It’s a lot more than just going paperless. Instead, it’s about an entire digital change of your organization that will affect the two most important things. The quality of your service and your bottom line. Field service management is digital now and if you are still processing things manually, you will have greater challenges. You won’t have the many field service automation tools that drive service forward. Without HVAC software driving your service team, there are daily activities that are time-consuming and costly. And that means either your bottom line is taking a hit or the quality of your service.
So, how do you improve your quality of service with HVAC software? And what areas will see the most improvement with that investment? Here are just a few things HVAC software will improve in your daily field service management.
Juggle service types with HVAC software
There are different types of service your HVAC businesses can do on any given day. It’s why HVAC software has to be ready to handle them all. Your HVAC business can perform a mix of service, including break/fix emergency repairs, preventative maintenance recurring service and project installations. As a result, there is a need to be able to schedule and dispatch technicians for any type of service call that may come through. Prior to HVAC software, many field service management teams had separate workforces for recurring service and installation construction work. Rather than pooling your talents together and sharing resources, technicians were dedicated to one type of service.
Today, however, with HVAC software powering your field service management, technicians can flow easily between different types of service. As a result, a technician can be pulled off daily repairs to be put on installation projects if another set of hands is needed. Likewise, they can be pulled from a project and sent to an emergency call nearby. This gives your dispatchers greater flexibility to make scheduling decisions based on need, rather than the small workforce they control.
Add one more service call every day
With HVAC software, the goal is to make everyone more productive and increase the number of service calls technicians can take. Imagine if every one of your technicians takes on one more service call a day. How much would that add to your bottom line? How much would that change your business? For that reason, HVAC software is an investment that can pay itself back in no time. With better scheduling and dispatch tools, you have more control over your technicians’ schedules. They can optimize routes to reduce travel time and order work orders by closets driving distance.
As a result, your technicians have extra time that isn’t being spent driving and performing administrative tasks. And they are using that extra time to take on additional service calls. This works two-fold for your business, as the extra service calls are obviously having a positive effect on your bottom line. But also, dispatchers can ensure emergency calls can be handled right away knowing they have technicians with open time available.
HVAC Software is a knowledge host
Get your technicians all the information you can to help them succeed. With HVAC software, you can do just that. That’s because mobile field service apps put all the knowledge of your organization in the technician’s hand. Technicians have complete access to all the service history for customers and equipment. With that history, they are speeding up repair times by reading past work orders and finding answers to recurring problems. Because HVAC software holds every work order in its history, it’s great for newly hired technicians to gain knowledge. And if your customers have questions about service or their contracts, your technicians can pull it up on their mobile app and give correct answers.
Track your technicians’ performance
In order to provide quality service, you need to keep track of your technicians’ performance in the field. If your standards start to slip, the quality of your service goes down. And so too does your bottom line if enough customers decide to find help with someone else. Field service management is customer experience focused now, and HVAC software is ensuring that experience remains high. With Business Intelligence, managers can track their technicians’ performance through analytics. They can track first-time fix rates, the average speed of repair to find the fastest technician, who is driving too much, or late from appointments. And they can start to drill down and see exactly how their technicians are working in the field.
Finally, they can also use customer service surveys and track performance straight from the client. Have emails or phone calls sent to customers when service is completed and get direct feedback. Managers can build Key Performance Indicators and ensure your technicians are hitting their targets every single time.
No Alternative to HVAC Software
For HVAC businesses performing field service management, there is no question that HVAC software is a must-have. As a result of investing in mobile field service apps, automation tools, better scheduling and dispatch controls and great service history, field service management teams are running smoother. The quality of service is on the rise with HVAC software. Manual processes are removed and replaced by digital ones. And with great quality service comes more word of mouth business and a greater bottom line. With plenty of technologies becoming available, make sure you have an HVAC software that meets all your needs. Prepare your business for a digital field service management future.