Mobile Apps Revolution in Field service

Posted on October 17, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

This is an era of Mobile apps. All areas of life are being revolutionized by the use of mobile applications. Smart Mobile phone are everywhere, and mobile networks have become very reliable. This is the right time to deploy Mobile applications for field service and benefit with increase productivity. This article describes some changes how mobility will impact field service in the future. Using information here, you can develop a case for field service software in your organization.

Moving From Paper Based Solution to Field Service Software

Service companies are trying to move to electronic model of providing services. Paper based operation is too slow to address customer concerns. Field Force Tracker is the most comprehensive software for field service management. It takes care of everything from customer management to the payment collection for a service company. By using this software, our clients can see major improvement in their productivity and the customer satisfaction.

The question is asked about what mobility will look like in future. A recent study in field service technologies states that an interesting starting point for this is to look at what their survey respondents said when asked about why they were investing in field mobility.

The Field Service Technologies survey found that nearly half of all respondents state their primary objective with their field mobility investment is maximizing productivity. This was followed by 35% saying that improving the customer experience is most important.

Benefits of Mobile Apps in Field Service

Whatever your reasons for looking at investing in field mobility this year, You can always benefit by deploying mobile based software. Below we describe four ways to maximize your advantages from any investment that you make in a field service software.

Easy Integration With Existing Processes

Organizations with a team of workers out in the field often use a mix of different solutions and technologies to carry out their work. There are many different parts to the workflow and different systems are used to oversee these. This can often mean that systems are used in isolation and data from one system doesn’t always ‘talk’ to others.

Back office processes are essential to any service operation, so a field service solution which integrates easily with the existing systems is important. This means that all parts of the business and the workflow can be connected. There is visibility of the work and the day’s performance and decisions can be based on real-time information.

Make Better Use of your Existing Systems

Integrating with back office systems (such as accounting systems, ERPs or CRMs) means that the worker out in the field has access to the job history and customer records. They can get information about the job they are going to and also, if they need to, see what has happened before and why. Knowing the details of the job like this can make the difference between being able to sort out the problem first time or not. This means delivering better customer service, as well as reducing the need for further visits to fix the problem.

Get Up and Running Quickly for a Better Return

With any new solution, how fast you can be up and running is key. A solution which integrates easily with existing systems will be far quicker to implement – a great benefit in any technology choice. Being up and running in days, not weeks, months or even years, means your business is not affected and you get a better return on your investment as it starts straight away.

Keep it Simple

Managers and technicians all report that the difference between good and bad technology choices is often how easy it is to use. Taking time to learn new, complicated ways of working can mean that workers don’t like them and may go back to the way things used to be done or patch together their own way of working round it. With a solution that is easy to use alongside existing systems, the implementation is easier and the quicker people start using it, again the better the return on the investment.

Even if you are not 100% sure of your field service technology needs today and where to make that investment, with an easy to integrate solution you are able to future-proof your requirements because of the flexibility it can bring. It is provided via technology you already have – smartphones and internet – and upgrades, changes and adaptions can all be quickly and effectively made as your business needs change and develop.

For the best results, you need a solution that meets your business needs. Field Force Tracker helps field service companies simplify this decision-making of where to invest.

Mobile enabled, cloud-based field service software was designed to provide ease of use with incredible flexibility. Along with the ease – and speed – of our implementation and the ongoing support service that we provide we enable companies to take full advantage of today’s mobile field service.

Field Force Tracker’s power mobile apps for iPhone and Android are available to all new and existing Field Force Tracker customers. They can extend the feature set with the enhanced mobile forms capabilities, and better system integration. Field Force Tracker, a mobile enabled web-based field service management software, streamlines technician scheduling, dispatch, customer management, vendor and employee management, work orders, equipment maintenance, inventory tracking, contracts, estimates, invoices, payments and accounting. It is considered one of the most feature rich software of its kind.

About Field Force Tracker

Force Tracker (http://www.fieldforcetracker.com) is a leading global provider of its award winning mobile workforce solutions for service-based businesses of all sizes delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS). Its solutions enable businesses of all sizes (from 1 user to 10,000 users) to meet the challenges associated with managing and running complex service operations. It helps in improving the productivity of their mobile workforce.

With Field Force Tracker customers can create service schedule and route quickly, dispatch sooner, collect correct information at once in the field and invoice faster. The field service software makes it easy for users to eliminate waste, get more done in less time and be more profitable.

