Is Your Service Management Business Keeping Pace with the Fast-Moving Digital Age? Why It Matters!

Transcription

1 Is Your Service Management Business Keeping Pace with the Fast-Moving Digital Age? Why It Matters! Penta Technologies, Inc. 250 South Executive Drive Suite 201 Brookfield, Wisconsin

2 Copyright and Trademark Notices 2015 Penta Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is confidential intellectual property and may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of Penta Technologies, Inc. This document is for informational purposes only. PENTA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT. Rev Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 2

3 INTRODUCTION So many individuals keep pace with the fast-moving digital age on a personal level. Some will even stand in extremely long lines for the newest iphone. In fact, on September 19, 2014, scores of people waited in massive lines worldwide just for the iphone 6 and 6 Plus release. At one point during that day, the line at Apple s 5 th Avenue New York store was five blocks long. (Etherington 2014) Today, the average individual arms their personal life with a plethora of digital devices. Some arm themselves for entertainment purposes only, while others utilize many of the organizational tools a digital device offers helping them to run their lives more efficiently. How many times today have you already checked your digital device to read your personal s, text messages or social media? So many of us are utilizing the latest digital devices in our personal lives, but what about our business lives? Is your Service Management business digitally armed, and why does it matter? Service management software can enable your business to operate more efficiently and competitively, resulting in greater cost savings, lower overhead, additional revenue opportunities, improved accuracy, time-savings, more effective field to back office communications, increased employee retention, faster invoicing, improved client relationships and best of all, higher profits. Keeping pace with the digital age is not just for individuals. It is essential for your business too, especially if you want to remain competitive, grow your business and increase profits. The benefits of having service management software far outweighs doing business the old-fashioned, paper way. A closer look at some of these benefits and associated service management software features helps to demonstrate why this software is so essential. HOW VALUABLE IS THAT FIRST INCOMING CALL? ARE YOU MAXIMIZING YOUR OPPORTUNITIES? Scenario #1 Your field service department receives a call from a customer requesting equipment service. Service management software enables you to maximize this opportunity in many different ways. For example, if this customer is already scheduled for routine maintenance the following week, service management software alerts the call taker, or dispatcher, allowing them to condense what would have been two separate field service trips into just one trip. Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 3

4 Service management software allows the dispatcher to not only review where each field technician s service calls are located, but it also allows the dispatcher to quickly and easily access the skill level of each technician, so that the right technician based on skill level and location is dispatched to the appropriate location for every service call. Maybe that same customer is behind on an invoice payment. Service management software will alert the call taker to this issue providing an opportunity to ask the customer to have a check waiting when the technician arrives. Additionally, that same customer may have outstanding quotes on other machinery, affording the call taker an opportunity to inquire about other potential service revenue at the same location. Your technician s travel time is the same to this location whether he performs one task or multiple, so why not maximize that first call. Service management software digitally arms the call taker, or dispatcher, with invaluable information allowing them to maximize many different types of opportunities in that very first call. ARE YOU ARMING YOUR FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIANS WITH ALL THE TOOLS THEY NEED? Scenario #2 Using service management software, your dispatcher, or call taker, has easily produced and issued a work order to the field technician. Just like the quarterback in a football game, your dispatcher has made a calculated and strategic decision regarding whom to throw the ball to based on information provided by the service management software. Now, it is the technician s turn to run with that ball. Does your technician really have all the tools he needs? Of course, he has many tools for diagnosing and fixing equipment. Does he have tools that can quickly provide him with information about the location, the customer and the machinery? Once he completes his work orders, how is he communicating all work order information back to the office for processing? Even before the technician travels to the first service location, service management software provides him with mapping software so that he can plan his service call route for any given day in the most economical and efficient manner. This saves fuel but it also allows the technician to manage his time more effectively and be more productive on a daily basis. If your technicians are accustomed to using an array of quality digital devices in their personal lives, arming them with quality digital tools at work will help you to retain valuable employees and attract new ones. Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 4

5 Service management software also provides your technician with digital work orders and it links those work orders to an array of important information about customers. Using a mobile device, the technician can quickly review a variety of information about customers including service histories and notes from previous technicians; maintenance histories and schedules; quote histories; specific parts needed; customer contact information and drawings/manuals associated with specific equipment. For example, knowing the outstanding quote history allows the technician an opportunity to inquire about other machinery with outstanding quotes and possibly generate additional revenue from this current service call. The more information your field technician has literally at his fingertips the more effective, efficient, productive and profitable he can be. The software also empowers your technician with the information he needs to complete all required tasks on the first visit, as opposed to making multiple visits. Servicing all your customers needs on the first visit ensures satisfied and loyal customers. Potential revenue benefits continue as the technician conducts inspections. Service management software walks the technician through a series of pre-set customized questions for each piece of equipment. Answers entered by the technician can immediately identify deficiencies deficiencies that afford the technician an opportunity to produce a service quote while still in the field. As the technician completes his work for a location, his service management software allows him to accurately and clearly record all work performed for a particular customer into his mobile device. Using a mobile field service ipad app, the field technician can record time, parts and other information as he services complex equipment including cranes, boilers, rooftop air conditioning units or fire protection systems. It s very important that the app still functions without network connectivity and automatically synchronizes all collected data when a connection is reestablished, ensuring the technician s work is never disrupted. Service management software increases the technician s ability to work efficiently and accurately since the work order is not being filled out manually, with pen and paper. All potential errors due to incomplete handwritten forms are eliminated and the work order is instantly transmitted to the back office for processing. The benefit of arming field service technicians with service management software does not stop in the field. All field service documents and communications are transmitted seamlessly and automatically to the back office. Using his mobile device, the technician records and transmits real-time status updates to the dispatcher including work order information, equipment information, inventory used, purchased materials and customer signatures, thereby optimizing communications between the field and back office. This automation ultimately increases productivity and efficiency. Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 5

6 HOW MANY HANDS DOES YOUR PAPERWORK HAVE TO PASS THROUGH? Scenario #3 Armed with his mobile device, your technician completes his work and then transmits the completed work order to the office. Since his work order is automatically routed electronically to all appropriate parties, the time lag using a paper process is eliminated. With service management software, gone are the days of paperwork sitting in the in box on someone s desk, waiting for review, approval and a sign off before the paperwork is passed on to the next person in the billing process. Since the entire process is automated, you need less staff and time to process paperwork, thereby lowering your overhead. Is someone still manually preparing each invoice, taking information from the completed work order and then retyping it into Excel? With service management software, you can process a higher volume of work with the same amount of employees. Your service management software automatically determines the correct bill rate based on the specific location and technician. Automating your invoicing and billing process means you are able to get invoices out much faster than you could the old-fashioned, paper way. How many days does it typically take your organization to get an invoice out the door? Faster invoicing translates into fewer days lost processing and preparing an invoice, which then translates into faster bill payment and cash flow. CONCLUSION Using service management software to keep pace with the fast-moving digital age translates into higher profits, cost savings, lower overhead, revenue opportunities, faster billing, improved client relationships, time-savings, increased valuable employee retention, better inter-department communications and greater efficiencies. If you are still doing business the old-school way with paper, spreadsheets and white boards, you may be getting in your own way. Remaining competitive in the digital age means allowing your business to reap the benefits that service management software offers. REFERENCES Etherington, Darrell "Apple s iphone 6 And 6 Plus Go On Sale To Long Lines Of Fans." TechCrunch, September 19. Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 6

7 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Contact Penta Technologies for additional information about Service Management Software: Penta Technologies, Inc. Page 7