Mobility continues to push the field service industry to the next level, offering service technicians, subcontractors and any field service organization across any space to the next level with new advancements that make service delivery in the field more efficient.
In a recent survey by the Service Council, 71% of field technicians who responded use a smartphone in their day-to-day actives, while the rest us a tablet, laptop or another device. They are using it as a communication tool, to check email or send text messages, are checking in and out of their jobs for payroll purposes, are using it for scheduling their service calls and routing them to the job, and to manage the work orders they have pushed to them.
It’s clearly benefitted their day-to-day lives, but there are also plenty of other areas that technicians see as vital to the success and advancement of their job that mobile field service software can bring to the table. Here are what technicians responded with –
Access to service history
In making service technicians more efficient, it would help if they were given the history of service to review prior to appearing on the job site. More information is never a bad thing, and especially in the industrial equipment maintenance industry, where each individual piece of equipment could have unique problems, getting a detailed history and review of that piece of equipment on their mobile device could cut down on diagnosis time.
54% of technicians surveyed said it was the most vital part for effective completion of service delivery, and having access to a field service management software through a mobile app could greatly benefit their ability to complete service calls faster.
Access to service manuals
Sometimes a repair requires additional assistance, and a technician needs to consult the manual to properly complete their service. But a paper-based manual can be lost, it’s practical to carry around in the case they don’t need it, and it can be difficult to find the right page for information without search features.
52% of service technicians said having access to service manuals would improve their service delivery, and in a mobile field service software, technicians can consult the manual through their mobile device by simply accessing the mobile field service app. Each individual piece of equipment can have its own manual and those can be applied to the work order for easy reference.
Want full field service software access
Technicians want greater access to the entire field service software, as 48% of those surveyed said it would be vital to their success moving forward. Having the same access from the field to the field service software gives the technician the same knowledge and information as dispatchers and managers. They can check schedules, service history, quote on site and perform any task a dispatcher can, all from the mobile app. It’s about knowledge-based access, and the more knowledge a technician has around their job, the better they will be at completing it.
Greater insight into inventory
Whether it’s a part they need to get for a repair before they go, or one they need to pick up when they get to a job site and realize they need something, having access to inventory levels allows technicians to know how much inventory is available and if the parts are accessible to them. 42% of technicians surveyed said inventory controls that are integrated into a field service software would be vital to their job, as if they are on a job site and need an emergency part, they don’t need to call a dispatcher, office manager or warehouse operator to see if the part is available, but can check themselves and give a customer a quick response, as opposed to waiting for others to find answers.
Access to training videos
Much like having access to manuals, training videos are another source of information that a technician would see as vital moving forward to help guide them through difficult repairs. 30% of technicians surveyed said it would be effective if they could access a training video from a mobile field service software application, improving their ability to finish even the most difficult repairs without having to request assistance or call for help.
Mobile field service software has plenty of perks already for a field service technician, and going forward it will become even more vital to their success in the field, as repairs become more complex.