MOBILE WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT. tips

Transcription

1 MOBILE WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT s

2 Mobile Workforce Management Tips A well thought out mobile workforce management strategy is what enables 21st century organizations to compete in today s customer service oriented world. While a plethora of process improvements and technology has been developed, and continues to evolve, service organizations still need to do more. It s no longer enough to have disparate ways of scheduling work. Whether it s a lack of integration, communication challenges between systems, or the lack of a more sophisticated system in place there needs to be a change in the way organizations think about field service. In this ebook, we ve compiled 25 mobile workforce management s to improve field service efficiency. If you re a dispatcher, service manager, or an executive, this ebook has something to offer. Let s Go

3 1 First things first: Invest in a mobile workforce strategy, if you haven t already. It will save your organization time and money, with an average ROI between one to three years. Sit down with the decision makers from all parts of your organization and decide on a strategy. This can begin with addressing organizational needs, budget, and timeline. If you anticipate using a RFP process, start drafting your requirements list and researching the best solution for your organization. There are a lot of options, so outline your needs first to help define your mobile strategy needs from your mobile strategy wants. NEEDS WANTS

4 2 Learn about the differences between cloud and on-premise scheduling solutions, then decide which solution will best serve your organization. IDC expects cloud IT infrastructure spending to grow at a 15.1% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to reach $53.1 billion by Cloud and SaaS solutions reduce equipment costs, decrease technical staff expenses, eliminate expensive hardware upgrades, reduce cooling costs and more. Cloud-based solutions are almost endlessly scalable and simplify access from different geographic locations. However, cloud solutions are not right for all organizations. The downside to cloud solutions is that there can be connection speed issues, as well as outages, and your organization is no longer in charge of the upgrade path. If your organization requires significant software customizations, these may require custom re-programmed each time the SaaS provider launches a new revision of the product. In addition, with cloud storage you no longer have exclusive control over data security. This factor is a significant consideration for organizations that store HIPAA or SEC/SOX compliant data; these organizations face significant fines for security breaches. Furthermore, there are many cloud storage providers and it s a market that s ripe for consolidation. When cloud storage companies consolidate or go out of business, your organization can be forced to transition quickly or be left in a difficult position. Cloud service solutions should be carefully reviewed and vetted to ensure they fit the unique needs of your organization. Cloud IT infrastructure spending to reach $53.1 billion by 2019

5 3 Combine your systems to accommodate the entire customer lifecycle. Customer lifecycle management is the holistic look at how you interact with your customer from the time they engage your services through today. It includes every interaction with the customer, from s, service, bills, etc. and considers how each interaction impacts customer satisfaction and retention. By integrating information between your ERP and CRM systems, you can combine all aspects of your business to give your customers a better, more efficient service experience. WORK ORDER MANAGEMENT Stand-alone, centralized source system for all your field service management needs CUSTOMER INTERACTION Reduce overheads and increase costumer satisfaction SCHEDULING Automated & optimized scheduling for your field workforce REPORTS AND ANALYSIS Real-Time operational reports and data analysis DISPATCH Maximized efficiency and optimized utilization MOBILITY Real-Time mobility LOCATION BASED SERVICES Real-Time location The lifecycle of field service management

6 Talk to a knowledgeable consulting partner in order to understand the ever-changing best practices in your industry. 4 hello This is another critical aspect of the solution. Just purchasing software is not enough; the biggest difference is the integration expertise. Your integrator should serve as an experienced consultant who ensures you adapt and optimize your business processes so you can realize the full benefits of mobile workforce management. Find an expert integration company with proven experience; ensure they know the best practices for implementation and help you align your processes with the technology to ensure that you have a successful solution.

7 5 Streamline communication efforts - find the best solution and implement it across your enterprise. Customers get very frustrated by wait times. Whether it s hold time on the phone, wait times for a service technician, or a problem that the technician cannot fix on the first visit, these wait times are often the breakdown in customer retention. This is where an integrated system adds the most value. If you have a mobile workforce management solution and field service management software, you can minimize wait times with automated scheduling, increase first time fix rates using mobile access to your knowledge-base online, or utilize mobile communication channels between representatives to request advice or find nearby parts. By integrating mobile and workforce management solutions, you increase both internal efficiency as well as customer service.

8 6 Integrate your dispatch scheduling software or mobile workforce management solution with your various mission-critical tasks such as billing, CRM, and other resource management systems. Proper integration enables a full range of automation and improves performance by leveraging historical job data. This can help with resource planning, demand forecasting, measuring customer satisfaction and much more. It will enable your organization to look at your operations holistically and measure how field service impacts your overall organizational goals.

