It’s no secret in the field service management industry that customers now demand more than just a service. They demand results. The drive in the field service management space is now moving away from simple break/fix. It’s even going beyond preventative maintenance to now be all about the results. Whatever the repair or service may be, at the end of it all, it’s about how you deliver on the results.
Therefore, for field service management teams, it’s about predictive maintenance, especially for asset-intensive industries. And because of this change, outcome-based field service service contracts are starting to become popular. Customers aren’t concerning themselves with the repair and service as much as they are about the result of it. They are measuring their contracts in terms of uptime of equipment and minimized downtime. Over the next year, it’s expected that a quarter of field service management teams will add outcome-based contracts. They will move beyond break/fix repairs and be held accountable for the results of their service.
Preventative Maintenance vs Predictive Maintenance
Already, the industry has started to see a shift from preventative maintenance contracts to predictive maintenance. Customers are starting to change their behavior and focus less on the promises field service teams are making and wanting results instead. Preventative maintenance contracts have been around for a long time and offer to keep equipment at its peak efficiency. That’s still essential to the service field, however, customers are demanding more.
With the focus on the results, customers are demanding predictive maintenance contracts. With these contracts, field service management teams are selling results, not promises. To deliver on those results, field service businesses need to minimize downtime. And to do that, they need predictive tools that track changes in the normal working operations of equipment. The goal is to complete the repair and service before it happens and maximize remote solutions.
As said, you’re not selling service, you’re selling results. And if you don’t deliver on those results, your contracts have no value. Field service management software will help process the delivery of those results through timely work order generation when triggered by predictive maintenance tools. With resource routing tools, optimization of technician schedules and routes can be completed to ensure speedy service.
With predictive maintenance, time is of the essence. Work orders are triggered because machines and equipment are not running at peak efficiency. You have to be ready for those calls whenever they come in and be prepared to get someone to the job site fast. If you have an outcome-based contract, one of those outcomes can’t be full failure of equipment because you missed a service call.
Drive Outcome-Based Service with Internet of Things (IoT)
Unsurprisingly, with outcome-based service on the rise, field service management teams are using tools for predictive maintenance. And the leader in that, unquestionably, is Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This sensor technology helps to monitor the normal behaviors of equipment and machines and alert field service management software and technicians when it’s out of typical parameters. It’s a level of field service automation that turns the industry from preventative to predictive.
Because of IoT, field service management businesses can continuously monitor the results of their service. Equipment can be monitored remotely, solutions can be triggered remotely, or automatic dispatch can be completed for service. The results for your customer are less downtime and less worry about their equipment as someone is monitoring their behavior.
Field service management teams are moving forward with more IoT deployment because of the outcome-based service contracts they want to perform. It’s making them think of their service life-cycle and how they dispatch their technicians. With field service management software, dispatching and scheduling technicians has become easier. Field service automation, as triggered by IoT, sets in motion the work order management to dispatch cycle. If you’re going to monitor equipment and promise results with IoT, you can’t have a slow cycle for service. It has to be fast, it has to come with a high first-time fix rate and it needs to deliver.
Getting Outcome-Based Service Right
To deliver results, you have to tick off all the right boxes in field service management. Field service is still the same regardless of the contract you sign. It’s all about getting the right technician, with the right skills, with the right parts, to the right location on time. However, with outcome-based service contracts, this is even more important than ever, because service is requested when a predictive tool like IoT is alerting you to a problem. There isn’t time to fiddle around with getting things right, it needs to be automatic.
Field service management software comes with the tools to get the right technician with the right skills to the job. Skillset searches and automated technician dispatch make it, so the certain technicians can be dispatched automatically to piece of equipment. They can be attached to them, learn about them and become an expert in their behavior. When an alert is triggered, they are set a message informing them of what is happening. A work order can be created, and service can start immediately.
Parts need to be available, so field service management software with ERP system integration can locate parts in warehouses and trucks to speed up dispatch. Or they can start the requisition phase if the part is out of stock and needed for a trigger service call. And with routing tools, your technicians can deliver results by getting them to the job site fast, clearing their schedule and reassigning it to another technician if needed to meet the demand.
Be a Results-Driven Field Service Management Business
Start selling results, not promises. Results can be tracked through field service management software and by the number of outcome-based service contracts you have signed. With IoT, predictive maintenance will change how you deliver service to your customer. That’s because your focus is now all on the results and offering less downtime, more revenue for your customers with greater up-time, and taking the burden off their shoulders to monitor their equipment’s performance.
Find out today how an outcome-based service experience with be valuable to your customers and how field service management software will get you there.