Enterprise Mobility for Field Services a Matchless Driving Force
Dimensions of customer engagement are shifting from service to experience. Customer experience is now at the core of everything organizations do.
Just watch organizations of any vertical, you will be amazed to see the extraordinary lengths they went in the last few years to create amazing and powerful experiences for their customers. (From behavior, interest to social psychology, no stone is left unturned to tap into customers’ moments.)
In fact, many memorable business stories are born out of the experience. And, customer experience is now the linchpin of business success.
We are lucky that so many amazing things, across all industries, are happening in this era.
Especially, I feel amazed to see field service organizations — the way they are modernizing its operational model to meet customers’ expectations.
It is no less than a revolution how field services are becoming agile to improve the overall experience and unlocking new values for their end-customers.
A field service management is truly a team game. And, the team cannot succeed without a harmonious state.
Thus, the output of field service depends on many different factors including better coordination and communication among the team, full view of customer’s request and the right inventory tools to quickly solve the problem.
THE GAME CHANGING TOOL
For field service organizations, mobility has come as a boon to transform customer experience. It has created the biggest impact in terms of improving productivity and automating the process of field staffs.
It has made the data on the move. This helps not only in managing siloed teams working in the field, but also in resource allocation and mobile support, and more.
With its power and offline connectivity to records and information, field service staffs can be connected to the right reports, information, and resources at anytime and anywhere.
It enables workforces to stay connected more than ever before. And, it is making things possible which were not earlier possible to create all-new customer experiences.
A TALE OF ENTERPRISE MOBILITY IMPLEMENTATION
Let me share with you a story of one of our clients as an example that improved field operational excellence with enterprise mobility.
For years, our client’s field technicians relied solely on the legacy system to access their service call records or to look up basic information. The legacy system didn’t provide all the tools field engineers needed to stay connected to their customers. They needed a mobile solution that would let them accept or decline tickets, check in/out of appointments and pull purchase orders from the field.
By having these available on mobile devices, the client hoped it would reduce turnaround time and increase customer satisfaction. There were few challenges that the client wanted to resolve, including:
– Schedule and efficiently manage field technician activities
– Determine if a job was profitable and gauge costs per job
– Eliminate spreadsheets to manually log hours, parts, expenses, equipment, job completion, etc.
Leveraging enterprise mobility, the client transformed its field service process. Manual processes were eliminated. More digital technology was integrated to streamline communication and coordination amongst field staff and office staff in order to resolve customers’ problems.
The newly added capabilities have enabled the client to more efficiently utilize their field technicians and lower service delivery cost while ensuring SLA compliance.
The client has also reduced its administrative overhead and eliminated manual processes and paperwork. Today, dispatch has real-time visibility of technicians’ locations and can keep the customer better informed as to what is happening with their service request — all improving efficiency and productivity across the board.
One of the craziest things about enterprise mobility is that it brings immense possibilities. It can be more helpful and useful than the above-mentioned success story. It enables you to interact, learn, connect, and execute…the way you can imagine!
In times like this, nobody wants to wait for days when their problems can be solved in hours. The more exactly a customer knows when to expect the technician. The stronger the customer relationships will be with the company. And, when it is consistently performed with efficacy, the customer will be retained for life — even if the competitor is throwing a cheaper deal — and recurring return is assured.
