What is Field Service Management Software?

Field service management software is used by businesses to manage onsite sales professionals and manage them for improving employee performance. The software helps with work order management, request management, dispatch, inventory management, and more.

Field employees are in constant touch with their dispatch office for accessing service history, customer information and other details. Employees also use field service scheduling tools to find information about tasks allotted to them and share work updates. By regularizing communication between employers and employees, the software helps businesses improve customer experience and the overall productivity.

Industry Applications of Field Service Management Systems

• Manufacturing sector to manage technicians going onsite for predictive & preventive maintenance and equipment repair
• Managing service technicians in the transportation sector for fuel/asset/inventory management
• Tracking the personnel in energy and utilities sector who are involved in managing geospatial information
• Oil & gas industry for ensuring the performance, reliability, and safety compliance for employees involved in field service maintenance activities.

Why Use Field Service Management Software?

• Dispatcher workspace: The software provides a configurable interface for scheduling work orders based on access hours, distance, recommendations, and technical skills.
• Asset management: Field service management systems oversee field services, operations, and infrastructure for managing business assets.
• Intelligent chatbots: AI conversational chatbots support customizable templates for preparing pre-built conversations under different customer service scenarios.
• Improved customer satisfaction: The field service management software ensures automated scheduling of work orders and instant delivery of customer services.
• Automated processing: Field management systems automate tasks like form filling, log updating and more to streamline field operations. It ensures that there are no wasted hours, costs, or inefficient activities.
• Real-time communication: Field service management software offers tools that immediately connect field teams with tech support teams and backend staff. The module also helps technicians request replacement parts, access the inventory, and update their job status.
• Checklist designer: Build task checklists or to do lists for managing your employees’ workflows. You can also add here pictures, notes, and such information.
• Resource routing: Dispatchers are provided with accurate and real-time visual maps with highlighted customer’s/technician’s location for optimizing routes and dispatches.
• Project/job costing: The software can be integrated with your existing CRM to plan & estimate project costs and schedule resources.
• Reports: Business intelligence dashboard helps leverage the data by producing analytical reports about how a team, business, or department is performing.

Features of Field Service Management Software

• Dispatching: Field service scheduling software can be used to assign tasks to field technicians, manage service requests, and track their location in real-time.
• Scheduling: Drag and drop interface supports task prioritization and work allocation to designated technicians. You can also set scheduling rules here for data syncing and assignment of tasks.
• Work order management: The field service management app provides pre-built templates for creating, assigning, reassigning, and deleting work orders.
• Contact database: A searchable database stores data regarding serviceable equipment and customer information for quick access.
• Payment collection: With its integrated payment processors, the field service scheduling software help collect payments online from anywhere.
• Service history tracking: You can track the service history of any equipment so that the technicians can view previous actions and troubleshoot issues.
• Virtual agent designer: The software offers a drag and drop interface for creating the blueprint of interaction between a user and a virtual agent. I
• Field service contractor management: Field service management software streamlines onboarding and task assignment processes for hiring third-party contractors.
• Dynamic scheduling: Dynamic scheduling helps improve the efficiency of field teams by automatically assigning tasks to the best technician. The module also helps in reducing the dispatcher workloads.
• Disconnected mode: The module empowers technicians and specialists to view, create, update, information regarding any service history for assisting customers even in the remotest locations.
• Native mobile options: It allows technicians to capture barcodes & images, check GPS, and use voice to text technologies.

Benefits of Field Service Management System

• Enhanced customer satisfaction: The software improves communication amongst team members so that there are no delays in providing the best customer service experience.
• Real-time visibility: Field service management apps help businesses track job status, customer history, asset information and worker location for smooth operations.
• Activity automation: Field service scheduling tools automate routine business activities like attendance, client communication, and quote/invoice preparation for improving business efficiency.
• Mobile access: Mobile functionalities allow workers to view the best routes for reaching customers, reading barcodes, and capturing pictures. The software also helps collect customer signatures online.
• Reduced costs: The software automates asset lifecycle management processes to minimize repetitive tasks and wasted resources.
• Better responsiveness: Field management systems are designed to dynamically handle situations like taking up high-priority tasks and assigning the most qualified field technicians to a particular job. Tasks like these are done automatically by the software without any manual intervention.

How to Use Field Service Management Software?

• Arranging employee schedules and appointments as per the expected timelines
• Coordinating dispatches anytime a field employee or specialist is assigned to a job
• Tracking work orders right from their start till their completion or invoicing
• Managing the inventory by keeping track of supplies/parts and their transfer
• Service level agreement (SLA) and contract management
• Decreasing field service costs by using insights & data for timely task completion
• Empowering field staff by providing remote assistance for troubleshooting issues
• Reducing repair timings by automatically assigning the right specialist to a job

Things to Consider When Buying Field Management System

• Configuration & customization:Look for a field service management system that you can modify as per your business' needs. This way, you will add custom fields to invoices, create custom workflows and change the report type.
• Integration:An ideal field management software would be the one that can be integrated with the existing IT solutions used by your employees.
• SLAs:The module is critical for maintaining service level agreements because tasks get reassigned whenever a technician fails, or an urgent request is raised.
• Supports expansion:Those using field management systems should not worry about the expandability of their processes, as the software would scale with their business.