Customer expectations for service delivery are constantly increasing, and the field service team who can offer the fastest service at the cheapest rate will always have an advantage over the competition. It’s make many in the field service industry turn to a service dispatch software that can help them get their technicians to a job site faster, while making the process of scheduling, dispatching and routing technicians easier than it has before.
With competition growing in all the field service spaces, organizations are finding themselves having to take on more services calls to increase revenue, and they need a service management system to help control the increase pool of technicians and subcontractors they need in order to ensure they making the service calls in a prompt timeline, as customers won’t stand for a technician who doesn’t respect their time by showing up late, or not having the proper parts on hand.
Scheduling can be one of the most challenging parts of field service delivery, but service dispatch software is making it easier for dispatchers to manage large technician pools and get them to customers in a timely manner, within a particular time window.
Stage One: Selecting the right technician
Whether it’s a break/fix emergency repair or a service call as part of a preventative maintenance contract, selecting the right technician with the right skillset in the right location is a challenge, especially when you are trying to group a technician’s calls into one geographical location. Service dispatch software gives dispatchers a wide view of their technician pool, which can be first narrowed down by skill set, to ensure the technician responding to the call has the right training and certifications. Once the pool is narrowed down, dispatchers can look at the geographical map to pick the technician who is nearest to the service call, or find a technician who is going to be in the general area, so service calls can be grouped together in order to minimize travel time.
Stage Two: Scheduling the technician for a call
Once a technician is selected, dispatchers can use a drag and drop service management system to play the work order into their daily schedule. As part of the service dispatch software, dispatchers can see the entire day, week or more of a technician’s schedule, giving them the ability to optimize their schedule to minimize idle time. The software allows for scheduled calls to be moved in order to fit as many calls into a technician’s day as possible, which helps increase the organizations revenue, and keeps technicians from standing by, waiting for their next call. It also gives dispatchers the ability to inform customers of when the technician will be available, giving them a narrow time window in which they can expect service, improving customer service.
Stage Three: Routing and work order information
With the right technician now scheduled for the service call, the final stage is to get them the work order information they need, including any part requirements or checklists to follow through, and get them to the service call quickly. A native mobile field service app will aid the service dispatch software, as dispatchers can send all the information to the technician’s mobile app. Routing tools can guide the technician to the service call’s location, and they can open the work order on their mobile device to ensure they have the parts needed with them, or to see if they need to make a stop by the office to get any parts or tools to accomplish the repair. With service dispatch software, the lines of communication with technicians in the field increases, giving them greater insight into their schedule and calls, without needing to call back to the dispatch center for instructions.
When looking at a service management system, one of the first things any field service management team should look at is how their scheduling and dispatch is done currently and how it can be improved. Service dispatch software can improve customer relations, technician efficiency, and ultimately generate more revenue for the organization with an increased volume of service calls.