What is Field Service Management and how to choose the right one?
Providing a field service means spending your time juggling critical tickets, daily tasks, upset customers with strict SLAs, and dynamic service routes. And here is where a Field Service Management software comes creating one unified solution that helps schedule and track field Operations.
According to Gartner; Field service management is a solution that shall include all what is required to work outside your office; Covering the whole process of having the job done, starting with on-field team scheduling and optimization, dispatching, process automation, information delivery to the field, and finally displaying important data through reporting tools and dashboards.
Who should Use FSM?
A field service software does not only help companies that manage installations, repairs, work orders, inspections, but it is much broader as it also helps anyone whose workers spend time out of the office. All need tools tailored to their unique daily challenges that is portable and easy to use helping them have their job done.
Field service management software automates and streamlines repetitive and detailed tasks and enables executives to focus on growing the business, not managing minutiae.
There are various different reasons to consider investing in a field management software. The following questions might help determine whether your business needs a field management software solution:
- Do you find difficulties managing your workforce?
- Are you drowning in paper work?
- You’re consistently dealing with delayed SLAs?
- Your on-field teams are always lacking information?
- You have problems dispatching the right agent for the right job?
- Do you face challenges locating and navigating your on-field teams?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions then you should probably think about investing in a field management software solution to help you overcome those challenges and beyond.
FSM Market Growth
As previously mentioned, the domain of field service management is widely expanding with every day’s growth. Vendors who provide solutions to global customers will likely see the largest growth as the market expands in the next several years. We can also expect to see huge transformation for corporates that service the field that are currently operating with CRM and ERP to be using FSM software with the specialized features that best serve this growing industry and cover the need of other systems. As Historically, CRM and ERP solutions have failed to address the needs of the field service industry.
How to Choose your FSM?
Some field services management solutions offer deep capabilities for a single function, like teams dispatching, incident reporting or emergency management. While other systems offer more generalized features like process automation, customer portals, fleet management or call center modules. So before you make your purchase you should assess your goals and needs and then make your decision which features are essential, which are nice to have and make your expansion plan into mind.
So what you should be looking for while comparing FSM solutions?
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Price
Understanding the factors that affect the pricing of any FSM is mandatory before setting a budget. Here is a list of what should be considered.
- Number of users/Field workers.
- Corporate Size
- Process complexity
- Data size
- Training, setup, and technical support
- System customizations
- Deployment type (cloud, hybrid, or on-premise)
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Expansion and Adaptability
Organizations should be looking for a solution that can support their business growth plan. So they won’t have to go to manual workarounds or have service downtime. Instead changes should be smoothly implemented in hours supporting their business evolution.
You would be better looking for a system that offers a well-structured solution into separate modules, such that you can purchase one and expand with another and customize a third. But you have first set your pan; involve your field service project teams for inputs on prioritizing their needs. Start with dividing your needs into “must have” and “nice to have” features.
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Business Intelligence and Data Prediction
When it comes to handling dozens of complex daily activities; you should be looking for a solution that makes life easier. Nothing can do it better than a system that is empowered with business intelligence and data prediction. So tasks are automatically dispatched considering team capabilities and resources skills, fleets & tools are defined based on job type and needs, data is predicted, costs are estimated and SLAs are smoothly met.
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System Mobility
The more the mobility of your FSM is, the easier it is to use and the more practical it becomes. And hence what you should be looking for is a system that is available 24/7 weather you are online of even offline. Though all FSM vendors offer mobile access, many companies are investing in more advanced systems that offer offline access, navigation, geolocation, file upload and teams’ collaboration.
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After Sales Support
As any new software, as FSM brings new features, it brings new challenges. So no matter how robust your FSM software is, you will definitely need support. So you need to check after-sales support services. Here are some ways you can evaluate your software after-sales support:
- Research of what support your vendor offers with the original software license, and what extra packages they offer.
- Study the training provided by the vendor.
- Reach out previous clients to get opinion of the quality of support received.
Now you know how important field management systems are, so subscribe now and request a free demo of our Field management system software to enhance your business.