Field Force Tracker is a wholly owned unit of Rapidsoft Systems Inc. (http://www.rapidsoftsystems.com). Rapidsoft Systems, Inc. has its main office in Princeton, NJ, USA, a US R&D Center in Mercerville NJ, and sales, support and development offices in Palo Alto, CA, USA, Singapore, Dubai (UAE), Bombay, and Noida (India).

Making Use of Field Service Reports – Part 2

Posted on October 4, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

Service managers need to understand the quality and effectiveness of their service delivery. The lack of service measurements is one such area that lacks in paper base or simple home grown systems. This article describes how field service software can help you better understand the effectiveness of your service delivery. Using extensive analytics information of Field Force Tracker’s reporting module, you can measure the effectiveness for field services in your organization.

Service companies are trying to move to electronic model of providing services. Paper based operation is too slow to address customer concerns and cannot provide suitable data analysis. Field Force Tracker is the most comprehensive software for field service management. It takes care of everything from customer management to the payment collection for a service company. By using this software, our clients can see major improvement in their productivity and the customer satisfaction.

Field Service Reports can Make a Big Difference

Managers with responsibility for operational and service areas of the business, need to know what is happening in their organization at any time, that is a given. The manager needs to have this visibility, from wherever they are. Whether they are in the office or out and about they need to have a good understanding of what is actually happening. Not from what was planned for the day or from what they are being told, but what is happening in real-time and at any time.

Information needs to be simple to access. It needs to be easy to understand, accurate and instant. Ideally access to job status, customer information, location information, asset information and notifications should all be in one place.

The ultimate of any field service solution is quite simply better visibility of the workflow to and from the field. Ease of integration is a key part of any new solution as an integrated field service solution means that the two-way flow of data and information is captured just once and in a consistent and efficient way. It means that no data is left unused or delayed while waiting on paperwork to be finished or for collected information to be downloaded and an audit trail is in place reducing the chance of any lost or missing information.

All areas of the business can then have visibility of what they need to access, making their work more straightforward and productive.

Different Stakeholders of Field Service Reports

Here we look at the benefits different parts of the business can get from the improved visibility that field service solutions bring:

The Business Owner/Manager or Company CEOs

For the business owner, or manager, reports can be easily accessed on any criteria as systems are linked and ‘speak’ to each other. The health of the business can be easily monitored and customizable reports can be run on jobs, revenue, inventory, employee hours, customer surveys, invoices and customer data.

Profitability can be reviewed by customer, service or product allowing focus on driving higher overall revenue and increased margins.

The Service Managers or Service Directors

Workflow can become automated reducing paperwork and eliminating lost or delayed time through scheduling improvements and job completion rates.

They have this visibility from wherever they are, whether in the office or not as all information can be easily accessed through their mobile device.

Service Administrator/Dispatcher

For the team in the office they can assign jobs faster with improved scheduling, increasing the number of jobs field technicians receive due to the reduced time. There is real-time visibility for scheduling and updating of jobs, significantly faster capture of customer information and service requests and the distribution of work orders is instantaneous.

There are significant time savings from the reduction or elimination of paperwork and the team or individual is then able to be more productive on other tasks.

The Field Technicians

For a field worker improved visibility, through an integrated mobile solution, means they can do their job in the best possible way. Critical information can be accessed and shared in real time in the office and the field. Through integration with other back office systems, the field worker has access to the job history and customer records allowing for a more detailed understanding of not only the job they are going to but also what has happened before and why. Turning up to site and having this information on the job detail to hand or having access to it, means there is better chance of job resolution on this first visit and all the benefits this brings to an organization, the technician and the customer.

People Management Managers

As the work gets recorded, the work and travel time can be accurately recorded for allocating to customer accounts and also through integration with other systems, the data can be exported into HR applications. This part of the automated process helps to limit erroneous overtime costs and reduce payroll errors.

Finance and Accounting Managers

For those in the finance team invoices can be automated immediately upon job completion. A work order, for example, can be issued, then on job completion the customer can be invoiced immediately, achieving a quicker payment cycle through this order to cash automation. Data can be transferred electronically between systems, making accounting and payroll tasks more efficient and accurate.

Financial reporting becomes more straightforward as customizable reports include all the relevant information on revenue, costs and employees.

Real-time visibility provides many of the answers a field service organization will need to better-manage the day to day operations and deal with whatever the day demands across the entire business.

