Field service organizations must master a number of diverse capabilities to scale and optimize their businesses in the coming year, according to a recent article on the Service Visions website.
As you review your company’s services capabilities, having the right service management software to support your initiatives and tracking mechanism is critical. Your software must support customers through channel interaction, as well as pricing, resources invoicing and parts logistics.
The Service Visions article includes a top ten list, based on a survey of Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) members, showing the main service capabilities companies are seeking to optimize in 2013.
One particularly relevant service capability that TSIA companies are pursuing is proactive channel management: analyzing the cost and quality of customer interaction channels, then influencing customers toward using the most efficient and least expensive channels.
It’s important for mobile field service companies to understand how their customers want to connect. Phone, email and chat typically offer the most bang for the buck when it comes to channel interaction.
What companies need to do is measure how these channels are being used and how active they actually are. If you’re putting in other channels — such as self-service, social media and online communities, for example — and they’re not being used, then it’s a waste of time and effort for everyone.
Another service capability the list highlights is resource optimization across geographic boundaries, with the goal of optimizing the right mix of resources to services delivery to ensure successful service and margin performance.
Depending on a company’s different service channels and product lines, you may need project job cost software, work order management, service contract entitlements, resource scheduling, timesheets, expenses, mobility, and a database infrastructure to support real-time reporting and dashboard analysis.
Source: Service Visions, December 2012