getting as much value out of your daily operations as you can and creating a long-lasting impact on your bottom line and your ability to deliver exception service.