About Field Force Tracker

Making Use of Analytic for Improving Field Service

Posted on September 5, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

We have described in our previous article that an improved understanding of what is happening at any given time can help managers make better decisions. Through the improved visibility that field service solutions deliver, managers and other staff can have confidence that they have the right information and, as such, can make the best decision based on this. Nobody wants to leave anything to chance or to give answers based on gut feel so being able to see at-a-glance the information that is most important to them means they are on top of performance.

For you to track the performance of your service operations and understand your business, in the immediate term and longer term, you’ll need visibility of the right information, when you need it and in a way that is meaningful to you.

Making Use of Reporting Capabilities of Field Service Software

A day in field service operations can often change and be unpredictable as even the best laid plans are affected if emergency work comes in or jobs overrun. On-the-spot decisions need to be made to keep up with and manage those changes and get the day back on track.

Lack of visibility into what is happening out in the field may mean poor decisions are made, which can have further impact on the day’s work. Having access to information can mean that better decisions can be made then and there, keeping the most effective plan for the work. The impact of making changes can be seen immediately and decisions can be based on that, taking into account this impact and any potential outcome on service performance, cost and the rest of the day’s work.

So, field service management technology gives you greater visibility into your field service operations. With that visibility comes a lot of data which is useful to the business, but the amount of data can often feel overwhelming in where to start or how to analyze what is needed. It can sometimes feel so overwhelming that data then sits unused.

Understanding your Business Metrics

You don’t want to be overwhelmed by data, neither have the time to wade through masses of numbers, so let your field service management solution organize the key information for you to identify the crucial stuff you need at any time to make decisions.

With this view into your field operations, you will be able to answer questions like:

Which services are most profitable?
Which are the most productive crews and technicians?
How are changes affecting specific operations?

The visual presentation of data in dashboards needs to be easy to understand and should be easy to filter by service type, individual, crew or any other data point collected.

Business intelligence (BI) dashboards do just that and organize key metrics about your company’s service operation so that you can make fully informed business decisions.

Longer-Term Planning Based on Service Data

Day-to-day access to data is critical to the management of daily performance, but business intelligence is also vital in the longer-term view. Week-to-week or month-to-month comparisons can surface meaningful trends that can help fine-tune a service organization to run at maximum productivity – while maximizing profit.

Improved visibility from field service solutions brings greater understanding of what is happening. Straightforward reporting and being able to access the relevant information easily and quickly is fundamental. This information will then help manage not only the day’s operation, but also feed into the more strategic business planning around budgets, resources, targets and areas to focus on driving performance in the future.

For the best results, you need a field service solution that meets these business needs. Field Force Tracker simplifies field service management to generate a large number of reports.

About Field Force Tracker

Inventory Management in a Field Service Software

Posted on July 25, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

Field Force Tracker provides integrated inventory management functions. It allows you to maintain inventory in the office and service vans. It lets field technicians to manage inventory in the field.

Impact of Inventory Management on Field Service

The service operation is complicated and must have a number of different and disparate functions work together to deliver a successful end result. When it comes to service delivery, the more visible and customer facing the function is, the more likely it is to get all the glory or blame.

The attention that customer facing service functions receive translates into a good amount of “buzz” in the media surrounding the new trends associated with exceptional service delivery, such as cloud-based applications, social media, and multi-channel tools.

Exceptional service delivery does not rely solely on field service technicians. Even though service parts haven’t received the same level of attention as field service, the importance of the individual parts of service execution cannot be overlooked. As shown in Aberdeen’s 2016 Field Service research, 51% of respondents reported that the most common reason why an issue cannot be resolved on the first visit of a field technician was due to part unavailability. Since more than half of all visits required a part, the report found that the rate of unresolved visits would likely negatively impact metrics for customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Inventory Management is very Important

The impact of efficient parts management on the customer cannot be overstated. Top performing organizations understand the important role that parts play in service delivery. In order to mitigate the risk of not having the right part when it is needed, nearly half of all top performing organizations (48%) in Aberdeen’s 2016 Field Service research have implemented tools that are used to link real-time updates of parts usage from a technician’s stock to their scheduling criteria.

In a recent Aberdeen research study on Service Parts Management, top performing organizations were 64% more likely than all other organizations to have a senior executive in place with oversight of service parts. This is not an idle position by any means. A senior service executive or Chief Service Officer with parts management responsibilities is integral for leading the strategic vision for parts operations, monitoring the revenue implications and opportunities of service parts, weighing the costs and benefits of carrying service parts versus new ones, and ensuring that parts operations seamlessly works with other functions within service and beyond.