9 7 Optimize routing to reduce wait times, decrease fuel costs and improve efficiency. The Aberdeen Group estimates that each service truck roll costs $200 - $300, and issues that are not fixed the first time average 1.6 additional dispatches. If we do the math, a company with 100 service dispatches per day, moving from a 75% to an 89% average first time fix rate, will realize savings of $4,400 - $6,600 per day. 2 By implementing mobile workforce management, a company with 100 service dispatches a day can save approximately one million dollars per year! This does not even include the fuel savings, which average around 10% for most companies. To calculate your specific savings, visit our ROI calculator where you can enter your own data and calculate your organization s field service management ROI. 75 % 89 % = increase first time fix rate $4,400 - $6,600 savings per day 100 service dispatches a day + mobile workforce management = $1 MILLION approximate savings per year

10 8 Comprehensive mobility should be a part of your strategy. Whether it s company supplied cell phones or BYOD, mobile is clearly a strategy that is crucial for service organizations. When the Field Service Representative (FSR) is calling to communicate schedule changes, reaching out for local parts, accessing an on-line knowledge base or even being tracked by GPS to monitor efficiency, mobile technology has a huge impact on your organization s operations and customer service.

11 9 Select a solution with comprehensive analytics capabilities and robust reporting options. As companies begin to see the value of big data and the business intelligence it brings, ensure that you have the ability to capture, specify and aggregate your data. Your organization can benefit from data such as individual FSR efficiency, mean time to repair, seasonal capacity identification, and tracking customer personas and profiles to provide your customers with targeted communications and upsell offers.

12 Have a documented work order management process. 10 This is another area where an experienced systems integrator makes a huge difference. You are not just installing software; while the software is a robust productivity tool, the process of aligning the software to your business processes is the most critical aspect of field service workforce management. An experienced integrator can help you optimize your work order management process and serve as a consultant to design a solution that optimizes your efficiency and increases your ROI. Choose an integrator that specializes in field service management and can show proven results. Furthermore, look for an integrator that gives you access to senior staff to design your solution, as an experienced team will be able to identify issues you have not even thought of yet, and can mean the difference between a marginally effective solution and solution that transforms your business operations and productivity.

13 11 Use a mobility solution that expands your communication platform. State-of-the-art field service mobility solutions resolve many barriers in communications and communication systems. The leading mobility solutions include apps that can run on a variety of platforms, such as android, ios, and Windows. Technicians and dispatchers should note that they need mobile scheduling apps that include both the front-end and -end processes to manage various business needs.

14 12 Don t waste time building reports - get customized and accessible information and dashboards. Customized reporting and dashboards should be included in your mobile workforce management solution. It helps your organization gain insight into your company s capacity, utilization, customer information, and field service management metrics. In field service, changes occur in real-time and you need constant visibility to ensure a superior customer service experience. Quality field service management software should function on a standalone, centralized platform that provides full visibility into reporting and analytics.

15 Simplify your work with clear and simple visual schedules. 13 It s easy to get lost in all of the information and details of field service. A quality field service mobility software has a variety of features; one important aspect is the ability to use an auto-routing system that finds the best and fastest route for each technician. Visual dispatch features like drag-and-drop options should also be available for dispatchers to assign tasks to technicians according to their location, availability, specific skills, and experience. A drag-and-drop feature is also good for allowing dispatchers to make adjustments when needed. It can send out automated alerts to FSRs regarding parts, schedule changes, etc. and it can notify FSRs and dispatchers when information is updated.

16 14 Monitor online reviews and social media to check for comments or complaints from customers. Social Media is about starting conversations. Some customers will post their complaints to social media without ever reaching out to the company. A recent survey finds that 60% of the companies surveyed received a customer complaint via social media and that 55% did not have an effective strategy in place to manage negative social media comments. 3 This is obviously a problem service companies need to address. Remember that these comments can be a valuable source of insight into process issues and individual FSE performance. Furthermore, addressing service issues promptly can help your organization. For example, if you have a mobility solution and a customer posts that your rep is an hour late, you can check the system, let the customer know why the FSR is late, and even check the GPS for an updated arrival time. This shows the individual customer, as well as other customers and prospects, that your organization provides prompt and courteous service.

17 15 View the entire customer lifecycle by connecting your CRM to mobile devices. By integrating your mobile devices, you can track where your trucks are to provide better arrival estimates, locate parts for local re-distribution, and automatically notify FSRs that a part has arrived. You can also re-route reps based upon early completion and the location of new or emergency service requests.

18 16 BYOD is popular, but find out what s best for your organization, implement it and stick with it. Gartner predicts that by 2017, half of the employers will require employees to provide their own mobile devices for work purposes. 4 With today s BYOD security options, you can provide employee privacy while still ensuring the safety of your data. BYOD lets employees carry one familiar device, while reducing the costs of purchasing and upgrading mobile technology. But before you decide, it s important to consider the security implication. With BYOD you do not own the device; employees can add apps and make changes without enterprise review, making the network vulnerable. Also, assess which employees have access to sensitive data from a mobile device and consider how to best protect that data. Some organizations have a two-tiered mobile policy. For example, employees that access sensitive data are required to use company-owned devices, but employees with less sensitive data can participate in a BYOD program. Weigh the risks and benefits of BYOD vs. owning the equipment, and decide what meets your budget and security needs.

