12 Jun
You need to take your customer experience to the next level. For a company that does on-site services the best way to make your customers happier is to empower your field workers to do more. When your field workers do their job in a better way, your customers are going to be happier. This is the only way for companies to retain their customers in this competitive business environment. You must give your field service technicians more tools and data to improve their work and this is possible only through field force automation.
Understanding Field Force Automation
Being a fairly new technology, many companies involved in field service don’t have an idea about field force automation. This is a new part of the field service management software that helps the technician to document data on the field. This can be accessed by all the parties in real-time on their mobile devices as the information automatically syncs with the central system. Automation is already used in field service management for scheduling service appointments and getting the best route for the technicians so that they won't waste time or fuel. It also helps in giving customer service information to the technicians.
Field force automation (FFA) goes one step ahead and helps in improving the relationship between the customer and the company. The main two aspects of field force automation are automation and real-time information. The main advantage is that it can collect data in real-time and pass it to the office. This helps to improve customer service and productivity. Such information is very helpful for the company to communicate immediately to the technician any additional information that he or she may need.
How Does The Business Benefit From FFA?
The main advantage for the company is that it reduces the distance between the field technicians and the office. This will go a long way in pleasing the customers because there is no delay in technician passing on important information. The field personnel can instantly access all the information about the client from the office data using the mobile phone. He or she can also see the history of the client which will make dealing with the customer easier. Integrating automation in the service scheduling softwarewill help technicians to monitor the progress of their current jobs no the mobile phone. They can also order for any requirements without any delay which is usually the cause for customer dissatisfaction.
Autonomy is something that every field worker will love to have. Field force automation will help the technicians achieve this. They don’t have to depend on the office for every small thing. This will provide all the updated information to the technicians. They can finish a job and move to the next site without having to check with the office because all information will be available on their mobile phones. Another big advantage of automation is that it can help you complete more jobs. Automation will make it possible for jobs to be automatically allocated to the technician who is closest to the site at that time.
FFA Helps Improve Customer Relationships
One of the main reasons why most companies want to integrate automation into their field management software is because it helps in improving their relationship with the customer. Automation helps to provide all information and history of the customer to the technician even without his having to search for it. This helps the technician to interact with the customer in a better manner. The technician can know the past problems faced and how it was solved by the company. Touching upon these points helps to get better loyalty from the customers.
The information provided to the technician will also include any delays in the arrival of a part. This can be informed to the customer in advance to reduce the customer's frustration and disappointment. Customers are also happy that they are constantly being informed about the progress of their jobs. Improving communication is the best way to get better customer loyalty and ensure that customers are always kept happy.
Good customer relationship is vital for any business to run smoothly and progress. It is estimated that in the future 70% of all decisions taken by companies will be aimed at customer satisfaction. Having automation will help the companies to find out what can help to make the best impression on the customers when the field worker visits them. Some of the main points to remember for customer satisfaction are prompt arrival of the technician, preparedness for the job, and immediate billing. All these are possible with automation integrated into the field service management software in Singapore.
Using Real-Time Data
One of the main aims of automation of your service management software is to be able to use the data that is generated from the service jobs done. There is a huge amount of data that is fed to the software. The FFA should allow you to merge this data with the available data at the office. The field data must be merged with the internal databases and data repositories if you must be able to use them for improving your service to the customer. The integration of real-time data helps the back-office also to check the response time, customer satisfaction rates, use of tools, and the route taken by the technician. Having this information in real-time helps to improve the system immediately.
Using automation for real-time data helps you to have all the necessary information on your fingertips even as the technician is working on the site. This helps you to make any changes immediately without having to wait for the information to reach you. A good analytics feature is available in all the field service software nowadays. Make sure that when you include automation you are linking the analytics to real-time data so that changes can be faster.
Field Force Automation Helps You Achieve Your Goals
Every field service company aims to improve productivity by completing more jobs in the shortest time. This will earn them better customer satisfaction and also more profits. Technicians can attend to more calls with real-time information available to them. When the data is available when the technician is at work, you can monitor for any errors and inform them immediately. This will help to rectify the errors immediately and prevent customer dissatisfaction. The quality of your service improves greatly. Capturing real-time data helps you to avoid errors and delays which are the major cause for a reduction in productivity.
The automation solutions work across a variety of mobile devices making it easy for the technicians to enter data and to receive information wherever they are. Integrating field force automation into the top service management softwaregives more power to the person on the field and helps to sync information with the office. It also avoids the need for the technicians to frequently visit the office saving much time that can be used for serving more customers.