Best Practices for Inventory Management

field-service-software-FFT

In order to derive the type of gains from parts that these service leaders expect, top performing organizations have implemented a few best practices:

Field service organizations have access to parts inventories
Parts data is captured and analyzed to aid in forecasting service demand
Early warning processes have been put in place to alert management of stock-out situations
Service quality or continuous improvement programs (i.e., Six Sigma and Lean tools) have been implemented

These are just a few of the best-in-class practices that have helped drive higher part fill rates, improved first-time fix rates, lower inventory costs, and more accurate part inventories.

Understanding ROI of Mobile Field Service Solution

Posted on July 24, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

When you wish to deploy a Field Service Solution, like Field Force Tracker, it can improve productivity of your system.

When you think of mobile field service solutions, what’s the first topic that comes to mind? Is it how your organization is currently managing your mobile workforce? Or do you instantly think of your current bring your own device strategy & how it aligns with your 2017 goals? No matter what you may initially think of when the term mobile field service solutions comes up, it’s safe to say that as an executive, the most important aspect of any investment is the ROI.

Field Force Tracker – A Great Fit For Mobile Field Service Solutions.

As an overview, the type of solutions we are talking about are those that help you maintain your entire workforce, from mobile field technicians, to customer service representatives, to dispatchers in the office who monitor it all. These types of solutions are detrimental to an advanced organization in exceeding customer expectations in the ever changing digital age. With such solutions comes change, infiltration of current process and adjustments to your entire business. This along with a heavy price tag can take some time to swallow, but let’s discuss how these solutions can more than make up for their cost in both the way they revolutionize your business and how they can more than pay for themselves in less than a few years.

What happens to your bottom-line without a Field Service solution in place?

Let’s first take a look at what happens when you don’t have a mobile field service solution in place and what it could be costing your service organization. Perhaps you are a municipality or home services organization that has around 100 field technicians. Each technician is earning around $45,000 per year, accounting for labor costs of $4.5 million annually. Let’s say on average, 1 technician is able to accomplish 3 jobs per day, which is 300 jobs per day total, and 1500 jobs per week for your entire workforce (if your techs are working 5 days a week). That’s pretty good right? Considering you don’t really have all the visibility into cost of travel, time to travel, break time, lunch time, fuel costs and all of the unknown factors when you don’t have visibility in the field. So, things could be worse, but it’s not enough to convince the entire organization that it could also be a lot better. Your organization stays in the dark with some of these metrics, wondering perhaps if there is an easier way to track all your costs and cost reductions.

What happens to your bottom line with a Field Service solution in place?

Considering the numbers we discussed above, a below average service management solution could increase each of your technician’s ability to complete tasks by 5%. A mediocre solution would give you a drastic 10% ROI on the first year.. And a top of the line solution, a whopping 25% ROI. If it’s just 5%, you’re already looking at paying back the cost of your solution in 1 year, 10% will double that and put you at almost half a million, while 25% will put you well over $1000,000.

How to get started measuring ROI before and after you purchase of A Field Service Solution

We know this may still be hard to visualize, so that’s why we recommend starting simple. You’ll want to try and draw a baseline of what your costs are prior to beginning to look at any solution. From here, start to account for new KPIs where you can to provide benchmarks. Most mobile workforce management solutions provide out-of-the-box reports to help you see ROI. By starting with the simple questions, you’ll be able to keep this baseline to improve upon year after year & to continue to justify the cost and maintenance of the solution. Try asking:

Is my field workforce being utilized evenly and at the same level?
How much time does my field workforce spend driving?
How many jobs per day do we complete each day?

We know it’s not just about the numbers when it comes to implementing a groundbreaking solution for managing a mobile workforce, but we know it’s one of the most critical parts of finally saying yes to full visibility for your organization. To better help you realize ROI for your own organization, contact Field Force Tracker.

Making Use of Field Service Reports – Part 1

Posted on July 11, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

Field service management technology gives you greater visibility into your field service operations. With that visibility comes a lot of data which is useful to the business, but the amount of data can often feel overwhelming in where to start or how to analyse what is needed. It can sometimes feel so overwhelming that data then sits unused.

Surveys into field service delivery find that performance management and visibility continue to top the list of the key business concerns that managers have. For you to track the performance of your service operations and understand your business, you’ll need visibility of the right information, when you need it and in a way that is meaningful to you. Without this visibility you may be basing decisions on gut feel or doing things the way they have always been done.

Field Force Tracker leads the way in simplifying field service management and here we look at why simple can also mean effective when it comes to technology, which helps organizations get the information they need for their business success. You don’t want to be overwhelmed by data or have the time to wade through masses of numbers, so let your field service management solution organize the key information for you to identify the crucial stuff you need at any time to make decisions.

Business intelligence (BI) dashboards do just that and organize key metrics about your company’s service operation so that you can make fully informed business decisions.

With this view into your field operations, you will be able to answer questions like:

Which services are most profitable?
Which Technician is more effective?
Which contract is most profitable and which one is losing money?
Which are the most productive crews and technicians?
How are changes affecting specific operations?

The visual presentation of data in BI dashboards needs to be easy to understand and should be easy to filter by service type, individual, crew or any other data point collected. Week-to-week or month-to-month comparisons can surface meaningful trends that can help fine-tune a service organization to run at maximum productivity – while maximizing profit.

Make Decision-Making Easy

A day in field service operations can often change and be unpredictable as even the best laid plans are affected if emergency work comes in or jobs overrun. On the spot decisions need to be made to keep up with and manage those changes and get the day back on track.

Essential Reporting

While day-to-day access to data is critical to the management of daily performance, business intelligence dashboards are also vital in the longer-term view. This information will feed into the more strategic business planning around budgets, resources, targets and areas to focus on driving performance in the future.

Identifying business trends is critical to growing revenue, retaining customers and increasing the productivity of field workers. It’s important as a means of discovering problems before they can impact the business. Reporting is an essential component of any field service solution and being able to access the relevant information easily and quickly is fundamental.

There is a saying that goes ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’, so to understand your business, you need to know what is going on from your performance reports. For the best results, you need a solution that meets these business needs.

Field Force Tracker helps field service companies simplify their performance reporting to get the information that is needed for better decision making and business success.

About Field Force Tracker

Benefiting with Mobile Field Service Software

Posted on June 21, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

hvac disptach software — hvac dispatch software

Field Force Tracker is a Mobile enabled field service solution custom designed from ground up. It integrates mobile devices with a very complex and feature rich web service platform.

Mobile devices are revolutionizing the field service industry like never before. Mobility – from drivers with smartphones and dispatchers with tracking software to field workers with tablets – is everywhere in field operations, transportation and logistics. However, many companies are not able to take advantage of it. But most companies use just a fraction of the data being gathered by these mobile devices. Even fewer are spending time analyzing the data in ways that can improve their businesses, customer satisfaction and profitability.

Field Service employees are always on move. That’s where mobility management solutions like Field Force Tracker can help. When companies can better connect and manage their overarching mobile footprint, and do a better job of gathering and analyzing the data, they can make smarter decisions moving forward.

Here are some examples:

Pulling data from field repair teams using tablets to spot potential problems that could extend to an entire fleet, and proactively jumping on the fix before it becomes a costly and/or dangerous issue.
Providing integrated real-time mapping and weather alerts via a smartwatch so workers in the field can be routed around traffic or away from dangerous weather
Using mobile technologies that interact with toll-booth gantries to track actual miles logged in each state based on route driven, ensuring fleets remain in compliance with IFTA.
Remotely monitoring truck “health” and position with sensors that report back to a central office so drivers can be alerted if they face a maintenance issue or companies can be alerted of driving quality.

Many of our clients use Field Force tracker Mobile apps to accomplish variety of goals. Some sue just for passing work orders; others use it for generating field invoices and some others for tracking employees. Whatever your priority, Field Force Tracker can help you achieve your goals.

What to Look For In a Right Field Service Software

With technicians and managers being asked to do more each day, finding the best field service management software is critical. The wrong system can cause delays, mix up communications and cost revenue. Be sure to ask the following questions to get the best software for your team.

Is the software compatible with your devices?

When you are investing in new field service software, you do not want to spend thousands on new hardware too. If your company uses Android phones and you purchase software designed exclusively for the iPhone, you lose the intended benefits. Today’s top field service management applications run on all mobile devices, whether they are based on iOS, Android, Windows or Mac. They support smartphones, tablets and laptops equally without forcing your business to change the way it operates. Having true mobile compatibility means that technicians and managers can access the tools they need no matter where they are or what devices they have in their hands.

Can you connect the application to your other systems?

Field service apps should streamline your workflow instead of adding more problems. Before making a purchase decision, you must make sure that the new software plays nicely with your other applications. For example, if you accept credit card payments in the field, then your technicians must be able to connect to a payment gateway, such as Authorize.net or Virtual Merchant. If you use virtual phone numbers or customer SMS messaging, then you must be able to link with and others. The best field management service software integrates smoothly with popular, third party applications.

Will the software grow when your team does?

Whether you work out of a small office or run a corporation spanning state lines, you need to count on your software’s scalability. You need service software that can handle any number of technicians, dispatchers, managers and customers. As your business expands, you should get invoicing, messaging, scheduling and administrative support to match. The most popular software can be customized to support plumbing contractors, locksmiths, HVAC repair companies, tow truck operators, carpet cleaners and more.

Do you have the right options for client management?

Your business offers more than a one-size-fits-all solution and so should your field service software. Databases and screens must be flexible to keep track of warranties, service plans and other product offerings across different business locations and customer groups. You must also trust that invoices are accurate so customers can pay on time. The best software makes it easy for you to search through past work, find important customers and generate follow-up or maintenance work for additional sales.

Is it easy to use?

Overall, your field service management software should blur the line between front-line interactions and back-office transactions. The user experience should be straightforward and easy to understand. Whether you are scheduling appointments, processing work orders, reporting on timesheets or identifying new sales opportunities, the process needs to be seamless. You should be able to find what you need when you need it.

A reliable field service management system can increase productivity, improve customer experiences and make your job easier. When you can count on a software product’s compatibility, scalability, functionality and ease of use, you know you have found a winner.

Field Force Tracker can meet all above service goals. Can your current software can?

Best Hvac Service Software

Posted on June 17, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

Field Force Tracker is the most comprehensive software for field service management. It takes care of everything from customer management to the payment collection for a service company. By using this software, our clients can see major improvement in their productivity and the customer satisfaction.

hvac company challenges

HVAC companies face some unique challenges in field service.

For many, some or all of their work can be emergency calls which come in that day. These then need to be prioritized and worked into the day’s schedule as soon as possible, but this then means changes to the planned work and it is understandably difficult to make on the spot decisions about what should give.

Many HVAC companies we speak to are still relying on paper-based processes to some extent in managing their workflow. This brings additional difficulty to making changes to schedules and allocating work to technicians as those in the office may not be working with all the information they need.

HVAC companies often also cover a lot of different areas of work. These are highly complex and require the right skills, parts or tools for the individual tasks. Workflows may have a number of dependencies which need to be stuck to, to complete the job. Many companies cover everything from design to install, renovation and service work, meaning each day is different to the last.

The use of paper-based processes can mean that up to date information is not available until a few days after the work has been completed, so delays occur in checking stock, re-ordering parts and getting out invoices.

A further issue that HVAC companies face is how fast the industry is evolving. Equipment is becoming smarter with HVAC units becoming much more complex and more connected and intelligent buildings are growing in their popularity. Customer expectations increase alongside this technological evolution and service delivery must keep pace with these advancements.

Here we look at how some of our Field Force Tracker HVAC customers overcame the issues they faced in their evolving businesses and see the benefits and results they achieved.

Eliminating Paperwork

One of our customers had a paper-based work order system they’d been using for decades that was inefficient and expensive. Technicians had to visit the office every day, so travel costs were high and technicians had less time for jobs. Processing the paperwork meant significant administrative overhead and time as it took 7-10 days to invoice customers from the job completion.

Field Force Tracker solved the paper problem. All work orders are now generated and submitted electronically. As a result, the company:

Significantly reduced the number of office trips by technicians, cutting travel costs and increasing revenue-producing hours.
Eliminated the need for administrative overhead dedicated invoicing.
Decreased the time from service completion to invoice from days to minutes.

More Efficient Service Calls and Improved Cash Flow

Another HVAC company realized that cloud-based technology was the best way to make their business processes more efficient, and maximize profits. They have both residential and commercial customers, so wanted a solution that could handle both. Through using Field Force Tracker they now can connect with a specific technician or multiple technicians to assign jobs or alert them of a new/changed job, which they can see on the mobile app. The dispatch capabilities provide alerts, location tracking and GPS routing. It also works as a time sheet to ensure that work is being recorded. The price book in the app means that an estimate can be emailed, which the customer can sign off, saving time as well as keeping an accurate account of what has been done.

They estimate saving 40-60 hours a week. “No time is wasted, the technicians get jobs faster, and we can track the job status so they can immediately go to the next job. Jobs are completed more quickly, so we can schedule more jobs per day with the saved time.”