19 Save trees go paperless and help save your organization the trouble of lost work orders and processing difficulties. 17 Going paperless provides better efficiency and reduces errors. In addition to these productivity benefits, it reduces ink and paper costs as well as offers a valuable marketing opportunity to promote your organization s green initiatives.

20 18 Stop using the excuse, this is the way we have always done it when it comes to thinking about a new technology for your service organization. As technology transforms the way organizations operate, waiting too long to implement productivity software can be a critical mistake that drains revenue, decreases customer satisfaction and puts your organization at a competitive disadvantage.

21 19 Analyze big data and generate reports. Once the necessary field service solutions are in place to integrate and analyze daily activity, you ll need to process the information to delineate successful from unsuccessful assets.

22 20 Adjust assets accordingly it s time to make decisions based on all the KPIs and data you ve collected. Identify trends in production and workflow that will allow you and your company to phase out, replace, recalibrate or provide additional training for your assets to help them attain higher performance levels. Monitor employee progress, improve forecasting with fact-based trend assessment, and refine your company s inventory process through heightened visibility into what parts are required and when. The key to greater success depends upon what you do with the knowledge you acquire from your field service data.

23 21 Automate and integrate processes, now! Get operations working at peak performance. This requires having the correct systems or processes in place to automate responsibilities and provide total visibility into production, inventory, equipment utilization and departmental productivity levels.

24 22 Don t allow technicians to be lazy ensure every work order is completed with all required information and even greater detail when possible. This will save you time and energy later on when questions arise about particular customer data.

25 23 Advocate for your field technicians and they will advocate for your company. Having well trained and properly motivated field technicians can grow your business through onsite sales and marketing tactics. FSRs are the face of your company. Proper training and on-going education to keep their knowledge current, is crucial. Sometimes, an upsell incentive program can help field service technicians push themselves to be the best sales and service combination for your business.

26 24 Recruit and hire qualified field technicians a qualified HR manager can help with this process. Take the time to train your mobile workforce technicians and engineers. This is a critical factor for success. Your customers see field service representatives as the face of your company and each FSR s knowledge and customer service skills will help define how customers view your brand. In fact, ZenDesk s survey indicates that 66% of B2B and 52% of B2C customers stopped buying from a company after a bad service experience. 5 This is compounded by the fact that after a bad experience, 39% of customers continue to avoid that vendor for two years or more. 6 So, hiring field technicians with both technical knowledge and customer service skills can have a big impact on your organization s bottom-line.

27 25 At the heart of it all, let your customer s know their requests, complaints and (hopefully) good reviews are being heard! The bottom line of any business is about profit and ROI. However, in the mobile workforce management industry, the bottom line has to be on customer experience first and keeping field service representatives prepared. Once a field service representative s customer visit is over, send an automated to the customer with a survey of their overall satisfaction. This can help your field technician and your organization improve by taking in critical feed data, while ensuring your customers feel appreciated. Maybe the FSR was late or didn t have the best attitude. Show your customers how proactive your organization is about improving a lackluster service experience by letting them know that you want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly, immediately after their appointment takes place.

28 When properly designed and integrated, a comprehensive mobile workforce strategy can transform your business. We hope these s help you manage your mobile workforce; if you have not implemented or optimized your technology recently, we highly recommend a system review. From increased efficiency to higher customer satisfaction, an experienced systems integrator does more than install mobile workforce software. When you choose the right company, you can get an experienced partner with the consulting expertise to help you optimize your business. For more information on how Euclides can help you integrate of optimize a ClickSoftware mobile workforce management solution, call us at or you can us at info@euclidestech.com to discuss how mobile workforce software can help your organization improve customer service and reduce costs info@euclidestech.com Euclides Technologies Inc. 222 Third Street, Suite 1110 Cambridge, MA US Tel: info@euclidestech.com 1 Source: 2 Source: Our math: 75% fix rate with 100 dispatches =25 additional dispatches x 1.6 average additional dispatches per the Aberdeen Group = 40 additional truck rolls. An 89% fix rate with 100 dispatches =11 additional dispatches x 1.6 = 18 additional truck rolls = 22 fewer truck rolls per day. 22 x average cost of $200 = $4,400 savings per day. 22 x $300 = $6,600 savings per day. $4,400 savings per day x 252 work days per year = $1,108,800 annual savings. 3 Source: 4 Source: 5 Source: 6 Source: