What Makes an Idle Field Service Management Software?

If you own a field service-based business, you've probably heard a lot about field service management software. These software suites claim to be cutting-edge technological enablement that assists field services in overcoming operational challenges, simplifying the field workforce management process, and increasing the productivity and efficiency of mobile workers or technicians. 

With field service management software, businesses want to achieve a digital transformation that will put an end to a slew of inefficient and time-consuming manual processes. Automation is required to speed up processes, eliminate errors, and ensure that everything is measurable and trackable. As the industry's major players rely on advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence, it is past time for small businesses in this industry to embrace technology and abandon degraded and low-profile legacy methods. Field service management software is a low-cost and simple-to-use tool for achieving field automation for small businesses.

However, as you look for field service management software, you will come across a variety of similar products, making it difficult to choose one. So, how do you select the best software for your company's requirements?  Another major dilemma you face is 'build vs buy software, i.e whether to build a field service management software or by third-party software. 

A field service management software must have the following seven features.

Scheduling and dispatching: Field services require automation in scheduling and dispatching to make sure certain types of scheduling accuracies, such as:

• To avoid scheduling issues such as duplicate schedules, overlapped schedules, missed schedules, and so on.

• To ensure that work is distributed evenly so that no one is overburdened and no resource is underused.

• To ensure skill-based job distribution in order to achieve maximum first-visit effectiveness.

So, your chosen field service management software should have the automation capability to assess the technician's availability, proximity to the job site, and skillsets. Accordingly, the software should automatically assign a job to the nearest available appropriately skilled technician or worker.

Route planning and tracking: Because technicians must travel to various job sites, the field service management app should assist them with real-time route planning to avoid traffic jams and detours. In addition, the software must allow for real-time tracking of field technicians' locations in order to track their performance and productivity.  

Work order management: A proper communication setup is required to manage work orders, i.e., ensure that everyone in the team is abiding by their KRAs. There should be no communication breakdowns among stakeholders. As a result, choose a field service management software with an automated setup for standardizing communication. For example, the software must send an automated schedule notification to the technician when a schedule is created. Similarly, in an automated way, it must send location information, service information, client information, and so on. It should also automatically update job statuses, such as technician check-in and check-out times.

Timekeeping and timesheets

A field service management app must support time-tracking via time stamping and remote timesheet filling to enable easy and convenient real-time tracking of mobile workforce performance and productivity.

Data management: Always choose cloud-based online field service management software to do data collaboration in real-time via remote access. Whether it is accessing enterprise data such as contract and warranty reports, uploading data such as pre/post inspection reports, or downloading invoices, the software must support real-time data collaboration as well as online and offline support.

Inventory management

Inventory management is essential in field services, so it is critical that you select software that assists you with this. 

• For example, technicians should be able to check the availability of parts and tools in the inventory directly. 

• They should be able to make real-time inventory requirement requests. 

• The inventory management feature in the software must ensure that your inventory is not clogged with unnecessary stock, thereby limiting your capital. 

• It should also ensure a sufficient supply of project-specific items, tools, parts, equipment, and other materials.

Reporting and analytics

Data analytics is at the heart of modern business systems. 

Without it, it is impossible to gain a detailed understanding of business metrics and make the best decisions for your company. 

As a result, choose a field service management software with built-in analytics and reporting modules that can automatically pull field data captured at various touchpoints and generate visually appealing reports about your business.

Conclusion