The highest praise comes for the accounting features. “The easy sync with QuickBooks eliminates double entry of invoices in our accounting system and we can simply e-mail invoices to customers.”

Better Customer Service

One of our HVAC customer was looking for ways to reduce paperwork and increase the profitability of their business as well as deliver even better service to customers. Prior to Field Force Tracker the dispatcher would receive calls and dispatch jobs to the technicians through manual text messages. Technicians would write out paper estimates on site and then return completed work orders to the office at the end of day, causing extra drive time and lag time.

Now, the dispatcher can quickly review each technician’s status using the scheduler and assign new jobs to the next available technician. On site, technicians can collect more information with the mobile app. For instance, the tech can record the model and serial number of each piece of equipment. “With this type of information stored in the customer’s record, we can easily determine what parts are needed to complete the job.”

They also use Field Force Tracker reports to predict customer needs. “If I see that 20 of our customers have the same furnace model, it makes sense to start carrying replacement parts for that model.” That means faster service since they no longer have to order parts through their distributor when the need arises. Instead the trucks are fully-stocked with the proper parts.

Field Force Tracker leads the way in simplifying field service for HVAC companies. Our solutions let you automate your field work – from dispatching work to updating job info on site and instantly sending electronic invoices – all from our easy to use mobile app.

Best Cloud Based Filed Service Software

About Field Force Tracker

Improving Customer Experience with Field Service Software

Posted on June 17, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

If you are looking for a field service solution, it is important to recognize that the people actually using it after deployment will play a vital role in its success. How quickly any solution is adopted and starts adding value can come down to whether it is being used properly, if at all, by those in the field.

Customer Experience with Field Force Tracker

Working recently with one new Field Force Tracker customer was particularly interesting as they totally prioritized ease of use. We recently announced that Alani Plumbing, a leader in the plumbing and Hvac services, is deploying Field Force Tracker across its service operation of over 100 Plumbing and Hvac technicians to provide leading customer service, expand their current technology investment and support their growth.

Alani Plumbing prides itself on delivering superior service to Canada’s plumbing and hvac services markets across its portfolio of offerings. It wanted to enhance that initiative by better enabling their planning, scheduling, dispatch and execution of field work with best-in-class technology to be more responsive to customer needs. Already using a proprietary as its ERP, it was important to them to utilize a knowledgeable partner so they could integrate seamlessly and quickly, while mapping their new solution to their current business processes.

“Field Force Tracker was chosen after a rigorous selection process,” said Mark Matis, Alani Plumbing’s CEO. “We knew we wanted to work with a strong partner who also had the advantages of a cloud-based solution but it was really the business user case that proved conclusive. The user experience needed to be strong to ensure adoption. During our evaluation, we were impressed with Field Force Tracker’s user-interface and its easy and intuitive workflows.”

This focus on the user experience is so important.

Helping Technicians Do Better Jobs

At Field Force Tracker, we have found working with many companies in different sectors that some of the same principals are true whatever the industry. The user experience is fundamental to the success – or not – of implementing software solutions.

Managers and technicians, alike, report that the key to any technology implementation is ease of use. Taking time to learn new, complicated ways of working puts up barriers to adoption which workers may well look to by-pass and either go back to the way things used to be done or patch together their own and disparate ways of using the various solutions. Field technicians, by the nature of their work, tend to accept technology changes positively but how quickly they take to new solutions will again affect the ROI. A long drawn out adoption of any solution will have a serious effect on efficiency during the time taken and in the longer-term impact employee satisfaction with the technology.

Any field service solution should be easy and simple to use. Ease of use for technicians should also include how the device is used as well as the app itself, as one hand operation, for example, can be important. It may seem like a little thing, but allowing a technician to keep one hand free – and still operate the app – is a big advantage in the field. One hand operation is especially important when the technician is downloading and viewing the schematics of equipment or paging through a repair manual.

Of equal importance is how intuitive a solution is. Are the workflows easy to understand? Can they be configured for different job types to make it easier for the user? Can you capture information with just one click? All these questions will have an impact on whether you will get users on board and really get the most out of what you have invested in.

Once data is captured, being able to send and share it easily means that you have a more connected workforce who can not only document what they are doing more effectively but are then sharing that accurate data with the back office. This gives office staff the most up to date and fullest picture of what has been completed in the field.

By making it easy to use, the best solution can ensure not only quick adoption but actually make the lives of the users easier, their processes more streamlined and importantly, help them get more done.

So, if you want to make sure you are investing in the right solution, involve your users. Successful solutions are those that are easily adopted because they’re so easy to use. And its only users that can decide that.

About Field Force Tracker

Benefits of Using Integrated Field Service Software

Posted on May 18, 2016January 19, 2022 by Field Force Tracker

Service managers are working to improve the quality and effectiveness of their service delivery. However, using improper field service software can hinder their ability to provide better management of their resources. This article describes the benefits of integrated field service software which can help everyone in the company to better manage the effectiveness of your service delivery. Using extensive capabilities of Field Force Tracker’s software, you can improve the effectiveness for field services in your organization.

Organizations often work with a mix of different solutions for their day to day field service operations. This might be because the organization has outgrown original systems so other solutions have been brought in or have been bolted on or that the workflow is so specific to them, that they can’t find one solution that fits all their needs.

Whatever the reason the result can often mean that systems are used in isolation and data from one system doesn’t always work with others.

This can be frustrating and costly to a business as it can mean that data has to be entered into each system individually, taking time to do. If this input is needed multiple times there is also the risk of mistakes being made or data missed.

The Business Benefits of Integrated Field Service Software

The ultimate of any field service solution is quite simply a better workflow to and from the field. Ease of integration is a key part of any new solution as there is no need to upgrade the entire end-to-end system to simply allow this better workflow. There will have been significant investment into existing systems and extending the life of these systems is important.

For a business an integrated field service solution means that the two-way flow of data and information is captured just once and in a consistent and efficient way. It means that no data is left unused or delayed while waiting on paperwork to be finished or for collected information to be downloaded and an audit trail is in place reducing the chance of any lost or missing information.

The Business Owner/Manager or CEO

For the business owner or manager reports can be easily accessed on any criteria as systems are linked and ‘speak’ to each other. The health of the business can be easily monitored and customizable reports can be run on jobs, revenue, inventory, employee hours, customer surveys, invoices and customer data. Profitability can be reviewed by customer, service or product allowing focus on driving higher overall revenue and increased margins.

The Service Manager or Service Director

The service manager can see real-time status updates of all jobs (scheduled, started, paused, completed) across the teams and also assess the productivity of individual staff members across jobs and tasks. Workflow can become automated reducing paperwork and eliminating lost or delayed time through scheduling improvements and job completion rates. The team in the office can assign jobs faster with the improved scheduling and eliminate paper work with distribution of electronic work orders

The Field Technician or Your Field Employees

For a field worker an integrated mobile solution means they can do their job in the best possible way. Critical information can be accessed and shared in real time in the office and the field. Through integration with other back office systems, the field worker has access to the job history and customer records allowing for a more detailed understanding of not only the job they are going to but also what has happened before and why. Turning up to site and having this information on the job detail to hand or having access to it, means there is better chance of job resolution on this first visit and all the benefits this brings to an organization, the technician and the customer.

Finance and Accounting Department

For those in the finance team invoices can be automated immediately upon job completion. A work order for example can be issued, then on job completion the customer can be invoiced immediately, achieving a quicker payment cycle through this order to cash automation. Data can be transferred electronically between systems, making accounting and payroll tasks more efficient and accurate. Financial reporting becomes more straightforward as customizable reports include all the relevant information on revenue, costs and employees.

Good integration of field service management solutions improves efficiencies, from the first call to the final invoice, by providing visibility throughout the business. This can feel like it is going to be an overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be.

Moving From Paper Based Solution to Field Service Software

Benefits of Mobile Apps in Field Service

About Field Force Tracker

Field Service Reports can Make a Big Difference

Different Stakeholders of Field Service Reports

About Field Force Tracker

Making Use of Reporting Capabilities of Field Service Software

Understanding your Business Metrics

Longer-Term Planning Based on Service Data

About Field Force Tracker

Impact of Inventory Management on Field Service

Inventory Management is very Important

Best Practices for Inventory Management

Field Force Tracker – A Great Fit For Mobile Field Service Solutions.

What happens to your bottom-line without a Field Service solution in place?

What happens to your bottom line with a Field Service solution in place?

How to get started measuring ROI before and after you purchase of A Field Service Solution

Make Decision-Making Easy

Essential Reporting

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hvac company challenges

Eliminating Paperwork

More Efficient Service Calls and Improved Cash Flow

Better Customer Service

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Customer Experience with Field Force Tracker

Helping Technicians Do Better Jobs

About Field Force Tracker

Why Field Force Tracker

About Field Force Tracker